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CHAPTER 4. Meet Sveta

Peter woke up when everyone had already left, his sister went to school, and his mother went to work. For some time he lay on the bed, looking at the ceiling, and trying to gather his thoughts so that he could throw off the blanket and get up. There was no desire to get up. Peter imagined as if he had to get up for work every day, early in the morning, and then you won’t lie in bed, won’t soak under a warm blanket, get up, and that’s it.

Having thrown off the blanket, Peter abruptly jumped out of bed, telling himself that this had to be done, otherwise he would lie in it until lunch.

The room was cool.

Peter put on a T-shirt and went to the toilet to relieve himself. Then he went to the bathroom. There he turned on the tap, washed his face, brushed his teeth, and carefully looked at himself in the mirror, trying to understand how talented or untalented he was. It was difficult to judge talent, or lack thereof, by appearance.

Walking out into the kitchen, he turned on the electric kettle and reached into the refrigerator to look for something he could eat. In the refrigerator he found eggs, sausages, cheese and ketchup. This was enough for breakfast. There was still cottage cheese on the top shelf, and there were yoghurts, but it was impossible to take them. My sister ate yoghurt and cottage cheese, and if Peter had taken them, he would have received a beating from his mother in the evening. But since there was no desire to participate in scandals, Peter did not take anything from the top shelf.

Taking eggs and sausages, he went to the stove on which there was a frying pan. Having cut the sausage into the frying pan, Peter turned on the gas and began to wait for the chopped sausage to fry. The frying pan began to gurgle. Taking two eggs out of the package, Peter beat them one by one into the frying pan. The frying pan began to gurgle louder. The eggs immediately turned white and began to bake. Having closed the pan with a lid, Peter put the eggs back into the refrigerator.

The water in the kettle boiled and the kettle turned off.

Peter took a mug, poured coffee and sugar into it, and then poured hot water from the kettle over it all.

Putting the mug on the table, he took milk out of the refrigerator and added it to the coffee, stirring it thoroughly again.

Having put the milk in the refrigerator, Peter turned on the TV and turned off the gas under the frying pan in which the scrambled eggs were being fried. He took a clean plate and placed it on the table, and then dumped the scrambled eggs from the frying pan into it. Putting the empty frying pan back on the stove, Peter took out the ketchup from the refrigerator and squeezed some into the scrambled eggs, after which he put the ketchup back into the refrigerator. Breakfast was ready.

Sitting down on a chair in front of a plate of scrambled eggs, Peter switched the channel to the one where his favorite series about witches was playing, and began to break off a piece of baked yolk, smeared with ketchup, with a fork. Having broken off a piece of scrambled eggs, he immediately popped it into his mouth, without taking his eyes off the TV.

– So many episodes for one series. – Peter thought. «And all the action takes place in one house.» This series was made by talented people, there are more than a hundred episodes, and each, in fact, is different from the others, even though all the actions take place in the same places. I wish I could learn how to come up with things like that. That would be cool. I could then easily write any book, even if its events took place only in one apartment.

Peter carefully watched what was happening on the screen, chewing his scrambled eggs.

– You need to understand the formula by which scripts for TV series are written. – he thought. «Having understood this, I can write any work without any problems.»

Peter thought about what needs to be taken into account when writing long stories where the characters are in a limited space. And at the same time, write in such a way that it does not look boring and tiring. You can describe every action of the characters, but in the end it will get boring, and if you describe everything in a nutshell, you won’t be able to write a long text.

– Or maybe the texts in these series are not long at all, how do I know how many pages one episode takes? – thought Peter, continuing to look at the TV and chewing scrambled eggs with sliced sausage. «I guess I read too few books.» If I had read more, I would not have had any questions about what to focus on when writing a book. And I also want to become a writer, having read only a couple of books in my entire life. To write well, you need to read dozens, hundreds of books, so that the texts are imprinted in your mind, so that you know what to pay attention to when writing a text. Yes, I’m unlikely to be a writer. – something seemed to click in Peter’s mind. – Damn, what are you thinking about, you have to tell yourself that everything will work out for you, that you will write a book, that it will become a bestseller, that you will earn a lot of money from it, that you are generally a talent and a hero of our time. Enough of this whining that you won’t succeed and that you’re not capable of anything. Get ready and go write!

Having finished the scrambled eggs, Peter put the plate in the sink, took a mug of coffee from the table, and went into the room, to the computer.

