Мариам Петросян - The Gray House

Lary started singing, there in the shower, loudly and out of tune. Singing and slapping his protruding ribs.

“Damned exhibitionist,” Sphinx grumbled. And yelled, so suddenly that I startled, “Close the damn door!”

“All right,” Humpback said and took the clothes away from under my nose. “We’ll figure out something tomorrow. There's nothing left to do today but sleep, anyway.”

He draped the towel over me, helped me into the wheelchair, and rolled it out. The wheelchair was still wet after the washing. I slid around on the seat and grabbed the handles tightly to prevent myself from falling out.

“You are a really fastidious person,” Sphinx said.

I looked back.

His stare was ice cold.

“I'm not fastidious,” I said. “I'm normal. And you?”

His eyes narrowed.

“And I'm not.”

No one had ever looked at me that way before. With such boundless loathing. Then he closed his eyes. Like he didn't want to see me at all.

“God,” he said. “You're not worth half of his fingernail. You ...”

Humpback quickly turned the wheelchair, rolled me out into the corridor, and slammed the door. There was commotion and hissing on the other side of it, as if both Alexander and Lary had grabbed hold of Sphinx to prevent him from going after me. Humpback galloping all the way to the dorm only confirmed that suspicion. He dumped me on the bed and immediately ran back.

I lay down right away. Still wrapped in the towel. Pulled the covers over my head, screwed my eyes closed, and tried my best not to burst into tears. I held on until all the sounds around me ceased. Until they stopped walking around, talking, shifting stuff, and settling down. Only then did I allow myself to cry. I hoped against hope that no one could hear me. Something ended that night, and it was more painful than an entire life spent among Pheasants.

The next day was the day of interrogations and searches. Surly figures in uniform roamed the hallways. They entered classrooms, asked questions about Pompey, and searched for the knife. They didn't spend too much time in our dorm. Rifled through the desk drawers and nightstands, tapped on the walls, and left.

Lary periodically carried out reconnaissance missions and returned with the latest news that nobody cared about. If one were to go out into the hallway he'd be able to see Hounds being brought one by one into the staff room to compare testimonies. That was exactly what Lary was doing, loitering in the hallway. He just liked to call it “reconnaissance.”

Around seven in the evening, all of the outsiders left. Shark assembled the teachers and the counselors in his office for an emergency meeting. At ten, two hours later than usual, they rang for dinner, and we all went to the canteen. The classroom doors were already adorned with black ribbons. Shark was waiting for us. His speech was long and heartfelt, and could be summed up in a single point: anyone who knew anything about the circumstances of Pompey's death was cordially invited to drop by the principal's office for a nice private talk.

We went to bed early that night. There were spells scribbled in all four corners of the room to ward off the vengeful ghosts. Tabaqui hung a collection of protective amulets above his head. Humpback jumped up every half hour, directed the beam of his flashlight at the door, exhaled with relief, and crashed back on the bunk.

THE HOUSE MALE STUDENTS

FOURTH —

BLIND

SPHINX

TABAQUI

HUMPBACK

(NOBLE)

BLACK

LARY

ALEXANDER

SMOKER

(TUBBY)

THIRD BIRDS —

(VULTURE)

LIZARD

(ANGEL)

DODO

HORSE

(BUTTERFLY)

DEAREST

GUPPY

BUBBLE

(BEAUTY)

(ELEPHANT)

(FICUS)

(SHRUB)

SECOND RATS —

RED

SOLOMON

SQUIB

DON

VIKING

(CORPSE)

(ZEBRA)

HYBRID

MONKEY

MICROBE

TERMITE

SUMAC

PORCUPINE

CARRION

RINGER

TINY

WHITEBELLY

GREENERY

(DAWDLER)

AS OF BOOK TWO

SIXTH HOUNDS—

CROOK

(OWL)

GNOME

(SHUFFLE)

LAURUS

WOOLLY

RABBIT

ZIT

TRITON

SLEEPY

GENEPOOL

DEALWITHIT

SPLUTTER

HEADLIGHT

HASTEWASTE

EARS

NUTTER

RICKSHAW

BAGMAN

CRAB

(FLIPPER)

FIRST PHEASANTS —

GIN

PROFESSOR

BITER

GHOUL

STRAW

STICKS

BRICKS

(CRYBABY)

GYPS

HAMSTER

KIT

BOOGER

CUPCAKE

SNIFFLE

(PIDDLER)

LEGEND —

(PARENTHESES):

JUMPERS

BOLD:

STRIDERS

He went up the stairs and entered the hallway, certain that he was not going to see anyone there. The canteen buzzed with voices, coming through to him muted, like a bee swarm humming in an old hollow tree. When it is inside the hollow, and you're outside, and you haven't yet realized what that hum is, there, in the tree, and what are those strange spots darting around you, and once you do realize you're already at a full run ... He walked slowly, the duffel bag weighting down his shoulder. Open doors revealed the empty classrooms, laying fallow before the last period. The doors here could sometimes open so suddenly as to deliver a good smack on the forehead, so he'd long ago acquired the habit of walking on the other side, the one that used to have windows, keeping his distance from the doors. He remembered it and almost laughed at that thought.

Thirteen years. Enough time to blaze a trail, had the floorboards underfoot been something else, had they been earth and grass. A wide and permanent trail. His own. Like a deer might make. Or an ...

This place used to have windows. There was much more light in the hallway. No one would have even considered boarding them up if not for the writings. The windowpanes were completely covered with them. They would cover the entire surface with scribbles and ugly drawings, and as soon as the windows were washed or replaced, the whole thing repeated itself. The windows never had a full day when they looked presentable. And it only happened in this hallway. The first floor never had windows looking out on the street, and the third housed too many counselors. He remembered it well, how one time, after the windowpanes were once again replaced (hoping against hope that this time they would finally see reason, except that had never happened), they simply slathered black paint all over the new, squeaky-clean glass. He remembered his feeling that morning, when he first saw the disgusting black-framed rectangles. It was the feeling of dread, the horror of the dawning recognition—he understood what those windows represented to them, literally demanding this barbaric treatment. At the next general meeting he voted for the windows to be eliminated.