The First of September. Part I. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The man in a coal-colored coat

The next morning brought the excitement of something incredible and joyful to Dina – she was no longer going to be alone on her way to school. The last time her mom walked her to school was on the last day of first grade, and until sixth grade Dina walked with Ira. In sixth grade she requested to walk alone because Ira managed to transform a simple walk to school into a modern torture method. So, Olga agreed and made sure Dina had a good five minutes of advantage before she let Ira leave the house.

Very quickly Dina finished her breakfast, pulled on her newly mended tights and her uniform, and rushed out of the door. She ran across the street to the elderly gate of Nick’s house. The morning air felt cold, even though it was only the very beginning of September. Autumn had not overtaken the summery haze over the town quite yet, but Dina could feel its closeness. She stopped by the fence and stood up on her tiptoes to see what was happening in the garden. She saw the familiar orange head as Nick ran up the pathway to the gate. He smiled.

“Good morning!” he exclaimed as he closed the latch of the gate behind him. Today he was wearing a regular school uniform – grey suit and grey pants. He kept his white shirt with a funny collar that stayed perked up but changed the bowtie for a long green tie.

“Hi,’ said Dina.

“How’s life?” asked Nick politely as they started towards the school. Unable to find the words to describe the confrontation with Ira at lunch yesterday and her longing for the summer, Dina chose to complain about the terrible math homework. When she finished, Nick said:

“The principal wants to see my parents…”

“Is it because of the fight?” Dina felt her resentment towards school stirring again.

“More or less. Also, because apparently I was dressed inappropriately yesterday,” Nick shook his head.

“Inappropriately?!” Dina was taken aback. “I thought you were dressed better than any other boy in our class!”

She stopped, feeling her ears burning, and Nick laughed:

“Thanks! Mom found the clothes. Nina… Nikolaevna, I believe that’s her middle name, said that I ought not walk around the school in a ripped dirty shirt. I told her it was because of Tuna, but she didn’t want to listen. Then they said that my pants are too skinny… I don’t know why. Mom got me the actual uniform yesterday.”

“O-oh, here comes the bullying,” Dina slapped her forehead. “This happens every time! The moment someone new comes they start this!”

“It’s fine,” Nick sighed. “Mom knows I didn’t rip my shirt on purpose, and that’s what matters.”

“And your dad? Did he look at you with disappointment?” inquired Dina with a smile.

“He did,” Nick’s face suddenly became very serious and almost angry. “While I was telling him what happened, he sat there in his chair and read a newspaper. I hate newspapers. They’re nasty. They’re noisy, the paper is so thin and yellow, and it rips so easily, it’s bitter too…”

“Our newspapers are grey,” noted Dina.

“They’re also nasty,” continued Nick. “I wish they didn’t exist at all.”

“Back in the day the newspapers were the only way people could learn what’s going on in the world,” said Dina. “They used to be more important. My dad puts them on the floor when he repots houseplants.”

“That is the right way to use them! Walk on them!”

“When will your parents come to school?” asked Dina.

“After classes,” said Nick.

“Good. Stay strong! This week they will be testing you!” stated Dina.

“Fine!” Nick shook his head, and his hair flickered in the air like flames. “I’ll endure!”

Dina smiled. His determination awakened a sense of daring joy in her heart.

* * *

Dima Tuna was late to the first class, so his first encounter with Nick took place during the break. The moment the bell rang, Tuna packed his bag and, on his way out of the classroom, dropped a note on Nick’s desk. Dina stared at it suspiciously and advised her friend:

“Beware, he may have put a spider or a wasp in there.”

“Oh, what horrid creatures!” laughed Nick and unfolded the note. No atrocious beast was hiding in the paper, but Nick’s brows furrowed as he read the uneven scribbles. His face gained that scary stern expression again.

“What’d he say?” asked Dina, trying to peek at the note over his arm.

“Nothing special,” Nick folded the paper and tucked it in the pocket of his jacket. Dina surrendered and was left guessing. During the next break, Nick suddenly disappeared and returned only by the beginning of the next class. Tuna, whose black eye was entirely blue today, followed, and both looked somewhat disheveled. They sat down at their respective desks, and Dina noticed that Nick’s neck under the collar was bright red.

“Well,” he said as he fixed his tie. “What a moron!..”

“What happened?”

“He invited me to discuss yesterday’s events in the bathroom on the first floor, where there are less people,” Nick steepled his fingers over the desk. “But today I was not caught off guard.”

