[моё] Incognito 🥸

#story 35 #friendship #miracle #internet #healing

I was a ghost among the living... Until someone from the internet found me.

I wasn’t living — I was merely existing.

No one loved me.

I was avoided.

It would have been better if they had beaten or humiliated me — at least that would have been some kind of attention.

But instead — at school, on the street, in the store, in any crowded place — people simply didn’t notice me.

I was like a ghost.

As long as I can remember, I had no friends.

I always played alone.

My parents were always at work.

Times were hard:

Wages were small.

There wasn’t enough money for anything.

Everything was expensive or simply unavailable for sale.

The only vivid memory from my childhood:

My mom and I went to a store where oranges had appeared.

A line of a million people!

We were lucky and bought a few.

And you know what?

They were the most delicious fruits of my life.

I’ve never eaten anything tastier.

The first pimples appeared.

Nothing unusual, you might say?

It happens to everyone.

But my case was special.

I broke out so badly that my whole face was covered with red spots.

I didn’t go to school.

I didn’t go outside either.

I sat at home and read books.

What else was there to do?

You won’t believe it, but in one year I read more than 300 books.

At home, from neighbors, from the library — my mom brought everything she could.

A year shut in.

My friends didn’t come to see me.

And who would, if I had none?

My parents supported me as best they could.

But I was a child; above all I wanted to go out, talk to my peers.

My spots gave neither me nor them any peace.

No one knew what was wrong with me.

They took me everywhere!

I was born in the small town of Gurinsk.

They took me to other cities...

They never figured out the diagnosis.

I called for Mom.

Dad was already at work.

Mom rushed into the room:

— Son, what happened?

— Mom, my leg hurts a lot!

It turned out that at night, in my sleep, I somehow managed to break my leg.

Mom called the doctors.

By the way, by then my spots had gone away.

I wanted to jump for joy, but I can’t — a cast doesn’t exactly encourage jumping, I thought with irony then.

That was how my entire childhood passed.

I was often sick.

I’d recover, go out for a three- or four-hour walk — and then spend a week at home: either a cold, or a fever, or something no one could explain.

You’re probably dying to know what was wrong with me?

I don’t understand it myself.

The doctors put forward different reasons.

There was even a panel: professors from different specialties gathered, argued, guessed...

They never reached a single conclusion.

They had no idea what was wrong with me.

And me?

I suppose I accepted it.

I convinced myself: I’m not like other children.

Although many think I’m alone — you’re wrong.

I have a family.

My beloved parents.

Their love means more to me than all the friends in the world.

Of course, sometimes you want companionship...

But what can you do?

You can’t.

I’m 16 years old.

Of those years, I spent about 10 being sick.

I was a rare guest at school, and even there no one noticed me.

It doesn’t matter.

I stopped going to doctors.

My parents came to terms with it, understanding: why drag me there by force if there’s no result?

The outcome is always the same: the earth, and above it a cross.

And on it — my smiling photograph.

Or maybe a serious expression...

I think my parents were simply tired.

Of endless work.

At least things had gotten easier: there was no more shortage of food.

One time, after breakfast, I said to my parents:

— Mommy, Daddy, just don’t argue with me.

I thought it over for a long time and decided to tell you this.

I don’t have that much time left.

Thank you for everything.

You didn’t leave me, didn’t abandon me in a hard moment.

You worked a lot, practically without rest.

Sometimes Mom, sometimes Dad stayed with me until morning, without sleep.

The doctors offered to send me to the hospital...

Do you remember what you both answered then, in unison?

They fell silent, remembering.

— We would never do that. Our son will stay at home. Our beloved boy will always be with us. No matter how hard it gets — we’ll manage.

— I’m very grateful to you for that.

And do you remember your gift for my tenth birthday?

I had read all the books we had at home, at the neighbors’ and in the library.

There was nowhere else to get any.

You could buy them in the store, but they were very expensive.

And you gave me a real gift.

The one that truly made me happy.

It was a game console.

