A seven-year-old girl was walking home after her lessons. In her hands she carried a school bag with crookedly sticking-out notebooks, and on her shoulder was a scarf that always kept slipping off. The yard was quiet and empty. Only near the entrance someone was standing.
It was a tall man in a long black coat. His face was partially covered by a scarf and a raised collar, but even that was enough to make him look frightening. It seemed like he was waiting for someone. From time to time he would look around, then stare intently at the building again.
The girl grew uneasy. Her father’s words popped into her mind.
The man noticed her. His gaze became heavy, alert. He took a couple of steps forward, as if checking whether there were any witnesses nearby. The street was empty: no pedestrians, no cars. The girl felt her heart pounding in her chest and her palms sweating. The man quickened his pace.
She turned around — he was already very close. The girl looked around the stairwell in panic. And suddenly she did something that even the man in black was shocked by.
Thanks to this, the girl remained alive and unharmed.
Continuation in the first comment
A thought flashed in her mind: “Light! Noise!”
She suddenly turned on all the lamps on the landing, lighting up the dark entrance hall, and with all her strength began pounding her little fists on the nearest door.
— Help! Help! — her voice was breaking from panic.
The echo spread through the building.
The man in black froze for a second, as if he hadn’t expected a child to act so decisively.
At that moment the door swung open, and a strong man in home clothes appeared on the threshold. Behind him, a woman’s figure flickered.
— What’s going on here? — he asked sternly, glancing first at the girl, and then at the strange stranger.
The man in black jerked, his eyes widening in surprise. He turned around and almost ran out of the entrance, dissolving into the darkness of the yard.
The girl was still trembling, clutching her school bag, but inside her a warm feeling of pride was growing. She remembered her father’s words and did exactly what she needed to do. And it saved her life.
