Глубокий вдох.
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2qABDGLo9f
Maxim sat on the cold floor, in complete darkness, leaning against the door. It had been about ten minutes since he decided to hide from Lapin, yet the trembling in his fingers refused to fade. His heart was pounding wildly, tears streamed down his hollow cheeks on their own.259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPYkdAWdOod
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡILX8yBqqmS
He couldn’t anymore. He was done.
As if on cue, the neighbors decided to start yelling too. Strangely enough, he couldn’t make out their words this time. Maybe his brain had simply switched to a more pressing danger?259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEN3wzRIT9a
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5X03GotAiz
A deep breath—and still nothing. The air seemed unable to reach his lungs. Maxim exhaled quietly, pressing his forehead against his knees. The cold from the floor seeped into his bones, but at least it was something real. Something that actually existed. Unlike everything else.
In truth, he had no idea how long he’d been sitting there—maybe ten minutes, maybe an hour. Time had stretched out, thick and viscous like tar. Each second pressed down on him. He closed his eyes, hoping that if he just sat a little longer, everything would disappear. That the door wouldn’t tremble. That there wouldn’t be footsteps behind it.
But his hearing betrayed him—there it was, an echo, like someone dragging their nails along the wood. Maxim flinched, clutching the sleeve of his hoodie so hard that his nails dug into the skin through the fabric.
“Just my imagination… just that,” he breathed almost soundlessly, trying to convince at least himself.259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPITe0lYBCj
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSLt6rgKBpz
He remembered the look in Lapin’s eyes when Maxim had dared to fight back.259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb0IBzYr3xt
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhqKA337E09
Yeah… he was definitely playing with him.
A floorboard creaked somewhere above. Maxim lifted his head.259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNwbuntXBBf
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡezJtb7fEaH
Silence returned—dense, suffocating, as if someone had wrapped the entire house in cotton.
“I’m not going out,” he whispered. “Not a chance.”
He slowly straightened up, feeling the numbness in his legs. The trembling hadn’t gone, but something new had taken its place—an exhausted dullness, bordering on indifference. Maybe this was what the end of panic felt like—when fear burns down completely, leaving only ash behind.
He ran his hand along the wall, feeling the familiar uneven surface. The house had never felt like a safe place, and now less than ever.259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg1tnFx8L9x
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcW3hfaQ30i
A glint caught his eye—something shining in a sliver of light leaking through the cracks in the door. Maxim squinted, stepped closer, and picked it up.
“A shard…”
He stated it flatly, and his thoughts drifted, unbidden, back to his school years.
Children’s laughter. Wobbly school desks. Chalk dust. A mocking giggle behind his back.259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8tyJAn8c0b
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ07DTiNOZo3
Little Maxim stood in the middle of the classroom, soaked from shoulders to heels, a rag hanging from his head like a crown—what his classmate had called “the Garbage King’s crown.” The air reeked of bleach and dust. The teacher pretended nothing was happening, letting her gaze slip past him—as if he simply didn’t exist.
He remembered how, for the first time, that hollow ache had spread under his ribs—not pain, not even humiliation, just cold.259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRfFJ9WQ1BU
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡekea5oiHnz
Just like now.
Maxim clenched the shard in his hand, the sharp edges biting into his skin and pulling him back into the present.
“Everything comes full circle,” he whispered, as if confessing a secret.
He uncurled his fingers: a thin red line crossed his palm, blood slowly gathering into a bead. It gleamed faintly in the dim light—cold and lifeless, just like the shard. There had never been any light in his past… almost.259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY9ebGApJqj
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkXTCfg6Gl6
Something flickered nervously in his chest.
After yet another round of mockery, Maxim couldn’t take it anymore.259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdvtUHWKnIy
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUpQNy1NgSl
He stood up in the middle of class and left for the bathroom without asking the teacher. He was done. He didn’t care.
The shouts followed him down the hall:259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaVowQx4w3I
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCtyVWjOmIK
“How dare you, you stupid street rat!”259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Mp6NuVzEk
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbCASxP4hnh
“Oh, look, the motherless freak’s leaving!”259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ639X9RlO55
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtVIuBnCsla
“Nice clothes—did he dig them out of the trash?”
He was used to it. He didn’t even want to hold on to the anger anymore.
When Maxim entered the bathroom, he wasn’t thinking about anything at all. Just a little sleepy. A little tired. Mostly… nothing.259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzVnYQC0t5K
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4zWK2OnR2W
His head felt heavy, and all he wanted was to lie down and sleep.
At twelve years old, he didn’t know what to do. He never did.
He went to the sink and turned on the tap—a thin stream hissed, as if offended by the touch. Maxim looked up, and in the cracked mirror before him, a face he barely recognized stared back.
His messy blond hair hung over his forehead, long unacquainted with a comb. Dark circles shadowed his eyes—not from sleeplessness, but from something worse. His lips were cracked, his skin so pale it was almost translucent. His cheeks had sunk, his cheekbones sharp beneath them.
He wiped a blurry spot from the mirror with his finger. The reflection moved with him, and he noticed—how thin he had become. His school shirt, once too big, now hung loose like a sack, emphasizing his narrow frame and slouch.
His brown eyes—once warm and alive—were dull now, hollowed out, burned from within. There was no anger in them, no resentment. Only exhaustion—thick, sticky, bottomless.
He exhaled, struggling to keep his gaze steady. For a moment, it seemed as though the mirror had darkened, and the face in it wasn’t his anymore.259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ26FNYpnUSy
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk5Nt4yTjd8
As if someone else was looking back at him from the depths—259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxdwgpi2mBK
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLNgoxJzAn7
Someone who already knew there was no escape.
And back then, the small boy had noticed it too—259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡft78mmlwTe
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgFOdJtllII
that same glint.259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlMjSL6Tj24
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjpkNH8BUCb
Yes. The shard.
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0uavUhio9O
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCb7IBtdEd4
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzazfp0Ez7E
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqp4R7KIile
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwE1f1riT9e
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvXhK362fY0
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbqlx2fbhaz
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbjOCDvVzoe
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZoeJSebQhL
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjbmi75A2Cu
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD7qvQlQur1
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrSfaFkf7O9
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZh6wbF9nqZ
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxxsrQVw09M
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxkI1d9ASYm
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwmsrUz7M7y
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2BBPKQ42FV
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6GMzaqpk0v
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWLjTIYfe1n
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIsVCGISibS
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKAeFVsjrid
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFXuTy3V6im
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBADOHHEQc2
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG8TSfQUhYM
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2hpPNRllip
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwShn11my6Q
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaFkyCpkgBI
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpe5s01rVOg
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEJsnxzlNP6
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkrlMU50x9U
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsAE1EwUYqz
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTqnpawJsSP
259Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMeyj8rqH2e
and then Add to home screen.