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It’s been four years since then.
Kira enrolled in medical college. The entire yard collected money: whoever could gave 500 soms, and someone provided outdated textbooks. Mom obtained another job as a cleaner, this time in a clinic.
However, in the second year, a dreadful occurrence happened. A fire began in the dormitories. Everyone got out except Nastya, a first-year student. She was discovered unconscious, stuck between the fire and the wall.
Kira, despite her weakness, hurried in. She pulled her companion out and nearly suffocated herself. She then spent two weeks in the hospital with burns on her lungs.
Since then, they have become inseparable. Nastya became more than just a friend to Kira; she was a supporter. The person who would subsequently play an important part in her life.
Doctors absolutely prohibited Kira from engaging in physical activities. Her sleep became disturbed, and the agony returned. One night, she awoke with the familiar fear: her stomach felt as rigid as a drum. Like at the age of twelve. She realized that the sickness had returned.
However, she was no longer a child lost in the diagnoses. She read articles and understood what to do. Nastya accompanied her to the city, where the only specialist who knew her uncommon ailment worked.
When the doctor examined the photographs, he stated:
– You require urgent surgery. It’s serious. But you’re great – you arrived on time. You know how to listen to your body.
The operation was lengthy and difficult. A blood transfusion was necessary, and some of the damaged vessels were removed. Kira laid there for three weeks. Her mother came two days later, falling to her knees before the bed:
– I apologize… I assumed you were simply weary.
Kira simply smiled:
– I’m growing up. I’m coping.
Following the therapy, she took a temporary leave from college. But Nastya insisted.
– Don’t dare leave. You saved my life, and now it’s my turn to save you.
Nastya worked part-time in the evenings, delivering food and rewriting notes. Kira also launched a blog for teens with uncommon disorders. Without pathos. Honestly. Heart to heart.
Thousands of people began reading it. Alina, a nine-year-old kid with the same illness, wrote very frequently. Her mother cried in every message.
– May we come to you? We don’t have anywhere else to turn…
Kira agreed. Kira appeared to see a reflection of her past when tiny Alina entered the house, afraid, with a large belly and pain-filled eyes.
She took the girl to the doctor, read fairy stories in the evening, and stroked her hair. And one day Alina whispered:
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