Entering the room, he turned on the computer, sat down in a chair, and placed a mug of coffee near the monitor.

The computer booted.

Peter connected the Internet and opened his page on the social network. Then he opened the office program in which he wrote the book. Scrolling to the very bottom of the text, he began to think about a new chapter, but no thoughts came to mind.

– We need to come up with something. – Peter thought, looking at the white sheet frozen on the monitor.

He switched back to the social network page. But even there he did not find any ideas.

– These are only fragments, short moments, literally one paragraph, or even worse, one sentence, but you need to write a whole book. – he thought. «You can’t write a whole book with only one paragraph.» Yes, I went to a social network. I can write about this, but it’s one sentence. And if I start describing in detail what buttons I pressed when I went to the social network, then the publisher will not like it, and he simply will not accept my book for publication. The book should be interesting, and what is interesting in reading about what buttons the main character presses to enter a social network. I already overload the book with descriptions of actions in order to somehow fill the chapters with text. Now I can only envy those who easily write books of five hundred pages and use a minimum of descriptions. Where do they even get the text from if they don’t really describe anything, and at the same time use a minimum of dialogue? Maybe it’s all about actions? More action. My hero is like a plant, sitting at the computer, and I’m trying to stretch these gatherings over a whole chapter. And in those books, by those writers, the heroes are constantly in action, events are constantly changing, developing, something is constantly happening there. But on the other hand, I’m writing a boring book, which means I shouldn’t have any action. It’s just a boring book, that’s what I intended, that’s what I want. A book that girls will hold in their hands and get bored with it, sitting over the text. And the text itself will be boring, repetitive, and formulaic. No originality. Yes, that will be the motto of my book: «No originality.» Why should I invent something that has already been invented a long time ago? If I can’t write compelling stories, that means I’m untalented, and then I either shouldn’t write at all, or I should write the way I know how to write. I’m not a writer. I just want money, I want to get rich, I wrote a boring book. This means that I don’t need to try to stand out with the originality of the text. I’ll just write a boring book, so boring that even the publisher will tell me: «Your book is the most boring and boring book I’ve ever read.» And then I will answer him: «It was planned that way.» «Really?» – he will ask. «Yes, of course,» I will answer, «It’s a classic.» And it is true. All the classics are boring. And for me, modern classics. And in general, it seems that I am starting to feel depressed.

Peter turned his attention to the social network. He typed the phrase «Depression» into the search, and he was given several dozen groups dedicated to depression. He chose the most popular group and joined it.

Posts hung on the monitor, to which various photographs were attached, with captions. The photographs were gray and dull, just like the mood of those who entered this group.

– What am I doing here? – Peter thought.

He started reading posts and comments on them.

Under one of the photographs, he saw a comment from a girl named Sveta, who was talking about her experience of struggling with depression. Peter carefully read the comment and decided to ask her.

– What to do if you think you are getting depressed? – he wrote in the comments to the photo, addressing Sveta.

The answer came within two minutes.

– First, try not to think about the fact that you are depressed. Thoughts about depression intensify the state of depression itself.

– I don’t even think about her, I’m just writing a book, but no thoughts come into my head, and because of this, it seems to me that I’m starting to feel depressed. – Peter answered in the comment.

– What is this book about? – asked Sveta, writing in the comment.

– Well, it’s about a writer. About how a guy writes a book.

– Interesting, I guess.

– I don’t know, the readers will judge.

– If you don’t know what to write about, then take a break and rest. This should help. Distract yourself from something else, watch a movie, or listen to music.

– Yes, you’re probably right. Need to watch some movie.

– Go chat in private messages. – one of the guests of the group wrote.

Sveta wrote to Peter in private messages:

– Hello, if you want, you can write to me. By the way, why don’t you have friends?

– I don’t know, I don’t communicate with anyone.

– Can I add you?

– Yes, sure.

Sveta added Peter as a friend. Peter did the same.

– Well, now you have friends.

– Yes, it’s cool.

– Have you written a lot already? I’m talking about the book.

– No, only three chapters.

– It’s difficult. You need to invent and then write.

– Yes, you have to sit for several hours on each chapter. It happens even half a day.

– Sorry, I need to leave, I’m at work now. Then the authorities came.

– Fine.

Peter’s mood improved somewhat. He made his first friend on a social network, and it was a pretty girl. Peter took a sip of coffee and leaned back in his chair, folding his hands behind his head.

