Marina and Roman exchanged a look. They knew. Petya had also died in the accident. “We were playing on the phone, sharing headphones, and then there was a strange sound, the bus started shaking violently, the driver tried to keep control, but he couldn’t.”
“We went off the road and… and…” Misha paused, squeezing his eyes shut. “You don’t have to talk about it now, sweetie, you can do it later.” Marina stroked his hair. “No, Mom, I want to, I need to get it out.”
He opened his eyes again. There were tears in them, but he continued. “The bus rolled over several times. People were screaming, things were flying. I hit my head, hit it hard and… Blackout. When I came to, there was fire.”
“Fire everywhere, the smell was awful, lots of smoke. I couldn’t breathe properly. I tried to stand up, but my leg wouldn’t obey, it hurt so much. Then I saw it was all twisted, broken.” Roman squeezed his eyes shut.
Imagining his son going through that was worse than any nightmare. “People were lying around, a lot of blood. I called for Petya, but he didn’t answer. I called for teacher Elena—nothing. There was only silence and the growing crackle of the fire.”
“That’s when I saw the boy, the one nobody knew. He was lying next to me, slumped over, motionless. Blood was coming from his head. I tried to call him, tried to shake him, but he wouldn’t wake up.”
Misha wiped his face with the back of his hand. “I crawled out. I dragged my body out of the bus, my leg screaming in pain. Every inch was hell, but I did it. I got out and lay on the grass, looking at the sky.”
“I thought I was going to die there, I wanted to die. The pain was unbearable.” “Don’t say that, son.” Marina kissed his forehead. “That’s when the firefighters arrived, the ambulances, everyone. Noise, people running, shouting, they picked me up, put me on a stretcher.”
“I remember a man saying, ‘This one’s alive, thank God, we found one alive.’ And then I blacked out again. I woke up in the hospital, I don’t know how much later. It could have been hours or days.”
“My head wasn’t working, everything was a blur. The nurses talked to me, but I didn’t really understand. They asked for my name, and I couldn’t remember. They asked for my phone number, address—nothing. My mind was a complete blank.”
Roman stood up and started pacing the room. He couldn’t sit still listening to this. “I was in the hospital for a long time. I had several surgeries on my leg. Not very successful. The doctors said I would never be able to walk without a crutch again.”
“That my leg would be like this forever.” Misha looked at his deformed leg. “But I didn’t care. I just wanted to remember. I wanted to know who I was, who my parents were, where I belonged.”
“One day, my memory started to come back. Suddenly, out of nowhere, I was lying in the hospital bed and I remembered our dog, Rex. I remembered him barking in the yard. And then it all came flooding back.”
“My full name, your name, Dad, your name, Mom, our address, our house, everything at once. I asked a nurse for a phone. I called home, trembling with excitement. And when they answered…” He looked at Aunt Masha, who was crying, leaning against the wall.
“They thought it was a prank. They hung up.” “Forgive me, son, forgive me, I didn’t know, I swear I didn’t know!” Aunt Masha sobbed. “I know, Aunt Masha, it’s not your fault,” Misha said kindly.
“I tried to call again, but the number was blocked. Then I asked a nurse for help. She looked up information about the accident online. That’s when we found out I had been declared dead. That there had been a funeral…”
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