Mark Makkfein and the Find

Alyona Gryoz

Mark Makkfein and the Find

«Равнодушие – это паралич души, преждевременная смерть».

А. П. Чехов

Chapter 1. "It."

One day, I found a star. I was just walking home after the lecture, and I almost got my foot on some shiny thing.

I was afraid to take it with my hands, and I really didn’t want to get burned if it was hot. What if it was a cold star? It would also be very unpleasant.

I’ve never, ever held a star in my life, so I don’t know what their temperature is.

As I approached the shiny thing with my palms, I felt neither heat nor cold. Curiosity got the better of my fears, so I wanted to pick it up and study it at home.

I never would have guessed that this could be lying on the road… Taking a handkerchief and putting it on this ball-shaped miracle, I picked it up, put it in my pocket and went home.

You’re going to tell me I’m a weirdo. What’s a star in your pocket?

That’s my beautiful humor. I know perfectly well that I’m not a star. But this thing seemed curious. Since I was a kid, I’ve been making up my own fairy tales to escape this cold, dark reality… What is my reality? It’s very ordinary, it’s so ordinary, it makes me want to howl.

I live in the apartment of a two-story brick house in the center of a small Russian city. I used to live with my grandmother in this apartment, then I inherited it.

As soon as I reached 18, my grandmother passed away, leaving me alone in the whole world, I have no family, and no real friends.

It’s not that I’m not friends because I have a very strong personality, it’s just that I have some strange abilities, but I have that later…

The feeling of uselessness and loneliness has come to me today with somehow tripled strength than usual. As always, I used to walk down the streets in the evenings, getting an appetite. A walk is also very helpful for insomnia. Lately, I’ve lost my appetite and my insomnia.

But if the appetite never showed up, the walk didn’t come for nothing, I found this. What’s happening right now in my jacket pocket is freezing and heating my right side at the same time. It’s a strange sensation.

I’m afraid it’s the last time I’ve had a lecture today because I have no money left to continue my studies.

I used to moonlight as a salesman and a security guard at night. But I got fired because I was always tired, I couldn’t sleep.

You have to go to work to get some money, but you don’t have the time and energy to study, which is what this money is for. A vicious circle.

I don’t know how to handle money. I could spend two days' salary not knowing how much I spent. I think I went to a cafe a couple times. I bought food at the store for a week…

«Life went downhill», – I thought, stepping on the autumn prospectus. Thought about it until I saw the strange shine of my find. Now all I could think of was coming home and looking at this shiny ball…

Maybe the fairy tale will come true. Or maybe I’m just in the middle of a madness…

– Hello, Ma-a-ars! – there was a squeaky voice behind my back, belonging to Christina Polyakova, my neighbor.

She goes to the same university as I… studied. She’s attractive, but I can’t stand her at first sight. Stupid pretty face. And nothing more. Stupid, with bright makeup eyes, red lips on a powdered background never said anything clever, I have not heard.

Bleached, yellow hair (no personality) – not hair, but straw. For some reason tries to look older. But why? Even old ladies don’t wear that layer of powder and lipstick.

But maybe I shouldn’t say such a bad thing about her. I’m in such a bad mood today. A nice girl should be for all normal people.

I felt the heat and the cold in my right side. There was a sparkling ball in my right pocket. There was a feeling of cold and heat at the same time, and then with a triple force. Never felt that way – heat and cold at once. What if it’s dangerous? However, no, it was a sign of fate to go more away from Christine. I don’t want to look back like I didn’t hear her call, so I’m moving on, two steps from home. No, there’s that squeaky voice again.

– Mars! Hi! Are you deaf?

– Hi, – I had to stop. – How many times have I told you I’m not Mars, but Mark!

Well, now she’s go

– Mars… uh… mark, do you have any organic chemistry literature?

– Are you crazy? – I’ve run out of patience, she’s the one I’ve always wanted to be rude to. – Where did my chemistry textbooks come from? I’m learning foreign languages. I don’t do chemical gibberish!

– Mark, why are you being so rude when I’m trying to talk to you? 'Cause…

– Why are you calling me Mars?! – You probably expect me to call you Venus? Never!

And why does she make me so angry?

– What a fantasy – Christina laughed. – You have manic-depressive syndrome!

– For now, I said, so I don’t have to be rude again, I don’t like her jokes. I don’t care about her diagnoses. He studies psychology and attributes new «syndromes» to me every time.

With my back turned, I walked towards my own concrete porch. And Christina’s voice is still in my ears, laughing. What’s she doing with me today?

– Your jacket is all white in the back! Ha-ha-ha! Well, as always, you’re a confused weirdo in your repertoire! Or rather, a schizoid personality! Ha-ha-ha! Look, it’s all white! Oh, I can’t! Ha-ha-ha!

– It’s fu

– Oh what is it? – She screamed (not a jacket, but a silly Polyakova).

Christina was looking at a sparkling ball rolling over a muddy, wet asphalt. Oh, hell, my find fell out of my jacket pocket. Now I can’t keep it a secret. Christina is the last person I want to share this secret with. And this lunatic’s already bent over to a sparkling ball and reaching for it with her hand.

– Don’t touch!!! – I screamed.

But the pest ignored my warning and touched the star. I rushed to her, she’s about to lose her fingers…

– Ooh, what is that? – Just saying stupid Polyakova, holding "it" in her palm.

– Give it back, why did you take it? I don’t know if "it" can be taken with my bare hands, if it’s dangerous… I wanted to take away her star. But Christina held her in her fist and pulled her hand behind her back, and I tried to grab her fingers, and I caught her hand, and…

All of a sudden, I can see everything floating around… (Don’t think of it as passion). I felt my legs falling off the ground and we were sharply thrown up. I looked down, and I saw the tops of the trees of the nearby small park being far down, and we were moving faster and faster.

Already thinking that I had gone mad, I decided to close my eyes, expecting that if I opened them again, everything would be the same. But, feeling that speed was only increasing, I opened my eyes and I saw stars and dark blue. Sky above my head and under my feet, everywhere I looked.

The closest stars were moving faster and faster. And we were all going at the speed of light. Actually, we were on a "it" flight that I found today – so small and shiny.

With all my strength, holding Christine’s hand in which she held my find, I saw her closed eyes.

I wondered if she was conscious or just decided not to look fear in the eye. In order not to get lost from each other, I had to hold both of Christine’s hands.