– Why not write about it. About how I met a girl. – Peter thought.

The keys jingled in the keyhole. The door opened and Christina entered the apartment. Peter watched her through the slightly open door. She took off her briefcase and threw it in the corridor. Then she took off her shoes and immediately went to Peter’s room.

– Give me the computer, I urgently need to write to my friend. – she said, standing next to Peter.

Peter looked at the monitor, then at his sister, and reluctantly crawled out from behind the computer. The sister sat down in a chair and began to enter the username and password for her social network page.

Stepping away from the computer, Peter lay down on the sofa and stared at the ceiling. Now his thoughts were not absorbed only by the book, there was a place in them for Sveta. Peter didn’t really look at her photograph, but, at first glance, Sveta seemed quite attractive to him.

After lying on the sofa for about ten minutes, Peter got up, took a mug with the remaining coffee from the table, and went to the kitchen to pour new, hot coffee. The sister was sitting on the computer, communicating with someone on a social network, and at the same time watching videos of popular bloggers.

– Make me something to eat! – the sister shouted after him as Peter left the room.

– Fine.

Having reached the kitchen, Peter turned on the kettle, put the mug on the table, and climbed into the refrigerator to figure out what to cook for his sister for lunch.

– Make me some dumplings! – the sister’s voice was heard.

Peter closed the refrigerator and opened the freezer. From there he took a pack of dumplings.

– Fry them! – was heard from the room again.

Putting a pack of dumplings on the table, Peter lit the gas under the frying pan and poured some vegetable oil into it. Then he took a pack of dumplings, opened it, and counted out twenty dumplings, which he placed on the frying pan. The dumplings sizzled. Peter turned down the gas so they wouldn’t burn and put the leftovers back in the freezer.

Closing the frying pan with a lid, Peter poured himself a new mug of coffee and sat down at the table. Sitting at the table, he began to watch TV. A program about travel was shown on TV. At that moment, Peter thought that if he could earn money, if his book was published and he would earn a lot of money from it, then he would certainly go on a trip too. I would go to some exotic country, to Egypt, or to China, or maybe I would go to Dubai. There were many places to go, but there was no money.

Having taken a sip of coffee, Peter stood up from the table and went to the stove. He removed the lid from the frying pan and, taking a wooden spatula, stirred the dumplings, after which he closed the frying pan with a lid.

– He might give up this whole writing thing. I don’t like to write. I have to admit to myself that it doesn’t give me any pleasure to write, especially when you have to write a lot, and you have no idea what to write about or how to fill the pages. – Peter thought, returning to the table.

He clamped his fingers around the coffee mug and stared into it. After taking a sip, he turned his gaze to the TV.

My sister came into the kitchen.

– Will the dumplings be ready soon?

– In about five minutes.

– Okay, I’ll be on the computer, bring them to me when they’re ready.

– Don’t you need to do your homework?

– It’s necessary, but I’ll do them later.

– Come on, don’t sit for long, I also need a computer.

– Okay, but most importantly, bring me the dumplings.

– Okay, okay. – Peter mumbled, taking another sip of coffee.

When the dumplings were ready, Peter turned off the gas under the frying pan, put the dumplings on a plate and, putting the fork there, took everything into the room. He placed the plate on the table in front of the keyboard.

– Bring some ketchup. – said Christina, taking a fork and pricking one dumpling on it.

Peter went back to the kitchen, took ketchup out of the refrigerator, and took it to his sister. She squeezed ketchup into the dumplings and returned it to Peter. He took it to the refrigerator.

There was nothing to do. All that was left was to watch TV. But it was uncomfortable to sit in the kitchen, my back quickly got tired, and the coffee had already left an unpleasant taste in my mouth.

Taking a mug of coffee, Peter poured the rest into the sink and, after rinsing it, put a tea bag there. The kettle was still hot, but not hot enough for the tea to brew. Peter turned on the electric kettle and stood next to it, waiting for the water to boil in it.

When the water in the kettle boiled, Peter took it and poured water into the mug in which the tea bag lay. The water turned dark brown. Taking a teaspoon, Peter crushed the tea bag, which made the water even darker. Having brewed tea, he took the bag out of the mug and threw it into the trash can. Then he put three spoons of sugar into the mug and mixed everything thoroughly.

