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He knew that he was not sleeping, he should not have been sleeping, and yet the memories resembled exactly a dream - very bright, but ghostly, which began to disappear immediately, as soon as he returned to reality. If his parents knew what girls he had now, they would know what he himself had become - a monster. An almost dead monster. monster. But they won't know. Never. And it pleased.

Vic forced himself to move, shifting his position slightly to loosen his muscles. He peered into the twilight of the room, barely dispersed by the light of almost extinguished candles. I saw that both girls were lying with their heads on their stepmother's knees. He listened to the woman's breathing - quite even and deep, without interruptions, without hoarse wheezing, which he heard when that girl began to die in the garden. I turned to Kim. The boy sat with his arms around his knees, no longer trembling, apparently managed to come to his senses. He also looked at Vic.

- What's next? the doctor a