Читать книгу Остров Харона. The Island of Charon. Премия им. А. де Сент-Экзюпери / A. de Saint-Exupery Award (Билингва: Rus / Eng) - Александра Андреевна Крючкова, Александра Крючкова - Страница 40

I placed myself in Yanis’ cafe, although I didn’t want to eat, having a terrible headache.

Yanis brought me the freshest tropical fruit juice and half a coconut, and then, glancing at the wicker chair in front of me, politely asked, if it was free.

I nodded «yes» to him. He sat down, and we continued our conversation.

«Well, where did you have a rest in Greece, Alice?»

«On the island opposite to Mount Athos.»

«Thassos you mean?»

«No, Ammouliani. Have you ever been to Thassos?»

«No… And how do you like Ammouliani, the island of monks? Not so long ago, it belonged to the monastery of Vatopedi. Did you feel the Spirit of the Holy Mountain? We can say that you lived in the Holy Land!»

«Yes, it’s amazing!» I smiled remembering. «You know, there is a wild sandy beach with Mount Athos view there. The water is so clear and transparent, that even if you swim far away from the shore, you can see the bottom, and it’s not scary to swim there. To be honest, I’m afraid of water.»

«Afraid? Why?»

«I don’t know. Since childhood. I often had the same nightmare, I dreamt as if I was drowning in the sea or in the ocean. That’s why I’m afraid of the waves. Fortunately, there are no waves usually in the Ammouliani bay.»

«There are no waves here either,» Yanis chuckled.

«But the Ocean here has lots of algae, and for a kilometer there is no deepness at all! It’s impossible to swim, only to walk! On Ammouliani one makes two steps and doesn’t feel the bottom anymore. And there is no seaweed! Although I used to swim far from the seashore, I felt like a fish in water! Оr… maybe like a mermaid… I used to stay in water for more than an hour, all alone, or rather, me, the sea and the Holy Mountain… Imagine, nobody else around! By the way, I’m fond of diving and watching fishes!»

While I told Yanis about his Greece, he was smiling, and I was smiling too, diving in my memories.

Many years ago, in some book of a wise person, I discovered an interesting idea, «Our consciousness does not care if something happens only in thoughts or in reality, because the reaction of the body is always the same». And I thought, «Perhaps the „time machine“ is a human thought, and our memories are nothing but the „here and now“ reality. So, it is good for our health remembering happy or just pleasant moments…»

Suddenly, someone grabbed my hand. I screamed in surprise, turned around and saw…

…the Boy! The very one…

He held out his hand, looking pitifully into my eyes, and said, «Lantern!»

And at that moment my brain seemed to be completely hacked.

Yanis got up from the table and took the boy by the hand. Speaking in the local dialect, they went towards the village. I thoughtfully followed them with my eyes, but I suddenly remembered my last nightmare – the Giant Ship. When Yanis came back, I decided to share my mysterious dream.

«Yanis, listen! Tonight!»

«You couldn’t fall asleep…»

«Yes, I went out to breathe the Ocean. I was standing on the rock, by the stairs, when suddenly the Wind appeared! It looked like hurricane! The Sky instantly became so scary! Huge clouds were moving back and forth! Lightning, thunder, and it started to rain, or rather, it was a tropical downpour, and a Giant Ship entered the bay! But people on board… I saw through the wall of rain, I swear to you, I saw them descending from the Ship, but straight into the Ocean! And they walked towards the shore on the water surface!!!»

«And how else do people arrive on Camotes, if not by ship or by ferry?» Yanis chuckled. «How did you get here, Alice? By a flying carpet?»

My mind went blank again. I got a glitch in the brain, I perfectly understood that there was no other way to the Island. But for some reason the picture on the internal screen split in two. I saw the old ferry that brought me there with Alex, many years ago, and I also saw…

…water… everywhere… all around me… water… and a panic horror seizes me… I try to float up to the surface, but for some reason I can’t and…

…no, I’m not suffocating! – I see a face of a Man before it, a face, pulsing through the double image on the internal screen – the last thing that flickers in my nightmare…