The Bloody Healer

Chapter 3

Nikolay got back to his work, trying not to think of his beloved girl, but he hardly managed that. Even talking to his customers, he would sometimes make certain mistakes, such as say the name of the girl who left him through a message, instead of what he actually wanted to say.

However hard he tried to forget them, he just couldn't. And he felt bad for the fact that his boss didn't fire him and just told him that pain shouldn't make it impossible to work. Nankov understood that perfectly, but he couldn't do anything about his feelings.

So one day he came to work, entered his office, took his phone and opened his beloved girl's picture, to have at least some possibility to look at her. He would even talk to the picture, and it would seem to him as though it heard him. Too bad that all of this was too far from reality and he had no hope she would return.

When a customer came in, a thirty-year-old man with a beard which had probably only started to grow the day before, Nankov quickly hid his phone and asked the man what he wanted. The man replied and they went on talking for at least twenty minutes. After that, the man thanked Nankov, and before saying goodbye and leaving, he added that he would recommend him to all of his friends and acquaintances if they had any question.

This cheered Nikolay up, but not so much and not for so long. His feelings for the girl who didn't give him any chance or any hope were getting stronger than anything else. Now he wished a poisonous snake would get to him quietly and take away all his feelings, the feelings that turned out to be vain, the feelings that didn't lead to anything, the feelings that he kept inside for so long.

But still, he decided to follow his boss's advice. He didn't want everyone to see his pain and sorrow, because some people might not get him right and think that he would just get tired at work, or maybe he would get even more tired at home.

Suddenly he recalled his friend with whom he had refused to go to the park back then, and phoned him.

There were some sounds, but no answer. Nikolay tried it the second time and it was the same. Only at the third time did this friend answer his call.

"Are you still upset?" Nikolay asked him. "Just excuse me, I was out of my mind, I didn't know what I was saying. I didn't mean anything of that actually, I do want to go to the park or somewhere else with you, somewhere friends usually go together".

"Nikolay, I'm not upset", his friend replied, "I wasn't answering your call because I'm being a little busy, and I'm afraid I can't today. Let's go tomorrow, if you can".

Nikolay thought for a while and then said:

"I don't know if I can tomorrow, but I don't think I have any important plans, other than my work, of course".

"Very good. See you tomorrow, then. If you can, of course".

"Aren't you mad at me?"

"No, I'm not, and I wasn't".

"Well, then see you", and he ended the conversation by pressing the button.

Meanwhile, in North Macedonia that was the day when Paraskeva and her classmates had a geography test. The teacher started looking in her bag for the questions, but the only sheets she found were private documents which certainly didn't have anything to do with the test. However, she remembered well she had printed them. So she said:

"You know, I think I forgot the questions..."

Everyone started laughing. She corrected herself:

"I mean I forgot to bring them here. Can anyone fetch them? Paraskeva, can you?"

Paraskeva's face turned somewhat weird.

"Just go, don't be afraid. You sometimes help other teachers, so help me this time".

"Okay, I will go".

She went to the office where the xerox was, but on her way, she didn't notice a panel which looked like a double saw and accidentally cut the area around her arm. The cut was so deep that she started screaming.

A teacher she didn't know saw her and said:

"Girl, what's the matter? What happened?"

"I... cut myself".

"You cut yourself?" the teacher asked. "Go ahead, show me".

And she sat next to Paraskeva to have a look at her arm. She couldn't see all of it, because the girl covered it with her other hand, but she saw that blood was indeed running and something had to be done before it was too late.

"Don't be afraid, I will ask for help. What class do you have now?"

"Geo... geography", Naumova answered in a low voice.

"Geography?"

"Yes... a test... the teacher... wanted me... to..."

"What's your classroom?"

Naumova told her.

"Okay, I will tell your teacher what happened, and you stay here".

She didn't need to say that: in that state, Paraskeva couldn't have gone far.

The woman entered Paraskeva's classroom just when her geography teacher started worrying why Naumova was gone for so long.

"I'm afraid to tell you..."

"Go ahead, tell me".

"The student you sent to fetch the test questions cut herself".

"Cut herself?" the geography teacher got shocked by those words. "I guess it's because of this sharp thing. I don't understand why we should have it, and I didn't want it. But who's going to listen to one person?"

"I didn't want it too", the one who wanted to save Naumova said, "but two are too few".

"What shall we do now?"

"I think", the teacher who had seen Paraskeva for the first time, "you should call the ambulance, and I will get the bandage. Unless you have any other solution".

"I haven't. I will call the police right now".

Before calling the ambulance, the teacher said:

"Sorry, kids, no test today".

Everyone got sad.

"How? I've been studying for all the week, not sleeping at night!" a student said.

"Me too! I've been trying my best, and now this happens!" the girl next to him answered. On that day, she looked more beautiful than usually.

"I'm sorry, but this doesn't depend on me. Let's just have it the next time. Don't worry, you now have extra time to revise everything, so you're going to know it even better".

In the meantime, the teacher who told her what happened, was searching for the bandage. Of course, she knew in which office it was, and where this office was located, but she didn't know on which shelf it was, so it took her a while to find it. When she found it, she tore a part of it (she didn't get it exactly right, but she didn't feel like looking for the scissors) and went to Paraskeva, thinking to herself:

"Don't let this happen to me... don't let this happen to me... don't let this..."

Fortunately, nothing like that happened to her, but when she got there, she saw what she didn't expect to see. Naumova's blood was turning into a puddle and changing its color to a darker one (the teacher was careful not to step in that puddle), while the girl was lying still, not feeling anything.

And so, the life of this student ended way before it was supposed to. Of course, she didn't always get everything, but she might have grown up and become someone important.