Dina smiled gloatingly at Tuna’s ruffed-up hair. Today’s victory may not have been officially recorded by anyone, but it had the potential to dampen Tuna’s fame as the strongest guy in the class of 2016.

The last period was physical education, and the teacher, Andrei Sergeevich, decided to test his students’ condition after the summer, so he made everyone do shuttle run. Dina hated shuttle run. What was the point in dashing back and forth between two cones and timing it?..

In his black shorts and a white t-shirt, Nick looked especially ridiculous because of his straight and businesslike posture. Dina offered to help him tie his hair in a ponytail, so it would not get in his face while running, but he firmly refused.

The boys were the first to be tested. Dina sat on a bench, far away from everyone else, and with a smile watched the boys disgrace themselves in front of everyone. She especially enjoyed Tuna’s apologetic speeches concerning his incredible skills in fighting but terrible running abilities. Usually the slippery floor, the new shoes, and the teacher’s timer were to blame for his bad results.

Before Tuna’s run of embarrassment, however, it was Nick’s turn, and Dina crossed her arms in anticipation of a new show. Nick crouched down in a low start, biting his lips and bouncing impatiently. Andrei Sergeevich blew the whistle, and the boy flung himself through the air in a powerful jump. His black Converse squeaked on the shiny floors. It took only a few seconds, and Nick jumped over the last cone. Andrei Sergeevich clicked his timer as Nick ran around slowly in a circle and stopped in front of him, fixing his hair.

“You’re a monster,” said Andrei Sergeevich and put Nick’s name on the list. “Six seconds and two milliseconds. That is a record so far, even for the seniors. Where’d you learn to run like that?”

“I have long legs,” Nick shrugged and walked over to Dina’s bench. He plopped down next to her, and Dina gave him a thumbs-up.

“What does this mean?..” asked Nick, smiling uneasily.

“It means that something is cool,” said Dina. “Tuna will be humiliated out of his mind.”

“Oh, yes, good,” Nick fixed his hair again, and Dina suddenly noticed that he was not even sweating. He was sitting next to her, breathing calmly, as if he had not just run forty yards in six seconds.

If elves were real, they’d look like this, thought Dina as she watched Tuna huff and puff past her, hopelessly attempting to speed up. Maybe mom is right; maybe living in this reality more often is worth it. There are people like Nick just walking around, and I’m making up imaginary friends, characters from books. I play with them, completely alone, in the fields and forests. Of course elves don’t exist, but there are Nicks, who are like them. It is sad though, that elves don’t exist…

* * *

After changing back into their uniforms, Nick and Dina went down to the lobby. Nick elbowed his way through a group of seniors and went up to a frail young woman in an ash-pink dress. Her bright golden hair flowed around her shoulders in gorgeous waves. Dina followed her friend but suddenly felt a shadow pass over her. She lifted her eyes to witness a tall man, who looked slightly younger than her parents but had a weirdly posh posture. His light face looked disengaged and otherworldly and was covered in transparent freckles. In the ever-flowing sea of students, he felt like a black monolith in his coal-colored coat and long silver hair that spread over it.

“Dina, may I introduce you to my parents?” Nick tugged at Dina’s sleeve.

“Anna,” said the woman in a pink dress, with a smile. She had a kind, pretty face with shiny blue eyes.

“I-it’s nice to meet you. I’m Dina,” in her awkwardness, Dina attempted to stick her hands into nonexistent pockets.

“What a nice name! Nick told us about you,” Anna patted her shoulder.

“Eldar,” said the man with grey hair and gave her a dignified nod. At a loss for words, Dina nodded too, and Nick said:

“Don’t wait for me today, it’ll… take time.”

“OK,” Dina answered slowly. She could not take her eyes off Eldar’s cold, indifferent face.

“’ Till tomorrow then!” said Nick.

“Bye,” breathed Dina. Eldar took Anna’s arm, put his elegant hand on Nick’s shoulder and walked them both down the corridor. Once they disappeared, Dina picked up her backpack and went down the steps into the noisy yard. Everyone had normal, common parents, the busy ones, with their hair tied up in messy buns or cut short. They had foggy glasses and patched-up shirts, but these people…. Dina stopped to think. She could still see the shine of Eldar’s silver hair before her eyes. Now she knew exactly what Nick meant when he talked about his father’s look of disappointment.

