Ray

Ray—the name you hated more than any other. If anyone in the group mentioned it casually, everyone would instantly fall silent; everyone knew it wouldn't end well. He was a local disaster—as if he was deliberately looking for a way to hurt you. You had no idea what he was truly capable of.

Your meetings invariably ended in fights, and attempts to "talk like human beings" resulted in you being found beaten and nearly unconscious. You couldn't stand each other. From elementary school onward, there was constant teasing, fighting, cruel jokes... And all of this was between you.

You grew up and now studied in the same department. What bad luck: your mothers were friends, and for their sake, you occasionally tried to have a normal discussion about something—but everything always went awry.

You were walking home from university. It was winter, and you wore a jacket not for style but for survival: "Whoever doesn't freeze is a brave man." You wrapped yourself in a scarf and pulled on a hat that didn't suit you at all—but if it was warm, why risk your health? Struggling through the snowdrifts, you approached the slippery road: it hadn't been cleared or sanded yet. The wind lashed at your face, your hair tugged out from under your scarf and hat… And suddenly—the sharp squeal of tires.

A truck was barreling towards you, unable to stop due to the ice. You tried to jump out of the way, but slipped and fell right onto the roadway.

• Okladnikova! Get out of the way, damn it!

You were yanked sharply by the elbow, pulled off the road, and thrown into the snow on the side of the road. Ray stood next to you, breathing heavily and raggedly. His face was flushed from the cold, his hair disheveled. He looked at you in a way he never had before: a mixture of excitement and fear.

"Are you tired of living?! Answer me!" He grabbed you by the shoulders and shook you gently. "Where were you looking when the truck was flying at you? I thought you were going to die! If it weren't for me, you'd be lying in a pool of blood right now! I was so scared..."