The week passed in a blur of grey skies and heavy costs. Snow came early this year, dusting the sides outside the university like powdered sugar.
Mikhail didn't like snow. Too quiet. Too slow. Just like everything else lately. Some hours later, the university had issued a warning: Severe weather. Students advised to remain indoors. Campus building may temporally lock in safety.
Mikhail stared at the blinking alert on his phone, then locked out the huge window of the humanities library. Snow poured down like someone had ripped open the sky.
''Damm.....'' he muttered under his breath.
Across the table. Nikolai looked up from his laptop.
''You're stuck here too?''
Mikhail groaned. ''Apparently. I came here to print one assignment and now I'm in a Siberian prison.''
''Technically this is Saint Petersburg, but sure.''
Nikolai leaned back in chair, arms crossed. ''Could be worse. Could be stuck with some boring idiot.''
''I am stuck with an idiot.''
just then, we are locked in.? came a third-----breathless, dramatic.
Both boys turned.
It was lev, them classmate from drama studies. Short, loud, and always dressed like he was auditioning for a play about heartbreak.
''Of course, lev is here,'' Mikal muttered.
Lev dropped his bag dramatically. ""Can someone make tea? Or vodka?"
"Vodka library? Ld nab khoya," Nikolai mumbled, just laud enough for Mikhail to short.
They ended up camped around the center reading table. No professor. No light except the dim reading lamps. It felt like a scene from and old Soviet boarding school.
Lev kept pacing.
Nikolai pulled out a protein bar and offered one to Mikhal ----without a word.
Mikhal took it without looking. ''Thanks."
That was new.
At some point, they started talking.
Not deep things ------ just complaints about professors, weird classmates, food from the dining hall.
Lev chimed in too, mostly being dramatic.
But in between there were moments.
Like when Nikolai quietly corrected Mikhail pronunciation of Pushkin.
Or when Mikail asked, Do you always act like an ass to people you like?'' and Nikolai paused...just for a second.
'' You two,'' Lev said finally, pointing between them,'' have the weirdest friendship I've ever seen.
We're not friends Mikail said. Too fast. too sharp.
Nikoli didn't reply,
just looked at Mikail for a long movement ----- and them looked away.
Outside, the snow kept falling.
Inside, the silence said everything.
They weren't supposed to meet that evening. But fate had its own cleaner. The literature class had ended early, and Mikail didn't feel like going back to the dorm. Too quiet. Too many thoughts. So, he drifted back to the library. Again.
And like some strange ritual, Nikolai was already there.
Same chair. Same expression. Like he never left.
''Do you sleep here or just haunt the place.'' Mikhail asked, dropping his bag onto the table.
'' I haunt. It's cheaper.'' Nikolai didn't even look up.
Lev was there too, fiddling with his headphones and muttering something about a group project that didn't exist. Typical.
Mikhail sat down and pulled out a snack bar. He tossed one across the table to Nikolai without a word.
''Thanks,'' Nikolai said, genuinely.
They didn't talk much at first. pages turned. Pens scratched paper. Lev hummed a broken tune off-key.
And then --------it happened.
Lec cracked a ridicules joke. Something about a professor who looked like a lost penguin. It wasn't even funny. But for reason-------Nikolai laughed. Not a smirk. Not a sarcastic breath. A full laugh. Warm. Light. Real.
And Mikhail..... froze. His eyes stayed on the table, but something in his brain just----clicked. That sound. That exact sound.
A flash---------
A girl in the snow.
Turning, laughing.
Her scarf flying behind her as she ran.
Her laughter ------- light as frost, full of sunshine.
''Mikhail. you're too serious,'' she had said. ''You'll get wrinkles before twenty.''
Then----silence.
A crash.
The scream.
He blinked. Back in the library. Same old wood table. Same walls. Same snow outside. But now, hos heart was racing. He stared at Nikolai like he was seeing him for the first time.
''What?'' Nikolai asked, raising an eyebrow.
Mikhail shook his head. ''Nothing. You just-----''
He looked away. ''That laugh. It's.....weirdly familiar.'' Nikolai blinked. ''I didn't laugh often. Maybe your brain's just shocked.''
Lev leaned in dramatically. ''It's kind of magical, actually. like something from an old song or memory.''
Mikhail didn't respond.
He just stared out the window----- at the snow. Falling again.
------He didn't remember.
-------Not yet.
-------But his soul had started listening.
To be continued....