* * *

The red and yellow quilted blanket of October draped over the town of Vytegra. The sun began to rise later and set earlier; the never-ending rain drowned the smell of summer in the wet grey streets. The tall grass around the house with blue platbands grew brown, and the apple trees shed their coats of dark leaves over the first thin crisps of ice on the endless puddles of autumn. Dina felt this fall in her soul. She sat at her desk, in her room, with candles around her and drew and painted for countless hours. Sometimes she still checked on her stick under the porch, touched its rough wood to feel the slight vibration of the summer heat that still hid under its bark.

Everyone became accustomed to Nick at school. Tuna attempted to confront him a few more times, but Nick kept him at a distance. Dina was no longer alone during breaks. Together with Nick, they read books and walked the streets after classes, kicked the giant burdock leaves that grew along the river, and set little boats they made from chestnut shells to sail on the puddles. When the evenings started to become colder, Nick began dropping by the house, and together with Dina and her sisters, Ira and Lera, they played card games and made puzzles. However, Nick never invited them over to his house, and Dina never saw his parents again.

His house remained dark at night even after many days. One late evening, Dina sneaked out to walk over to his house and investigate, but the windows were covered by blinds and looked pitch-black. He never explained where he was from, and with time Dina stopped noticing his accent. His face was friendly and nice, but he kept disappearing once in a while at the most unexpected of times. He would be gone for a day or two. Dina interrogated him on the subject, but all of his answers were noninformative, and she gave up trying to understand what was up with his family. In late October, on Saturday, Nick asked her to go fishing, to catch the last glimpse of real fall before winter began. It was incredibly cold, but Dina was happy to do one last fishing trip, and so she agreed.

* * *

Raindrops tapped on her window when Dina woke up on the early October morning. She sighed and dressed up warmly, picked up the sausage sandwiches her mom had left for her in the kitchen, and packed a thermos of warm tea. She tied her shoes, grabbed a hat and a raincoat, and walked out into the damp grey world. She walked out onto the road as she put her fishing rod on her shoulder. Nick was already waiting for her under the bush of lilacs. Dina looked him over in surprise. His outfit consisted of a dark-green wool coat, a scarf wrapped all the way up to his nose, and trousers tucked into tall leather boots.

“Where’d you get these?” inquired Dina, examining those boots. “I’ve dreamed about such boots my entire life!”

“Mom found them somewhere,” Nick shrugged. “Good morning.”

“It’s a stupid idea,” complained Dina, wincing at the crying sky. “We’ll get wet and develop pneumonias.”

“Maybe the rain will stop?” mused Nick. “Come along.”

In silence they walked down the street, passed a few blocks, and turned to the outskirts of the city. Dina took the lead and followed a path that ran along the river somewhere far beyond. She always wanted to find the end of this path, but she never dared go far enough. The path never ended; it went on into the uncharted lands among the swamps and bogs of Vytegra’s wild woods that stood dark and frighteningly silent in the fall. If one followed unknown paths, one could get so lost they had better chances of reaching the Arctic Ocean than finding civilization again.

The river emerged out of the juniper bushes like a strip of molten lead, heavy and motionless, weighing on its steep brown banks. Dina and Nick walked along the water until they reached a quiet bay that was guarded against the rest of the world by a small gathering of ivory birches. Dina dropped her backpack on the sloping back of a mossy boulder and sat down to look at the river. Nick placed himself next to her and pulled out a jar of earthworms and a small sack of homemade cookies, which he immediately offered to Dina.

“The fish would come to your cookies before they smell the worms,” noted Dina, sniffing the cookie. “What’s the recipe?”

“Don’t know, Mom made them yesterday,” said Nick and untangled his fishing rod.

Dina chewed on the cookie, watching him put a worm on the hook. She had never tried cookies like this before; they were spicy, but sweet, yet she could not tell what spices or herbs she was tasting. Nick’s bobber splashed the water and then straightened out. Dina also fixed up her rod, and soon both bobbers were slowly dancing on the dark, thick water.

“Father got a job,” said Nick suddenly.

Dina shuddered into stillness. She dared not take her eyes off the bobbers. For a few moments it was quiet, and she watched every possible scenario of the future pass before her. One of them slowed down and spiraled through the air like an autumn leaf: he is leaving. He is leaving, and she will be yet again left alone, on this shore, in this cold town, in this stupid school, and her reality will slowly return to its normal unbearable bleakness.

“We’ll be here for another week,” Nick continued. “While we pack and all.”

She had already begun to forget the plots of the adventures she used to imagine… For two joyful months her world ceased to be boring and scary; for two months her real life was more fun than the imaginary one. Elves don’t exist, and neither do people who look like them. They are all the same; they all walk away and leave her alone, even if she becomes friends with them. They are all the same…

“Forgive me,” added Nick, fixing his hair, messed up by the wind.

