STORIES OF 9 WOMEN. ANASTASIYA LISITSA

own sketches, Belle supported young Vilora’s love. So, 99 days within four walls, miraculously saved creatures were brightening up their leisure time being on tenterhooks. The food was slowly running out, the tap water was yellowish, of unnatural in color, but there was no way out. Vilora sieved liquid through cheesecloth, boiled liter by liter, and so forth and so on, until the water looked at least a little like potable one.

      «Today is March 5, 2044. I am writing in my favorite notebook to realize that I am still capable of thinking. Today the sun is shinning brightly, outside the window there is dead silence, I do have no phone, no internet, no TV. I am dreaming of ice cream and strawberries.»

      Then Vilora stopped writing and turned to drawings again. Each of her sketches displayed forms, outstanding female forms. She drew young, elderly, transgender people, but none of them had faces. Attention was drawn to poses and bends, in which the girl took a particularly keen interest. Perhaps, since her body was certainly not perfect, nature awarded Vilora with talent. She accepted this gift, fell in love with herself and the world around, until all this happened. For twenty-eight years, she learned to cope with herself and with her suicidal thoughts arising out of her appearance. And in a flash everything ended, now there was no need for anyone to prove something, there was no need to live in a system and go by generally accepted rules. Each day was built on the principles of her own choice, albeit in a little space. When the general disaster went down, Vilora could finally breathe and relax, slam the doors and forget about the constant responsibility to the world. 99 days gave her the opportunity to find herself, forget about the stares and people who always left deep wounds in her. At the same time, ambiguity and a desire to speak her mind appeared. Indeed, now Vilora means something, and above all, she means something to herself. There was a stupid feeling which, it seems, can only disturb a person. When you have everything, you are still unhappy because you want something extra.

      «Well, why wasn’t it good enough? Food, money? Greed and avarice have destroyed the whole fragile world, it has been just wiped away. Why play poker when you have already won, won the moment for living,» the girl reasoned, glancing at the dog.

      The wall clock kept ticking, night torn space and silence. Vilora finished drawing an old woman. She got it into her head that each of the illustrations had its own story, its own spirit. Vilora drew for a good reason. Some people knew how to express themselves through letters, some did it through a crowd, and some did it through a visual interpretation of feelings.

      She fell asleep by the artificial fireplace. Bella curled up in a ball, and the dark side of the world captured them in a dream.

      The close contact of two living creatures erases all the facets of the restless brain and lulls to sleep. This is the magic of symbiosis.

      «Open up. Hurry. Open the door.»

      It’s a dream or reality – you cannot tell.

      But human perseverance, emotional aggression and the talent to upset your applecart are equally felt in any state. Only we humans have this gift to infiltrate someone else’s space.

      Vilora opened her eyes, held her breath. Dream or reality, what kind of glitch is in your head?

      «IS THERE ANYONE ALIVE?» male voices shouted loudly.

      This is reality? After 99 days, someone knocked on my door?

      «Seems like, there’s no one here either.»

      Vilora got into her sweater, locked the basement, and ran toward the door.

      «WAIT!!!!!!!!!»

      They turned around. People looking like white moths. Two men wearing masks protective armour headed toward the girl holding some huge box in their hands.

      «Take it, this is a new protection. We distribute it to everyone who is alive. It is delivered from the laboratory this morning. Manuals and other stuff are inside the box.»

      The guys handed the packed box with a serial number.

      Before opening the door, Vilora had locked the dog in the basement. If these guys noticed it, they would burn it. After all, as stated in the instructions, any animal is a potential carrier of the virus.

      Five minutes passed, Vilora with a box stood at the Italian window. She watched the departed people with interest. Her last encounter with the survivors happened a few months ago in the hospital, when Vilora tried to get a mask and another recommendation. It was this day that became her last outing, and then countless deaths began, the blocked city and strict prohibitions on leaving the house.

      Curiosity didn’t nag her too much, Bella locked in the basement was much more important now. She wanted to open this box together with her. What if in this very wooden box the possibility of a new life is hidden? For the two of them.

      Holding the box in her hands, she proceeded to the basement door. Vilora opened it and let the dog. The girl eagerly tore the box out and saw the manual. Four packages peeped out from under it. A small one, smaller, even smaller and completely tiny one. Vilora began to unpack them, like a child. She had not experienced such happiness since the grief fell on the fragile shoulders of mankind, who believed itself to be all high and mighty. And so, in front of her eyes appeared an outfit similar to the one the guys who had come a few minutes ago were wearing. A mask, gloves, an astronaut-like shoes, and the most interesting thing was a square contraption, like a diving mask. It was all very surprising and laughable.

      «Bella, how can that save us?»

      The dog sniffed everything, and then she lost interest in the contents of the box and ran to handle her own dog’s affairs. Vilora continued to examine things she received, she sniffed every item, then tried on everything except the suit and glasses. The suit evoked a feeling of isolation and enslavement in her. The glasses seemed to be a sublimator of reality. Fear, interest and at the same time the desire to leave the vicious circle strangled her with might and main. Vilora wanted to run out of the house naked and send the whole situation to hell. I wanted to run over the corpses and shout: «It serves you right!» But the manual, the manual lay right in front of the eyes of the agitated girl.

      The first thing that was visible was the «GREETING».

      This greeting automatically invigorated her, because someone alive wanted to help her remotely. The paragraphs told about each life-saving item, its reliability and importance at the moment. The instructions also included a map indicating which areas you can go to and which cannot. And so, Vilora got to the most interesting part.

      «Why GLASSES?» she squeaked in surprise.

      Belle reacted immediately and sat down in front of her. It seemed that the dog also saw some sense in this.

      Vilora ran a finger over the paper, rounding the complex instructions, and reached the words about the glasses.

      «GLASSES are given to you as a bonus to protect your eyes from bacteria floating in the air, they are equipped with a virtual reality system so as not to lose the memory of what accompanied you from birth to death. With these glasses you will again feel yourself in the familiar world. These glasses make it possible not to lose the colors that the virus took from us. Through them you can rebuild your world, remember the environment and feel the long-lost emotions. With the help of glasses, you will begin your life anew, having managed to become what you did not have time to become in reality.»

      At the end of the manual there was a postscript, printed in bold:

      «Do not try to take them off, otherwise there will be an urgent evacuation. Remember, you can become a potentially dangerous virus carrier. SENSORS WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY ACTIVATED IF YOU TAKE AN ATTEMPT TO TAKE THE GLASSES OFF OUTSIDE THE HOUSE!»

      Excitement, like alcohol, seeped through the girl’s veins. That invitation was driving her crazy, like a tempting lottery.

      Belle wagged her tail.

      Vilora put on her glasses.

      «Oh my God…»

      Her