That's it, Kuzya, I'm starting a new life! No more men for at least a year. Well, except for you, of course, - I whispered confidentially to my dog, throwing another bagel with powdered sugar into his mouth.

Something, but I had a lot of such bagels, but I didn’t eat them mostly, but built all sorts of figures out of them. Well, what, my nerves have been shattered lately, and this is a good and original way of meditation, very creative. Certainly no worse than embroidery and coloring mandalas.

The clock struck midnight. And I sat by the window and read a book. That is, as I read it, for several hours I simply held the book in my hands, and thoughts - viscous, like jelly - flowed through me slowly and unhurriedly. Was good. Calm somehow. Peacefully. Which, in principle, seemed strange, because today was one of the most difficult and unpleasant days of my life - I survived a divorce. And not amicable, but the most scandalous. But now I felt free and somehow relieved, or something.

I put the book down and ran my eyes over the piece of paper I planned to use as a bookmark and smiled involuntarily, remembering my ex's eyes when he saw her in court. It was a certificate of my mental health. Not even so - the conclusion of a forensic psychiatric examination. The fact is that my faithful turned out to be rotten, which for some reason I stubbornly did not notice all four years of marriage. And at the trial, he said, just imagine that I am crazy, mentally ill, insane, and so on. He, of course, is so good about everything, I’m sincerely sorry, but he can’t live such a life anymore, because he is in the prime of his life, he just took a wing ... He loved me sincerely, took me to sanatoriums, took me to doctors, but alas. .. my disease is stronger than his nerves. But he is ready to arrange guardianship for me, to assign me to the best clinic ...

When Galka returned from Europe, and she had been traveling there for three months with her husband Stas and missed my entire divorce proceedings, she whinnied for a long time: “Who? nerves of iron that you are generally a rock and flint, and not a woman. Why did you suddenly find such a whim on him? And then, when I told her the whole story, I got angry for a long time, swearing and threatening "with my own hands to strangle this bitch, the nasty snake and the vile slug, dismember and hang the remains on my balcony to intimidate all the bastards and so that they know and do not dare to continue." I barely pacified the bloodthirsty intentions of my girlfriend, although my own hands itched to engage in self-mutilation, because you deserved it, brat. Well, let the police deal with him now.

Oh, and it started with Max, my ex-husband, everything is so beautiful. Galya introduced us, which is why she now blames herself a little when I was seventeen and he was twenty-four. Their parents were in the military and were family friends. Max's grandfather was a general in general, and in every possible way promoted and promoted the granddaughter of his beloved. So my missus is accustomed to general indulgence and indulgence.

Two years later we got married and lived, as it seemed to me, happily for three whole years. But then Max's grandfather rested in peace and a black streak began for her husband: in the service of a problem, promotion does not shine - the general of the deceased had enemies who decided to win back on his grandson. And the grandson, turned out to be unable to stand up for himself on his own. Gradually, the tear crept into our family, financial problems began, I had to cancel my plans to continue my studies at the magistracy in law and go to work. I hoped that this was just a delay, but the husband over and over again refused job offers, as they "humiliated his manhood." And then a black streak passed to me, apathy began mixed with violent tides of joy, mood swings, then depression, I quit and quarreled with half of my friends, turned off the Internet ...

My husband signed me up for a psychiatrist, his old friend, took me to a sanatorium, only I was getting worse ... I even had suicidal thoughts ... As it turned out later, everything was not just like that, it could not have done without the "help" of my husband. This bastard, with the help of the same psychiatrist, secretly stuffed me with all sorts of powders. He planned to bring me to insanity, lock me up in a psychiatric hospital and there already out of the light, and all my property - a three-room apartment in the center, a summer house - to grab for myself. But bagels saved me.

“And these bagels,” Galina instructed me, “leave them like that, because if it weren’t for them, then who knows how everything would have turned out. I’ll strangle the reptile!” Here I agreed with her, I was lucky with bagels.

