You are me

 The weather, of course, was not particularly pleasant at all. There is no rain, but there is no sun at all. I don't like this kind of weather – it gives the impression of incompleteness or something. The wind ruffled my hair when I came out of the entrance – once again I was glad of my hair - I had never dyed my head, and the masks were all natural, nothing store-bought. Maman taught me that, she's a real fashionista. After looking hopefully at the sky once more (I thought maybe it would start raining and I could go home), I took a deep breath and scratched my head.

No, in general, I love my institute very much, and our teachers are good, and the guys are cool – the group is right, and among them is my love Nikitka. Therefore, there were no special reasons not to go, but sometimes, you know, the mood is that you don't want to go anywhere, and even Nikita is sick, my bunny, and it's sadder without him somehow.…

- Oh, Svetka, I barely caught up with you! What a beautiful bag you have, isn't it new? – turning to the voice, I saw Vika, we study together in a group, we're not really friends, she's a little weird, but she's not bad, though a little intrusive.

"Hi, Vic, no, it's an old bag, ancient supplies," I smiled back at her.

- I see. You don't feel like going today, do you? And the lectures, as luck would have it, are all dreary, can we get out? – Vika suggested.

- Yes, figs knows, and suddenly the dean's office check, and ..., - considering that to clear my conscience, I listed all the reasons not to skip, waved my hand and suggested – oh, come on! And where are we going? You can't come to my place, my mom's at home, and she won't pat me on the head for such things.…

- Yes, you can come to my place.

"Won't yours scold you?"

Light, I live alone, I'm an orphan after all," Vika smiled sadly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know," I smiled sheepishly.

- Come on, let's go! - Vika took me by the sleeve and pulled me along, I obediently stomped after her.

Vika lived in a small one-room apartment, but almost in the center. The apartment was small but cozy, and it maintained perfect cleanliness. As an avid fashionista, I was surprised by the lack of mirrors (only in the bathroom and that small one), and the number of photographs hung on all the walls of the room.

- Wow! It's like a gallery!  I marveled when I entered the room.

- Yeah, I'm just messing around.

- Wow, you're messing around! This is a cool photo," I pointed to a large black-and-white photo of a girl in A2 format, the outlines of the body turned out to be perfect and very smooth, but…

- Vic, why doesn't the girl have a face? – the photo was darkened instead of the face. – Of course, I'm not an artist, but still.

- Actually, it's me in the photo, you know, I'm like a shoemaker without boots – I take pictures of everyone, well, or I try, but I can't catch my face in the frame, it doesn't work out well. Everything else is fine. But I can't catch the face.

"Of course, I'm not photogenic either, to be honest, I rarely like myself in pictures..." I began.

"You?" It can't be! You've got a perfect face and hair.…Wait a minute! – Vika rushed to the dresser and took out her camera.

"Okay, get up here," Vika put me in front of the window, adjusted something on the camera for a long time, then snapped me several times. "Let's take a look," Vika uploaded the photo to her laptop, then showed it to me.

- Wow! Oh, my God! – I was just amazed, the photos turned out to be amazing, - Vic, you have a talent, that's great, huh?

"Yeah," Vika looked at the photo with a smile, "your face is right, and your hair is like gold, you're lucky with your hair, and your eyelashes, your eyes are so deep, and your eyebrows are great..." Vika almost lowered her voice to a whisper.

- Hey, Vikul, what are you doing? – her behavior and strange attitude towards my picture surprised and confused me a little.

It was as if Vika had woken up:

"Oh, yes, I'm sorry, it's a habit of looking at photos closely, saying what happened and what didn't," Vika smiled sheepishly.

- Well, okay, I ran, let's see you tomorrow. Thank you for the pictures," I lightly touched her cheek with my lips, Vika unexpectedly hugged me tightly in response, I felt completely embarrassed, I quickly said goodbye and left.

