Aunt Zhenya was away whole day. Pavel saw her on the next morning when she called him into her study to do some talking. Well, he had thought that was her study before he came in. Actually it was more like some working space with lots of books in the bookshelves and five desks. There were a computer on every desk. Those computers seemed to be rather expensive. And perhaps the latest models or something close to them.
“I've learned some things about what had happened to you lately,” she said. “And those things were... interesting enough. First. The creatures which had attacked you are called mist-bannegors. They are pretty rare and have one specific feature. The mist-bannegors can be tamed. Sometimes they are used by magicians for hunting. They are pretty good at chasing the catch and tearing it apart. These are vicious dangerous creatures. And there's no way to hide in any building because mist-bannegors can get everywhere leaking through the walls. But they are not so important though. The thing is that someone used creatures from another worlds and lots of portals which led there to draw our attention.”
“But you hadn't even known about me,” noticed Pavel. “What was the purpose of that?”
“Right, but we could have sensed that some family member was in danger. It would have been possible if we were in family castle. At least me, your uncle and Timofei had to feel that something wrong. So we could find you. But we all were away. And there's no coincidence, of course.” She paused then continued. “And as you have said we hadn't known about you. But someone had. Do you have any ideas?”
“No.” Pavel shrugged his shoulders.
“And what about your mother?” asked aunt Zhenya. “Do you know anything about her?”
“I've met her once.”
“Tell me.”
That day Pavel was climbing up the stairs in an old nine-store building. Finally he found the door he needed. It was a wooden one with peeled paint and number 17 on it. Pavel froze for a moment. Then he knocked.
The door was opened by a plump woman wearing a dressing gown. She had thin blond hair which was collected into a short ponytail.
“Who are you?” asked the woman.
“Are you Maria Savelyeva?”
“Yes.”
“Eighteen years ago you had left your baby in the maternity hospital,” said Pavel. “I am that baby.”
She frowned and stared at him. Pavel hadn't paid attention that time but now he was sure that the woman rubbed her temples.
“What do you want?” she asked.
Pavel just didn't know what he should answer to that.
What does he want?
“Look,” sighed she. “I was young. And I was going out a lot. It happened then. That thing... I was probably raped.”
“You are not sure?” said Pavel.
“I am sure,” answered the woman. “I got drunk and maybe even more. And someone had used my helplessness that moment. That was the reason I didn't remember how it had happened.”
“Who was that?”
“I don't remember either,” the woman shrugged her shoulders. “You have to understand that I couldn't let my life to be broken because of someone used me.”
At that moment Pavel saw a little girl who showed up from somewhere inside the flat. There was a boy following her. Also little.
“Mum, who' that?” the girl asked.
“Nobody!” the woman snapped at her. “Get out of here both of you.”
Nobody.
That was pretty straight and clear answer.
The woman turned back to Pavel. “You should go away too. Before my husband comes home. I don't want him start asking questions.”
Pavel clenched his hands.
That whore.
She doesn't even remember who she had sex with. How could it be?
Was it a real rape? Or she's just lying and making excuses for herself.
Could it be that his father just didn't want to take care of her and the child they had because of sex at some party? Or Pavel just didn't want his father to be rapist. Which means the story was true.
But anyway. His parents seemed not to want Pavel.
And now he's just nobody.
That moment Pavel desired to hit her so badly. He wanted just grab her hair and start hitting the wall with her head until the brain leaks out. If she had any brain of course.
The next second Pavel heard children's voices from some room inside. He was jealous of those kids. Why they still had their mother? And why he was just nobody?
But somehow their voices made him weak. He couldn't even make that side of his nature manifest... perhaps it was for good.
And Pavel did nothing to the woman.
He just turned out and walked away.
She closed the door behind him.
Pavel tried not to think about that woman so much. He didn't believe her story much also. Pavel preferred to consider himself as an orphan.
And he hasn't realized that she and her attitude towards him were still making him angry.
He didn't notice himself clenching his hands again while aunt Zhenya was watching him with all her attention.
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