I gathered my will into a fist and bought Max and me tickets to Japan - we had long dreamed of getting to Kyoto, seeing the imperial palace and, of course, the famous rock gardens. I also wanted to surprise my husband, not to tell him about the trip directly, but to hint so that he would guess. This is where bagels come in handy.

Half the night (I still have insomnia) I carefully folded the bagels on the kitchen table into bizarre patterns, paths, and most importantly, I put them edgewise and one on one in columns and pyramids. Such an impromptu rock garden turned out. The occupation is difficult, I must say, requiring skill and concentration, but, in my opinion, it turned out very beautifully.

However, my husband understood everything in his own way, deciding that I was finally “ripe”, that is, completely crazy from his miracle drugs and took me to a mental hospital to my friend. “You need to be treated, Nastenka, you need to go to the hospital, this is already serious,” he kept saying and reassuring me that, they say, it’s only for a week “to patch up my nerves and come out like a cucumber.” I didn't even resist. I had no strength after a sleepless night, and another dose of medication rubbish, along with morning coffee, carefully prepared by my husband, made me a submissive doll.

And then I would have come to an end, if not for a happy accident: the husband of my university friend, Sergey, also worked in that clinic, he immediately recognized me and, despite Max's objections, took me to his office. Then I went to the laboratory for urgent tests - and then the truth surfaced that for the last few months I had been stuffed with an as yet not exactly established, but definitely harmful substance.

Sergey, a great fellow, immediately called the police, although at that moment I did not want a showdown and scandal, but only to cry and sleep. They opened a case, fell under suspicion, of course, Max and his friend, a psychiatrist. It is expected that the husband laid all the blame on the friend, but he, almost to nothing, did not know and did not understand, he thought that he was helping.

I spent a couple of weeks in Svetlana, that university friend, and under the vigilant supervision of her husband, doctor Sergei, I finally began to come to my senses. Fortunately, no irreversible changes have occurred with my mental health, except for a couple of bouts of bloodthirsty self-mutilating desires against my hubby.

Then an application for divorce, a court, so far only a family one (the criminal case is still in process), in which the husband continued to pose as an exemplary family man, a forensic psychiatric examination - and this morning I became a free girl again with an officially healthy psyche and a categorical desire to start new life and stay away from men. Especially beautiful, like my ex. But, as they say, make the universe laugh...

Under my window, on a spot of light from a lantern, two male silhouettes appeared. With such poor lighting, the details were not particularly visible, but there was no doubt that these two specimens of the strong half of humanity were distinguished by high stature and considerable shoulder width. They were arguing, it seems. At least one of them spoke in a raised voice. The second was either completely silent, or answered quietly and calmly. The kettle whistled in the kitchen, but I ignored it, staring at the dark figures of the men.

And then something incredible happened: one silhouette began to rapidly change, increase in size and ... turned into a huge gray wolf!

I jumped out of my chair in surprise and leaned close to the window. Yes, that cannot be! Maybe it's some kind of trick!? However, there was no time to doubt for a long time, to pinch oneself and rub one's eyes: the events unfolded too rapidly.

The wolf, without wasting a second, jumped, growling menacingly and stretching in the air like an arrow, right at the other man. The same one did not even budge, just stood and looked at the death flying at him. Out of fear, probably.

- Run! - Of course, it escaped me, although I understood that the man would not hear: I have a third floor, and the window is only slightly ajar. However, he heard and turned to face me, exposing his back to the blow of the beast.

- Run, come on ... - I whispered quite quietly just at the moment when the huge carcass of a predator crushed a human figure under it. Everything inside me froze, and my throat seemed to be squeezed by a steel hand.

All died. It's impossible to survive after this.

However, contrary to my fears, the fight did not stop. The man, apparently, remained alive and even began to fight. Arms and legs flashed so fast that they merged into one blur. And then two bodies - a wolf and a human - intertwined into one ball and rolled towards the trees, to where I could no longer see them.

Only the squeal of claws on the pavement, a muffled growl, thumps... And everything was quiet.