"She's kind of weird... although maybe she just loves girls... and she took great pictures," I thought as I made my way home. Then my beloved Nikita called, and I didn't even think about my new friend's oddities anymore. The week flew by unnoticed, Vika fell ill and asked to bring her notebooks with missed lectures home. I got to her quickly, went up to the third floor and rang the doorbell.:

- Oh, hi, you came quickly, come in, - Vika smiled warmly and let me into the apartment.

"Vic, I won't be long," I said, holding out my lecture book.

"Svetul, come in for an hour, let's have a cup of tea, I'm already howling with longing," she folded her hands in front of her chin and rolled her eyes pityingly in the manner of a cat from Shrek. I laughed and went into the room.

We chatted about nothing, Vika showed me her new photos – it turned out great, then I noticed that there were changes in the photo where the girl without a face appeared - in place of the darkened oval, there was a picture of me glued with duct tape!

"You're the one who decided to experiment, aren't you?"  I pointed at the photo.

- Yes, that's right, I decided to check how well your face suits me, so it's a joke, - Vika waved her hand, - well, let's have a cup of tea?

I nodded and we went into the kitchen.

- I made cookies here, try it, did it work out okay?

I happily took a bite of a pretty cookie and nodded my head.:

- Awesome, you're doing great! – I took a sip of tea, ate two more biscuits, and while I was talking, I didn't notice that I was already finishing my second cup of tea.

"Oh, I feel sick," my head was spinning, my eyes were just closing.

"It's infected you, so it throws you to sleep, with angina, you always lie down a little bit, rest," Vika took my arm and laid me on the couch, "get some sleep, I'll wake you up in half an hour...I didn't hear anything else, I fell through as if somewhere…

I woke up from the cold, lying on something hard. When I woke up from a dream, I realized that I was lying in some kind of pit, and I don't understand how I got here at all. I got to my feet, holding on to the walls. I was looking around when I heard a noise overhead and saw Vika sitting on the edge of the pit.:

- Vic. And where are we? I don't remember a damn thing..

"You don't have to remember, just sit still and don't worry.

- Vic, what's going on? What do you want from me?

"From you?" – Vika laughed an unpleasant laugh, came closer, squatted down, - nothing, I just want to be you, live your life, that's all.

- Vic, I get it, you want to, let's talk. To be friends, to visit, if you want, take my things for yourself....

"You fool!!!You're a fool!!!  Vika screamed. I don't need your things, they'll be mine anyway, I'll be you, you know?

Vika got up and walked for a while, then took a mirror out of her bag and looked into it:

- I hate this face so much... but I will have another one, I will be who I should be, it's just that a mistake has happened, so I have to fix everything.…

Vika was talking some nonsense, I realized that she had lost her mind along the way, my head was spinning: what should I do, how to get out of here? The situation was not enviable – I was standing in some kind of earthen pit about three meters deep, the walls were completely sloping, not a single root was even sticking out, judging by the fact that I saw some kind of leaky ceiling, we were indoors. Then it dawned on me that I was in some kind of incomprehensible outfit - either a sheet sewn under a shirt, or something else, a shorter robe. There was nothing from my personal belongings either –no bag, no mobile phone, but the scariest thing for me, of course, was that I didn't understand what was going on at all.…

- Well, what's going on? Don't be afraid, I don't need anything from you, you just give me what you owe and that's it," Vika hissed, sitting on the edge of the pit.

"Vic, explain to me exactly what you want from me and why I'm sitting in this hole and..." I took a deep breath to calm myself, "you need money, I'll give you whatever you want, just please help me get out."…

"I don't need the money, you idiot!"!! – Vika screamed so much that she even frothed at the mouth, but then suddenly calmed down, - what am I going to explain to you? You don't need any extra information..." and laughing strangely, Vika went off somewhere.

It was cold in the pit, but fortunately, the floor was covered with boards, and there was something like a blanket nearby, so I wrapped myself in it and began to think hard about what to do next. For some reason, tears didn't come to my eyes at all. I guess I still couldn't believe what was happening, everything was confusing in my head, I couldn't understand what her words meant about her face, about my life, then I remembered my parents – they were probably going crazy, and I was here, and suddenly I felt such a wave of self-pity and horror That I sobbed at the top of my voice. I screamed for a long time, hoping that they would hear me, I tried to threaten Vika, but the silence was such that my ears were ringing, it was gradually getting dark, it was getting darker, and it was getting scarier, tired of tears and all the events, I somehow fell asleep…

Reality returned very hard, my head felt like cast iron, my ear itched terribly, I jerked my hand and realized that I was tied!