“What’s the point?” asked Dina, colder than the heart of December. “I knew you’d leave. They all leave. They all walk away.”

Nick stared at her in confusion, and she jerked her fishing rod and folded it. Fishing was done. The weather was terrible; it was time to go home.

“We’re friends, right?” said Nick as he pulled up her own lure. “I don’t want our friendship to end.”

“You’re leaving!”

“Yeah, but I can write to you,” suggested Nick. “And come visit!”

“You can!… But it’s not the same! At all! You won’t be there when Tuna wants to beat the living daylights out of another nerd! We won’t be able to read books together under the apple tree again! You won’t come fishing with me! I’m so done with this!..”

“Dina… Dina, please,” Nick reached for her and wanted to touch her shoulder, but Dina slapped his hand.

“Get lost! Go! And leave me alone!”

“Dina!” Nick jumped up, and she stared at him from below. “Listen to me, please!..”

“I don’t want to hear anything!”

“I beg you!” exclaimed Nick pleadingly, and Dina stood up. “Listen. I understand, I understand how much this hurts you. Maybe, I understand better than you can imagine. Recently I almost lost a friend. Completely. He… it was a long story, but he survived only because I carried him out in time, because I survived, because…”

“What happened?..” whispered Dina. “A fire?.. Or are you from the war zone?..”

“No, no, it’s not like that at all; it’s more complicated. I’ll be in huge trouble if anyone finds out, but you’re my friend, and you deserve to know the truth. I will tell you, but please don’t freak out. Of all the people of my acquaintance, you’re probably the only person who can truly believe what I’m about to say… Do you have it in you to believe in things that don’t feel real at all?” Nick watched her with his keen green eyes, and Dina grew angry with his mysteriousness.

“So what? What’s so insane that you’re about to tell me that I won’t believe? I’m not a stupid villager or something; I know the world is big and strange!..” She crossed her arms. “Are you a Finn who went through the Afghan war somehow? Or are you from America? Or maybe you escaped from Uruguay, from the arrows of the locals?”

“Hah, no, not like that, no. This… you don’t know about,” Nick smiled and brushed his hair back, placing it behind his elongated and pointed pink elven ears. They were as alive as the rest of him; the left one had an old scar on it. Dina stared at him with eyes widened more than she deemed possible. He tilted his head a bit.

“I told you it’s hard to believe,” he smiled with his cunning, daring smile, and Dina, out of precaution, slapped him on the face.

“O-ow!” yelled Nick, leaning away. “What for?!”

“Sorry, I had to check you were real,” said Dina, still peering at him. Nick pressed his hand to his victimized cheek.

“Are they real?..” Dina reached out and pinched the tip of his ear, warm and pulsating under her fingers.

“A-ah! Let go! What’s wrong with you?! I knew you’d freak out! Have you never touched your own ears before? It’s so uncomfortable!” Nick pushed her away, but Dina still felt the tender skin on his ear on her hand.

“That’s crazy…” she whispered. “I can touch my ears; it’s nothing.”

“Yeah?.. Hm, ours are very sensitive. They have some hairs that mom says you need to wash properly, because otherwise your hearing will get worse, but I hate washing my ears…” Nick pulled a pair of thin leather gloves out of his pocket. “But that’s fine, just minor details. Want to see something else?”

“What?” asked Dina cautiously.

“I’m so dead for this… But you’ll think all of this was a weird dream, unless you see for yourself. Take your backpack.”

“Why?..”

“Just take it!”

Dina put a strap of her backpack over her shoulder, and Nick picked up his bag. Then he suddenly grabbed Dina’s hand, and she struggled to free herself, but his grip was way stronger than she expected.

“By the way,” Nick stepped up to her. “You asked about my name. My name is Nicklis. Nicklis Keteroe. That other name was for you; my parents said it would be easier for me to blend in at school if I had one of your people’s names. So, nice to meet you again, Dina.”

He turned away and started down the riverbank, running through the grass, down to the water. Dina screamed in surprise, but he held her hand tightly, and then the world suddenly burst into ripples, as if somebody hit the surface of a calm mirror-like pool. Dina shut her eyes, but even through her eyelids she could see a flash of light. When she opened her eyes again to see where she was going, they were running through a thick grey darkness. Nicklis dashed among boulders and stranger grey bushes. His boots rustled in the grey leaves. For a few long seconds they rushed through this strange foggy landscape with no wind and no temperature, as if the world was impalpable. Then Nicklis put up a hand and a star sprang from under his fingers. Dina saw the waves again; they were distorting reality. Nicklis stepped through the air as if it were a piece of wallpaper.