I can see from your eyes that you remember everything.

— Mom, please, no tears.

I’m grown up, I understand everything.

Dad hugged me tightly, his eyes were filled with tears.

Mom was crying because she understood that nothing could be done.

My dears, I had come to terms with this thought.

My eyes are dry, there are no tears — I’ve cried them all out.

What I want to tell you, what I never said:

when you gave me a computer and installed internet (that wasn’t cheap!), you wanted me to at least play, since I couldn’t go outside.

I learned different programs.

I talked to people on websites.

And I even found friends.

I never told anyone about my illness.

Where am I going with this?

I mastered different programs and earned a lot of money.

For you, my dears.

So that after me, you could rest...

I couldn’t finish.

A long doorbell rang.

I hate it, it was very unpleasant.

Dad had installed that kind specially so I could hear if something happened to me.

Mom wiped away her tears and went to open the door.

Dad hurried into the hallway.

An unclear conversation, Dad’s voice almost in tears.

I understand: that’s it, my time is running out.

Without going into the entryway, I walked into my room.

I took out the folder with documents.

Inside was everything I had managed to earn in 6 years of working on the internet.

I had laid everything out so my parents could understand it and live for their own pleasure.

What I want to say one last time:

I have never been wrong in my life.

*

I hope you’re curious who came?

I’ll tell you now.

Once I was working on a program.

The order was complicated; my knowledge wasn’t enough.

The person had ordered an electrical wiring diagram for a 7-story building.

That’s not my field.

But the money was good — he offered 50 thousand dollars.

The amount dazzled me:

Huge for those times!

With that money you could buy a two-room apartment in the center, a country house, a good car...

Exactly for my parents.

I realized: I couldn’t handle it.

I asked for help on the site where I communicated with people.

I wrote to one person.

No one ever used real names, and it didn’t matter anyway.

They gave us two months to solve the task.

One month of that had already passed.

I told him about the assignment exactly as it was.

We agreed: 50/50.

**We worked with him for 4 months.**

Almost without sleep or rest, sometimes even forgetting to eat.

We finished ahead of schedule.

The client was satisfied and said we were the first to take it on and do it properly.

Only the client didn’t know:

I wasn’t competent in this matter.

I did all this for the money.

Incognito.

To my surprise, we became friends online.

We became best friends.

We always did any task together.

Thanks to him, I gained even more knowledge.

The most interesting part:

In 4 years, I never asked him his name.

I only knew his nickname.

It was funny — PaRoVoZiK.

Mine was no less funny: Deadliness 13.

My thoughts were interrupted by my parents, who asked me to come over.

I didn’t feel like it, but I had to go.

I don’t like refusing my parents.

I left the room and went into the hallway.

In the stairwell — a whole delegation of doctors.

And there’s a boy standing there, dressed like an ordinary person.

I had no idea who he was.

After his words, I understood.

— Hi, Deadliness 13.

I’m very glad and at the same time surprised.

I hugged him like a brother:

— Hi, Parovozik. How did you find me? I never gave you any information about myself. And who are all these people?

— What’s there to find? — Parovozik answered.

— Finding you isn’t hard: just press a couple of buttons.

You forgot?

Parovozik was grinning from ear to ear.

— And these are the people who will look for a solution to your problem.

You probably — or rather, I’m sure — forgot?

You told me about your problem.

Over the past year I looked for doctors with extensive experience in dealing with unknown diseases.

Some came from another country, some from our city.

They all have a lot of experience, they’ll be able to help.

And that’s exactly what happened.

For six months I went from office to office like it was a job.

They found my illness.

The name was so long I couldn’t even pronounce it.

That wasn’t the main thing.

The most important thing: I recovered.

I can breathe deeply.

Walk outside спокойно, without fearing I’ll get sick.

Twenty years have passed since then.

Parovozik and I are still friends.

We live on the same street.

My parents are alive, healthy, and babysit my children and my friend’s children.

He and I are friends, and we will be friends until the end of our lives.