When I somehow opened my eyes, I realized that I was sitting on a chair, my hands were taped to the armrests, and there was some kind of smelly rag in my mouth. Looking around, I realized that I was sitting in some kind of dark room, two people were standing with their backs to me, I recognized this idiot Vika in one of them, I mumbled, she turned around:

She quickly came up to me and carefully looked at my hands, touched my nails – they are false. - Damn, I broke one, couldn't I have been more careful?- and she slapped me on the back of the head. From complete horror and misunderstanding, I couldn't even react in any way. Then Vika touched her hair, apparently satisfied, and moved away to the second one, who continued to stand with his back to me, but realized that it was a man. They were talking quietly about something, then, oh, horror! I heard the clang of something metallic, and footage from the scariest movies about maniacs and perverts immediately began flashing in front of me. They turned around and both walked towards me, the man's face was hidden by a medical mask, only his eyes were visible, he had a syringe with a clear liquid in his hands, and Vika had forceps like pliers. I felt even more scared and I twitched helplessly in my chair.

"Don't worry, you idiot," Vika came up and took my hand, then grabbed one of the nails with forceps and pulled.

A hellish pain shot through my entire body, I twitched and tried to scream, but because of this stupid gag, I could only hear mumbling. Vika cursed – the nail broke, she threw it away and began to work on the second finger, while the man looked at us from the side and did not react in any way. I became hysterical from the horror and pain, my body was covered with perspiration, I tried to somehow free my hands, but in vain, the only thing I dreamed of was losing consciousness.…

But the gods were merciless to me and I had to endure all the torture from beginning to end, Vika pulled out all the nails from both hands, I periodically fell into oblivion, but a new attack of pain rolled over and I found myself back in this reality, everything swam before my eyes, some nails broke off along with the real ones, blood gushed from the wounds, and I dreamed that it would end as soon as possible.…

"Finally," Vika put all her nails in a box and said to the man standing next to her:

"Go ahead."

The man came up to me, it seemed to me that he smiled, although maybe I was already delirious and gave an injection, I fell asleep immediately.

Reality hit me with a terrible pain in my arms. I woke up lying on the floor in a pit, my fingers were bandaged, and they hurt mercilessly. Blood seeped through the bandages, and I cried and screamed.:

- Well, what do you want from me? What have I done to you?!!A-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a!!!!!!  I screamed in pain and terror.

- What are you yelling about, huh? - Vika was sitting on the edge of the pit. I noticed that she was wearing my clothes–jeans and a T-shirt, and she was carrying my bag and my cell phone.

"Tell me, what do you want?" Vika, tell me what else you want, take it all, just let me go, please!!!- I looked at my tormentor, my arms bent at the elbows and pressed against my body, I probably looked like a beggar begging for alms.

"Don't yell, okay? It's annoying... - Vika looked thoughtfully at her nails, and then I saw that they were ... my nails, which she tore off my fingers yesterday, they were neatly filed and glued over her nails. Vika noticed my look and grinned.:

- It's beautiful, isn't it? Yes, I have very beautiful nails, I know.…

- Vic, are you crazy or something? Why did you glue my nails to yourself?

"Those aren't your nails, they're mine!" Do you understand now? - Vika got up from her crouch and walked around the edge of the pit, - I finally found myself, I always knew that I was not Vika Izmailova, I am a different person, and when I saw you, I realized that I had finally found myself, so, - here she stopped, She sat down and looked me straight in the eye, "I'll take everything that belongs to me and that's it."

I was just speechless from this nonsense. When I came to my senses a little bit, I asked:

- Vic, okay, if I'm you, then who do you think I am, huh?

