Part Two
Chapter 1. Shelter
The ceiling above the bed was black from soot, with many small cracks and pieces of plaster falling out. In the corner, there were even pieces of cobwebs hanging, but they were so high that no one had ever thought of taking them off. However, the whole room was just as desolate.
Andrei woke up again before he got up and looked at the dark crack pattern above his head.
This place was disgusting.
All life was disgusting and sad.
Andrew flipped sideways and pushed his face into the state pillow, which smelled like cheap liquor for washing and, for some reason, dust. He wasn't crying. What good did it do? Tears will not fix anything and will not help anyone. Neither my father, nor my mother, nor the girls... And God forbid, who will see - then from the mark of crybaby will not wash away forever.
The door opened rumble, and the hated guard Lucius, the teacher, wore a copper beater.
- Wake up! Wake up! Get up, you little bastards! Stop tracking down your side! Wake up!
Almost immediately it became noisy - here and there in their uncomfortable barracks were imported boys. They yawned, grumbled, made shoes under the beds, someone started arguing in the morning. There were almost three dozen of them in the room.
Andri got up in silence. As it should be, he made his bed neatly and quickly, pulled up his shirt with his pants and came out of the bedroom. The washroom was at the other end of the corridor, as dark and gloomy as the whole shelter.
The tap water was cold. Andrew was almost used to it. A couple of sharp movements he washed his face, and then, barely overcoming the nastiness, he needed a hole in the floor, which here was called a toilet. Flies always flew near the hole, although the old deaf janitor Whim was falling asleep twice a day with stinking chlorine powder.
The washroom was quickly filled with filthy boys. They paid almost no attention to Andrew - most believed that the gloomy pupil with unevenly trimmed light patches is simply him. Partly so it was... Andri was silent. He didn't want to talk to anyone or anything.
He didn't want anything at all.
More than two weeks ago, Peter, the janitor, told Andrew that the entire Goran family had been taken to St. Paul's Fortress, and no one else had heard of them.
Andrew alone managed to escape...
He remembered very well that last night of his happy life, which was irrevocably lost in the past.
When people with red bandages broke into the hallway, Andrew instinctively recoiled into the hallway, hurting the handle of the door leading to the maid's quarters. He wanted to repulse himself, but suddenly he saw Antonia in front of him, who was next to him.
- Quickly! - The nurse sewed the babysitter, pushing Andri into the cell. Mig and the door snapped behind their backs. Andri didn't understand anything, his heart was racing, and he was hot in his temples.
- What is it, Nanny? - He was scared out of breath when he saw an old maid throwing something from her drawers into a simple cloth bag. These usually contained smoked meat or cheese in the kitchen.
- Shut up! - The nurse pulled a bag with a rope and put it in Andri's hands. - Get out the window!
- But... but...
- Quickly!!! - Antonia opened the window to the courtyard. Then, seeing that Andrew wasn't moving, she pushed him to the window sill. - Come on, boy, don't ruin yourself! Run, before it's too late... Though you will be saved...
Andri did not want to run, but outside the door was imported, there was a strong knock, and Antony suddenly slapped him with a strong ringing slap.
- Get in!
And he did not dare to disobey. He hung the bag over his shoulder and grabbed the window frame with his trembling hands. His legs felt the comfortable eaves himself, and Andrew easily reached the gutter along which he drove down.
If someone had guarded the back door, it was only at the door of the apartment that the professor's son's escape went unnoticed.
Fearing, shame and unspeakable bitterness, Andrew jumped out of the yard through the open gate and rushed away from home, family and his happy life. Only at the canal did he come to his senses and realize that he had betrayed everyone. Andri clenched his fists.
Come back!
To return home before it was too late and to share with his family whatever the Lord had prepared for them...
Smearing tears on his cheeks, Andri again ran across the streets and alleys, past the familiar trees from childhood, which seemed to turn away from the traitor.
Mom...
How could he leave his mother? How?
It was painful to think about it, and Andri ran faster and faster until his lungs started to burn, and there was only one thought left in his head...
Just to be on time.
But when he broke into the yard, ran up the back stairs and saw the sealed door, it became clear that it was too late. It was too late.
Everybody left.
Continuation in the next part of 35.