Bright daylight blinded Dina, and the freezing wind numbed her face. She tripped, and Nicklis’ hand released her as she fell into thick feathergrass, causing a myriad of snowflakes to burst into the air. For a moment Dina lay still, afraid to lift her eyes, afraid to even breathe, but then she dared look up. Sparkling in the sunlight and shimmering with the waves of the feathergrass sea, a field spread around her. The sun, low and golden, froze over the horizon and cut the milky-blue sky with its sharp rays. To the left, in the might of its bronze armor, rose a forest of tall pines.

“Nick?..” Dina straightened up. Nicklis, who had been lying on his back in the grass, sat up.

“Welcome to Orlind!” he said, completely out of breath. He spread his arms out as if to show her the whole world around him. “To the lands of the Woodland Elvish Kingdom! Today is the twenty-fifth of October, just like back home!”

 “Good lord…” Dina patted down her head. “What’s happened to me?..”

“What’s wrong?” Nicklis sounded concerned.

“What is my imagination doing to me?.. I went insane!” Dina lay back down in the grass.

“No!” Nicklis crawled over to her and took her by the hands. “See, I’m real! All of this is real! I wanted to show you this world, my world, my home. Otherwise, you wouldn’t believe me!”

“This is all because you’re leaving,” Dina shut her eyes tightly. “I don’t want you to leave, so my brain invented all of this. Tell me you’re not an elf!”

“I am an elf,” said Nick in his offended, strangely adult tone. “I’m an elf of Orlind.”

Dina opened her eyes and gazed into his frowned face. His ears became red in the wind, and overall, he looked more or less real. As the events of the past two months flashed before her, Dina began to realize that she had never seen his ears; they were always hidden under his hair, but she never paid attention to that.

“Goblins…” whispered Dina.

“G… what? Where?” Nicklis jerked as he looked around in quick, sharp movements.

“You got so scared then, because in your world goblins are real…” Dina dug her hands into the cold sparkling grass.

“Oh, that. That was stupid,” winced Nicklis. “I wasn’t scared; I just wanted to be cautious. That doesn’t hurt, ever.”

“I went completely mad… You’re probably also imaginary,” Dina closed her eyes again.

“Golte Evere, if we keep sitting here like this I will go nuts! Come along already!” Nicklis got up and pulled her up by the sleeve.

“Where?” Dina jumped up.

“Let’s go visit my friend,” Nicklis smiled. “Who is the reason for all of this.”

Dina fixed her raincoat and looked at him decidedly.

“You are a hallucination, that is certain,” she said. “Like in a fairytale. A fairy appears and tries to lure a human into its home from where there is no way back.”

Nicklis pressed his lips tightly and looked at her in clear offence, with his head slightly bowed; then he stepped towards her. His eyes suddenly flashed green, and Dina screamed when his hands wrapped around her temples. Her shout was cut off, and she grew still, staring into a tunnel of light that pushed away Nicklis’ concentrating face.

* * *

A pair of thin and warm arms that belonged to a tall blue-eyed elf maiden embraced her as if they were completely real. Dina could hear her light and kind laughter; she could understand her words and feel the calm summery breeze on her cheek. She understood completely and fully that the elf maiden was her mother or the mother of the one, in whose memories she suddenly found herself.

This scene faded quickly, and flashes of the events of the past started passing before her eyes in a stream of emotions, vibrant and sharp, entirely unforgettable. Dina played in the grass and fought the bushes in the corner of a garden with a large stick; she was angry when she was forced to play a flute; she sang simple scales together with a scrawny big-eyed boy, while they stood in the middle of the night, full of fireflies and dark wind; she shot her bow and had a fistfight with somebody; she helped paint the fence around a garden, and she chased tall and ethereal borzois of her father among the cherry trees; she flipped through the pages of a history book and wrote down endless dates from a blackboard, and then the world changed again.

The golden haze of childhood was marred with red. She saw dark sand, a broken tree, and someone’s belongings scattered around a meadow. She saw the skinny boy she had seen before with his face buried in the sand. He lay still, pale like death itself, with his arms folded under his chest, and the sand around him was wet. Dina stretched out an arm, someone else’s arm, familiar and yet so strange, grabbed the boy by the shoulder and tried to turn him over…