"How do I know who you are, it doesn't matter to me. But I know that for some reason you own my name, my nails, my hair, my things, and it's wrong, and mistakes need to be fixed, that's all. Okay, I'm off, sit tight, there's a little surprise waiting for you today," and she left.

From the horror of the whole situation and hunger (I haven't had a crumb in my mouth for about three days) I just fell to the floor. I didn't even cry, I was just terribly thirsty, and then my eyes came across a bottle of water lying nearby, and the effort it took me to open it with my disfigured hands is another story.

The next three days (judging by the leaky ceiling, through which the sky shone) there was nothing, but in the morning I always found water and bread near me, apparently Vika, or her assistant, brought them while I was sleeping.

The days dragged on for a very long time, the wounds on my hands hurt terribly, my head was spinning, I must have started hallucinating, it seemed to me that someone was calling me, then I heard someone shouting: "Don't, I beg you, don't!", I was going crazy…

I woke up to the fact that I was doused with cold water, crying out in surprise, I raised my head and saw Vika sitting on the edge of the pit as always.:

"Are you asleep?" Come on, get up. It's time for you to give me my eyes," and she laughed wildly.

I huddled in the farthest corner of the pit and began to cry.:

"Vika, I'm begging you, please," and covered her face with her hands.

"I'm Sveta, and I don't know any Vicky," this crazy woman screamed, "I said come here!"

I was crying, and suddenly I saw Victoria's hand lengthen in size and reach out to me, now it's very close, now it's near my face, I screamed terribly and lost consciousness.…

I woke up from a bright light. I was lying on something hard, and a lamp was shining in my eyes. There were two dark silhouettes nearby, because of the lamp I couldn't see who it was, then I heard Victoria's voice and realized that she was one of the silhouettes.

"Come on, I need them, quickly," Vika whispered to the second.

"Even if I can remove them, there's no way I'm going to insert them for you, you know?" – the second man, judging by his voice, answered her.

"If you put it in, everything will work out, I know," Vika was angry.

"I don't have that kind of education, I don't do plastic surgery," the man defended himself.

"Shut up and do it, you idiot!  Vika was almost screaming.

The man waved his hand and walked away somewhere.

I tried to say something, but there was a gag in my mouth again, and I was tied up again, all I could do was stare helplessly at the distraught Vika. She, in turn, touched my face and head and whispered:

"My eyes, my lips, my ears, my hair, soon everything will be mine," and she giggled wildly. Tears were streaming from my eyes, it was very scary, it was even scary to imagine what awaits me.

Then a man came up with a syringe in his hand and I fell asleep.…

The first thing I felt was a terrible pain in my head. I tried to touch the sore spot, but my hands were tied again.

Judging by the silence around me, I was alone, trying to turn my head to figure out where I was, but my head was fixed by something and I still saw the same leaky ceiling. My head was spinning, everything was blurry in front of my eyes... or rather, in front of my eye. I couldn't see anything with my other eye!

"My God, what did this creature do!" - tears rolled out of my only eye, my hands were numb from constant binding, it seems to me that the wounds on my fingers began to fester, my head was cast iron, but the worst thing was that I had absolutely no idea what to do and how long I still had... to live.…

I fell into oblivion, they probably drugged me with some kind of medicine, I saw some forests where I was running with my arms wide open, I was flying through the sky, it was so wonderful to fly…

When I came to myself for a while, I always found myself tied to a table, in a supine position. Fortunately, I could see with one eye, but I couldn't hear very well. I saw Victoria's face, angry and displeased, and sometimes distorted in a kind of wild delight…

I didn't feel my body, and I didn't need it, it was so good to fly in my sleep, run with my arms outstretched, I didn't feel anyone or anything, and I didn't want to wake up.…

I woke up again on the floor in the pit. Somehow I sat down, found a bottle with a lid, drank from it, I almost couldn't feel my fingers, my head hurt terribly, but I just wanted to sleep, sleep, sleep…

- hello! – I heard a familiar voice, - I turned my head and saw Vika sitting on the edge, as always. But I didn't recognize her right away, I could only see with one eye, so I came closer.