After taking a sip of tea, he sat down at the table and stared at the TV, which was still showing a travel program. The program was interesting, it showed all the countries that were on the world map. Peter was surprised by how people lived in other countries, especially in countries like India, where they didn’t even remove garbage from the streets and where there was no sewage system. People were too spiritual, they did not value life or comfort. This seemed strange to Peter, but in India it was normal. As explained in the program, Hindus believe in castes, and that later they will be reborn in another caste and will live like kings.

– This is all strange. Is it so difficult to keep the streets clean? – thought Peter, taking another sip of tea. «I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t read or write books.» Where will writers and those who will read them come from in such a dump? Although you yourself are not that much of a writer. I decided to write a book, but I don’t even know what to write it about. You write some boring nonsense, where each chapter is nothing more than a copy of the first chapter. But on the other hand, if there are so few varied events in the life of a writer, what now? Inventing tall tales about him writing a book and fighting space aliens? Stupidity. A boring book about a boring person.

– I’m done, you can go to the computer. – said the sister, coming out into the kitchen with an empty plate. She took it to the sink and went to her room to do her homework.

– Great! – said Peter and, taking a mug of tea, went to the computer.

Returning to the computer, he opened his social network page. Sveta was offline. Then Peter decided to write the fourth chapter of the book. He opened the office program, scrolled to the bottom of the text, wrote a chapter subtitle, and began to describe another, boring day of the writer. There was nothing interesting to come up with, and it was impossible to come up with anything, because the book was just about a guy who writes a book, and nothing more. Any imagination could spoil the plot, nothing could be added, and for an entire chapter I had to write a boring day, during which the main character walks from the computer to the refrigerator, drinks coffee and tries to compose a text.

The hardest part was dragging out the moments when it was necessary to describe on two pages how the main character cooks scrambled eggs and pours coffee.

Without going into details, each day could be fit into two paragraphs, simply by briefly writing that the main character poured coffee, cooked scrambled eggs, had breakfast, and went to write a book. But the publishers wanted at least eight author sheets, and for this, it was necessary to write at least three thousand words in each chapter.

Peter was clearly tired of working on the book he had in mind, because it was incredibly boring, at least for him. He was used to watching films where the plot develops quickly and energetically, where the heroes constantly get into some kind of trouble and are forced to fight monsters, but what happened here? Computer, social network, kitchen, coffee. Four components from which it was necessary to assemble a whole book. The publisher simply had to recognize Peter as a genius. Well, who else can write a book of more than two hundred pages, where the main character constantly drinks coffee and sits on the computer? It was boring beyond belief. The main thing is that this boredom does not scare away readers, because Peter wrote not in order to write a book, but in order to earn money.

Peter sat over the fourth chapter until the evening.

Mother returned from work and was preparing dinner in the kitchen.

Christina entered the room, turning to Peter, who was just finishing the last paragraph of the chapter:

– You are very busy?

– Now yes, but what did you want?

– Go to the store with me.

– Why do you need it?

– I need to buy a notebook.

– Do you have to?

– Yes, I need a notebook.

– Okay, just come on a little later, I need to write a little here. Take mom’s money for now.

The sister left the room and went to the kitchen to ask her mother for money for a notebook.

Peter continued to write. There was very little left. One, two, maybe three sentences, and that’s it, the chapter is completed.

Having completed the last sentence, he looked at the number of words, it turned out to be exactly three thousand. This is exactly how much he needed so that in the end the book would turn out to be the right size. It would be unpleasant to write a book and then find out that it will not be published because it does not fit in size and only one author’s page is missing. This would be creepy, because there were not so many publishing houses in Russia, especially good publishing houses that could promote the book.

– Let’s get ready. – said the sister, entering the room.

– Okay, okay, I’m already getting ready.

Peter turned on the music, got up from the computer, and began to put on his street clothes.

After getting dressed, he turned off the computer and went out into the corridor. My sister was already standing in the corridor. Mother came out of the kitchen and handed Peter a hundred rubles.

– Here you go, there should be enough for a notebook. – she said.

Peter took the bill and put it in his pocket, after which he sat down on the bench and began to put on his sneakers.

Christina was already dressed.

When Peter put on his sneakers, he immediately went to the exit from the apartment.

– That’s it, we’re off. – said Christina.

– And don’t be late, dinner will be ready soon. – the mother said in response.

Peter and Christina left the apartment, and then from the front door to the street. It was already getting dark outside. Lanterns illuminated the road. Rare stars were visible in the sky. Peter and Christina walked along the road next to the house. It wasn’t very far to the shopping center, about ten minutes on foot.

