Oxana Khalikova - Consciousness

© Oxana Khalikova, 2022

ISBN 978-5-0056-3978-3

Created with Ridero smart publishing system

Consciousness is a state of the organism’s mental life, expressed in the subjective experience of events in the external world and the body of the organism, as well as in the reporting of these events and the response to these events

But we must remember that perhaps consciousness is the soul.

Jessie Leone came from New York City to Maine to attend university to study engineering. She had long considered which school to attend, she had always wanted to leave the bustling city for a quieter town, and she chose Augusta, a city in the northeastern United States, the capital of Maine and Kennebec County. It has a population of 19,000 and sits on the Kennebec River, just the quiet, peaceful town Jessie wanted.

Jessie was a girl of purpose, despite her tall stature, she did not want to become a model or an actress, as many of her peers and she dressed more modestly than everyone else, but at the same time elegantly.

The girl did not want to live in a dorm from the university, so she saved for an apartment working as a waiter during the summer vacations.

She quickly found an apartment, and surprisingly inexpensive, from the plane immediately went to see the apartment, from the cab window, the girl looked at the city, it was wrapped in yellow leaves, which flew off the trees. Despite autumn, the weather was not sunny at all, even if the wind blew, it was warm.

A cab pulled up in front of a five-story house, Jessie got out of the yellow cab, and the driver took her suitcase and her things out of the trunk.

The girl entered the house dragging her suitcase and went up to the fifth floor, her agent was already waiting for her.

– Miss Leone, good afternoon-«There was a skinny black man waiting for Jessie at the entrance to the apartment.

– How do you do?» The girl was holding a suitcase and a purse.

– Come on in, let me help you, my name is Frank-«the man took the girl’s suitcase and placed it by the living room couch.»

The apartment was spacious and bright, right from the door into the living room with large windows and a door to a balcony, the windows had a view of the river. There was a clear coffee table and a white sofa in the living room.

– This is the living room, let me show you the bedroom and the kitchen.

Jessie followed him.

– Who is the owner of the apartment? – «asked Jessie.»

– The landlady died in a car accident, and her daughter doesn’t want to live here, she’s going to university, is that where you’ll be going too?

– Yeah, where does she live? The landlady’s daughter?

– Mmm… I think she’s in the dormitory from the university, she’s having a really hard time with her mother’s death.

– Was it a recent tragedy?

– Yes, a month ago» explained the agent dryly» – Well, what do you take?

– Yes, of course, I like the apartment.

The walls of the apartment were painted with white paint, the lighting was like in all American houses, there were floor lamps, in the room on the nightstand there were table lamps.

The kitchen was small but comfortable, Jessie went to the sink, opened the faucet to pour water into a glass, the faucet squelched, air came out of the pipes, and then the water poured. It was obvious the apartment hadn’t been lived in in a long time.

The bathroom was combined with the toilet, over the sink hung a drawer with a mirrored door, she opened the drawer and saw a lot of sleeping pills and tranquilizers.

There was a blue curtain hanging in front of the bathroom itself, Jessie pulled it aside and saw scattered pills and a tube of them in the bathroom, Jessie picked up the tube, picked up the small wheels of pills and threw them down the toilet, the tube had the name of the antidepressants written on it.

After sorting out all her things, Jessie took a shower and went to bed, tomorrow was her first class at the university and she wanted to get some sleep, of course, especially since she was very tired from the road.

– Jessie…

The girl turned around and saw her friend Nick, he had an angry grimace on his face, Jessie had never seen her friend like that.

– Nick… what’s wrong with you?

Jessie didn’t have time to understand anything before Nick pushed her into the river with all his might, and shouted

– Help!!!

Jessie jumped out of bed, it was a dream

– Jesus…

The time on the clock was 8am, the girl with an unpleasant aftertaste from her dream, began to get ready for class.

Nick was a friend she had met back in New York, he was the one who had advised her to come to Maine, he himself had gone to university in Maine.

Nick was a handsome guy in his own way, the slanted eyes he got from his mother, and the black hair. But he didn’t use his good looks to win girls’ hearts, he rather charmed the fair sex with his wit and sense of humor.

At the university, Jessie met Nick after class.

– You made it after all? – «The tall guy walked up to Jess and hugged her.»

– Hey Nick, yeah, it’s really nice here, just like you said.

– Did you find an apartment?

– Already slept there.

– Great, Jess.

They held hands and walked away from the university.

– I had this horrible dream,“ Jessie said. „As a psychologist, what does it mean?

– Well, it seems to be a mild neurosis, you need to get drunk sick – «joked Nick»

Jess was brewing herself coffee in the kitchen when the balcony door in the living room opened loudly.

– Shit… What is that? – «the girl jerked with fright and went to see what happened.»

The living room door was wide open, the wind blew the light, white curtains open, Jessie ran to the balcony door and closed it, she checked the door handle and the lock, maybe it was faulty, that’s why it opened in a gust of wind.

The girl made her bed, took off her robe and crawled under the covers, she couldn’t sleep for a long time, for some reason she was reminded of the story about the landlady, and her daughter, most likely it was her pills that were scattered around the bathroom. Jessie fell asleep with these thoughts…

Jessie was sitting on the bench outside the university reading her report, suddenly a strong wind picked up the leaves from the ground, she looked up and saw a guy walking towards the roadway, he was wearing blue jeans and a black light jacket, his hair was disheveled from the wind, he stopped at the edge of the road…

Turning the bus around the curve, the guy waited for the bus to approach and abruptly threw himself on the road towards the bus… Jessie jumped up from where she was sitting

– No!!!!

Opening her eyes, the girl realized it was another bad dream.

– God, what was that?! – «In a cold sweat, Jessie got out of bed» – It must have been the stress – «she mumbled to herself under her breath.»

Jessie sat down on the bench outside the university after class and began to look at the notes she had written down all day.

Studying was always easy for her, and now too; she would be in the department for five years, then she would have to go back to New York to work in her profession, as much as she wanted to stay in Maine, but in the big city there were more opportunities.

– Learning was light…

Jessie shuddered.

– God, Nick, you scared me.

– Sorry, how was your day?

– Fine, I didn’t get much sleep, but it was great…

– Let’s go out tonight, get some rest, Jess.