Vika was sitting in my clothes again, with my bag, she had a wig on her head, the color of my hair, my nails were glued, I silently looked at her.

She looked at me indifferently and twirled a familiar bracelet on her wrist, I tried in vain to remember how I could know him, but then I stopped – my thoughts eluded me, and I just wanted to sleep.…

"I came to say goodbye," Vika got up and threw me an object, then looked at me again and left.

I looked down indifferently, and the object turned out to be a mirror wrapped in a cloth. Somehow, with my disfigured hands, I unwrapped it and looked at my reflection in a ruthless piece of glass. I screamed and fainted.…

The sun was flooding the room with bright light, and when I opened my eyes, I immediately closed them, but then I heard my mother's voice, smiled, and thought, "Finally, Mom had a dream," and I wanted to go back to sleep, but then I felt someone's touch on my arm, and when I opened my eyes, I saw my mother-real, real… I sobbed, and so did Mom, and I clung to her hand and begged her not to go anywhere, kissed her fingers, and howled with joy that she was there.…

"We've been looking for you everywhere we can. Your photos were all over the city, we combed every corner, every entrance, I was so afraid not to find you, my daughter," mom began to cry again, then, calming down, sighed and looked at me, "don't you remember anything at all?

- In fits and starts, my head hurts terribly, Mom, why can I only see with one eye? What's wrong with my face anyway, huh?Everything hurts, I don't have the strength, and why are my hands bandaged... I don't remember anything…

Mom looked at me with a sad look and was silent. Then she took my hand in hers and said:

- Daughter, I'm going to talk to the doctor, okay? You lie down and rest, I'll be quick.

I really didn't like my mother's look and reaction to my question about my appearance, I really wanted to look at myself in the mirror and generally understand what happened to me, and why I don't remember anything.…

Tired of thinking, I leaned back against the pillows and looked around: an ordinary hospital room, but designed for two people, a TV, a refrigerator, everything as always. The second bed was empty, my mother had been gone for a long time, I looked out the window - I could only see the bright blue sky through the branches of the trees. The sky in pieces, through the branches of trees ... shuddering, without knowing why, I turned away.

There was a TV remote on the bedside table, and having nothing better to do, I pressed the button, and the screen lit up with a soft light.…

"... found in an abandoned warehouse of a closed factory in a pit that used to be used for storing vegetables. The girl was in terrible condition, at the time she was unconscious. And now there are live footage from the scene... ", I looked indifferently at the screen: they showed some old building, then a pit, a deck of planks on the floor of the pit... I turned away to take an apple from the bedside table and heard the voice of the announcer:

"The girl was in a terrible state, delirious, covered with rotting wounds, traces of torture on her body..." I turned to look at the unfortunate woman and screamed: my reflection from the mirror was looking at me from the TV screen, from that terrible dream…

- No!!!No!!!! – I screamed so much that half the hospital was alarmed, they calmed me down only after they injected me with a sedative.

"The found girl turned out to be Svetlana Surkova, who disappeared a month ago. The intruders (there turned out to be two of them) shaved her head bald, cut off both ears, pulled out her nails and cut out one eye. The suspects turned out to be Svetlana's former classmate Victoria Izmailova, who is also the organizer of the crime, and her accomplice and main assistant is a former surgeon who was fired from the hospital for drunkenness and incompetence, Stas Popov. Izmailova was detained in her apartment, and she resisted being locked up. Surkova's personal belongings were found in her apartment. There is a possibility that Izmailova will be declared insane, as she persistently calls herself Svetlana Surkova, glued nails were found on Izmailova's nails, torn out from Surkova, and Svetlana's alcohol-soaked eye and a wig made from Surkova's hair were found on a table in a glass jar.Also, the second suspect, Stas Popov, admitted that he performed surgical operations, and that it was he who, by prior agreement, cut off Surkova's ears, and then sewed them on suspect Izmailova, and he also confirmed that the eye he removed was Surkova's., Izmailova asked to have it inserted, but Popov admitted that he would not be able to perform such an operation.… This terrible story amazed even the battered operatives. A criminal case has been opened. An investigation is underway..."