First they walked through the park square, crossed the road, and walked along the sidewalk along another park. They lived in a residential area, and there were plenty of parks here.

Ten minutes later they reached the Mezhdunarodnaya metro station, where there was a shopping center. They went inside and took the escalator to the third floor, where the bookstore was located. In addition to books, the bookstore also sold notebooks. They went inside, and Christina rushed to the section with notebooks, and Peter stopped near the shelves with books. There were a lot of books, so many that if his book had suddenly appeared on the shelf, hardly anyone would have noticed it.

– There is a lot of competition. – Peter thought. – To make your way in literature, you need to have real talent, write beautifully, clearly, and about interesting events. It is unlikely that my book will succeed.

Walking past the shelves with books, he went to the section with notebooks, where Christina stood and chose a notebook for herself.

– Which one do you like better, this one or this one? – she asked, showing two notebooks, one had an owl on it, and the other had a panda on it.

– The one with the panda.

– Okay, then we’ll buy it.

Taking the notebook, Christina went to the cash register. Peter followed her. On the way, she also grabbed a pen. Approaching the cash register, she gave everything to the saleswoman, and Peter handed her a «one hundred ruble» bill.

The saleswoman took the bill and counted out the change. Christina took the notebook and pen and went to the exit.

– Are you satisfied? – asked Peter.

– Yes.

– Great.

Peter developed a feeling of worthlessness. He could afford absolutely nothing. He looked at people going shopping, buying something for themselves, choosing, but he didn’t even have the money to take his sister to a fast food restaurant and buy her a hamburger. Something in him shrank, so much so that he wanted to leave the shopping center as quickly as possible. All these people, with cars, cool phones, in expensive clothes, all this pressed on him from all sides, and it seemed that he was about to get dizzy and vomit right on them.

Together with Christina, they left the shopping center and went home. My sister was pleased. She didn’t care about what Peter did, because she was only eleven. She had different values, and she did not believe that at her age a person should already achieve something. The same could not be said about Peter. He understood that he was almost thirty years old, and he had not even earned enough money to buy a car. But he didn’t want a car, he didn’t want to be middle class, he wanted to be a millionaire, he wanted to have a lot of money, so much that he could afford not only a cheap car, but also a yacht and a private jet. He was sick before living a beautiful life, he believed that he should live in such a way that everything around him should bow before him and give him what he wants. However, nothing bowed before him except the branches of the bushes, swaying under the pressure of the cool wind.

Returning home, Christina went to draw in a new notebook, and Peter, pouring himself a mug of coffee, went to the computer to listen to music and relax.

Logging into his social network page, he saw that Sveta was online.

– Hello. – Peter wrote in a personal chat.

– Hello. How’s the book going? Have you written anything?

– Yes, I finished the fourth chapter. It was difficult, but I did it. I don’t even know how interesting everything I write about is. It would be frustrating to write a book and find out that it’s not worth printing. I was in a bookstore here, it was full of books. And how many more books have not been published? There are thousands of them.

– Yes, there is a lot of competition.

Mother entered the room.

– Dinner is ready, go eat.

– Yes, okay, now.

– I’ll go eat, I’ll come back later. – Peter wrote to Sveta, and got up from the table and went to the kitchen.

In the kitchen, on the table, there were plates containing boiled potatoes with fried liver.

Peter took ketchup out of the refrigerator, poured it into the potatoes, and sat down at the table. He quickly emptied the plate and, putting it in the sink, went back to the computer. Christina came into the kitchen.

– I’m here. – he wrote in the chat. – You’re from St. Petersburg, aren’t you?

– Yes, from my beloved St. Petersburg.

«We didn’t really get to know each other.»

«We can do it now if you want.»

– My name is Peter. – Peter wrote jokingly, because his names were already written opposite the messages.

– And I’m Sveta.

– Very nice.

– And me.

Communication began to gain momentum, although it was boring. Peter asked Sveta about her interests, while simultaneously talking about herself, and Sveta mostly answered questions and showed practically no initiative. The conversation ended when Sveta wrote that it was time for her to go to bed, since she had to get up early for work tomorrow. Peter felt a little awkward, because he didn’t have to get up for work. And he didn’t even tell Sveta that he was unemployed.

– If she finds out that I am unemployed and dreams of making money by writing books, she will immediately stop communicating with me. – Peter thought, and therefore did not say anything to Sveta, deciding to leave it until a more opportune moment.