Petrel

Chapter 15

After talking with the master, we went to sit under the shade of a tree that grew near the guild and seeing such a quiet Elsa, my heart bled from my inability, inability to comfort people. And I decided to go the only way that came to my mind. I hugged my friend and whispered in her ear.

- Sorry, I don't know how to comfort properly, but know that until you yourself want the opposite, I will always be with you. - Hearing my words, Elsa pressed her face to my chest, we lay like that for a while until a pleasant breeze and comfortable warmth from my friend put me to sleep. In my dream, I saw something that I hadn't remembered for a long time. About my past life. About the time when I was still studying at college to be a welder and a car mechanic. When I decided to try to go further and go to university. At that time, I was preparing to pass the Centralized Testing, studying literally from 8 am to 8 pm. About how nervous I was when I was learning to drive a category C truck that would stall immediately at the slightest mistake, about how my heart sank into my heels when, while learning on city routes, I was driving up a hill and the car stalled, I barely had time to press the brake so as not to ram a car from behind, and what's even worse, I had to start from a position almost close to another car without hitting it, on a hill, and only by a miracle did everything go well. That time, despite the difficulty, was pleasant, I went to the gym and was quite a fit guy, but when I had already passed the exams with good scores, entered a profession that interested me, everything went awry. At first, I just started having problems with my blood pressure and I was still coping quite well with the curriculum, then I started having frequent headaches and fatigue, but even so I got through the 2nd semester quite well, then everything became more difficult, I got sick with a new virus and although it seemed like there were no signs of the disease itself, it was the consequences that got to me. My heart. I started having frequent heart pains and just insane weakness and eventually I started not coping with my studies. The outcome was quite natural, I was expelled. Moreover, this coincided with the very end of the conscription campaign for the army and due to the shortage, they grabbed me immediately and literally in a couple of days registered me as fit for service. And it is not surprising that on the very first day I was sent to the hospital. Then there were difficult six months. The oath, constant dizziness, and sometimes loss of consciousness during physical exertion. In the end, I was declared unfit for service and discharged. For a long time I could not come to my senses, not knowing what to do next. After all, they even discharged me without telling me the diagnosis, only explaining that all the problems were from the heart. As a result, I started trying to work on the Internet, gradually began to communicate with other people again, although these were mainly guildmates in games and old friends. And then I started writing, albeit with mistakes and clumsily, after all, I always had problems with grammar, I was always more inclined towards the exact sciences. I set myself the goal of leaving behind at least something. And wouldn't leaving behind a book that could possibly brighten up someone's evening be an ideal option? That's what I thought too. And then I remembered the moment, the moment of my death. That pain.

I woke up breathing heavily, holding my heart, which seemed to hurt like crazy a second ago, I still couldn't calm down, not realizing what was happening around me. In my new life, I caught the so-called flashback for the first time and this is definitely not something I would like to repeat.

I came to my senses only when I noticed that Elsa was hugging me and whispering something soothing, and tears were streaming from my eyes. I quickly brought my face back to normal with the help of water magic and responded to my friend's embrace.

- I've already calmed down. Thank you. You know, you really are much stronger than me. And I'm glad, glad that you're with me.