At first sight Yulia Isaeva had the most ordinary family: parents, grandfather, two grandmothers, some other relatives... All of them were kind and treated Yulia well. But the older Yulia got, the more often it seemed to her that something was wrong with her family. The thing is that Yulia had strange thoughts and memories that she couldn't tell any of them about.
For example, when she was almost six years old, she went to bed and woke up in some house. The house did not seem unfamiliar to Yula, and she was not surprised that she was there. Her mom was there, and some of her relatives, and they were having a good time, and were going to celebrate the new year. But when she asked her mom about this celebration and even described the house to her, she said it had never been like this before. The house Yulia was talking about was a dacha or a village house, but no one of their acquaintances and relatives had any similar house! One acquaintance had a dacha, but he had sold it before Yulia showed up, and that dacha was not even close to the one she was describing! No one Yulia knew had ever lived in the village, and no one had ever been to those places either.
Another story, even stranger, happened when Yulia was even smaller. She was walking through the city where she had lived all her life (she knew it). She was being led by the hand of a tall, blonde-haired woman. Suddenly that woman stopped and looked at Yulia, and Yulia, who thought it was her mom, suddenly saw that the woman had...a different face!
And none of her relatives and acquaintances were in this city. So Yulia had long ago given up trying to talk about it with any of them. But that wasn't what worried her anymore. She knew she was living with people who didn't understand her, and she began to guess that in all these visions was her real family. And she needed to find it right away.
Things were no better at school for Yulia either. She studied quite well, but nobody understood her there either.
Things started to change when Yulia turned thirteen. Or rather, it didn't start with that. The thing is that when Yulia had just entered the third grade, she learned that there was a theater studio at her school, and she wanted to go there.
- Okay - agreed mom - you can walk, but keep up with your studies.
Problems with her studies did not start, and she liked the theater studio - it helped her to distract herself from the thoughts that no one understands her. But, as already mentioned, when she was thirteen, everything changed. At the beginning of the school year, Julia found that the owner of their theater circle, Victoria Leonidovna is nowhere to be found. So Yulia went to her class teacher.
- Anna Mikhailovna," she asked, "do you know where Victoria Leonidovna is?
- Oh, Yulechka - Anna Mikhailovna sighed - she's gone.
- How did she leave? - Yulia didn't understand - Why didn't you warn us?
It turned out that something had happened in Victoria Leonidovna's family. Anna Mikhailovna didn't know what it was, or she just didn't want to say. The only thing that was known was that if Victoria Leonidovna came back at all, it was unknown what year it would be, and she would most likely not be teaching classes in the studio.
- And what should we do? - Yulia asked after listening to Anna Mikhailovna - Will our studio work?
- I don't know, Yulechka - sighed Anna Mikhailovna - but Antonina Mikhailovna said they shouldn't close it, so they'll look for a new owner or mistress.
Yulia sighed and went home. She was glad that the studio was not going to be closed, but who would be sent to replace Viktoria Leonidovna? It could be anyone, and besides, no one could say when it would be.
A little less than two weeks passed after this conversation, and one day, Yulia met Anna Mikhailovna in the corridor.
- Oh, Yulia," she smiled, "I was just looking for you. I wanted to tell you that today after school there will be classes in the theater studio.
Yulia was very happy, and wanted to know who would now be in charge of the theater studio, but Anna Mikhailovna said that she had a lot of things to do, and ran away.
As a result, all the rest of the day Yulia was tormented by thoughts about who it could be. There was even one that it was Anna Mikhailovna herself, although this version was one of the most improbable.
When after lessons Yulia came to the door of the theater studio, she saw that in the corridor were already standing besides her acquaintances, three newcomers - two girls (one like Yulia, the other a little younger), and a boy, a little older. Neither Yulia nor any of her friends from the studio had seen any of these three before. Suddenly, the older one approached Yulia herself.
- Hi, Julia," she said simply, "I'm Veronica. This is - Veronica pointed toward the other two - my brother and sister Violetta and Herman. I remembered you right away. Do you remember me?
- No," Yulia was wary, "why should I remember any of you? I don't think we've met anywhere ...
- Oh, forget it," Veronica reassured her. - Soon you'll understand everything on your own.
They stood for a while longer, and suddenly some woman came to the studio door. She was a little older than Yulia's mom, with dark hair and eyes, wearing a blue dress, and Yulia was absolutely sure that she hadn't been at their school before.
The new studio manager's name was Margarita Sergeevna, and as soon as she spoke, Yulia had a strange feeling. She suddenly realized that Margarita Sergeevna was the one Yulia had been waiting for all this time.
The rest of the day went on as usual. The only thing that seemed unusual to Yula, apart from her strange feeling, was that at the end of the class Veronica came up to her and said:
- Well, goodbye. I'll see you soon.
Yulia wanted to talk to Veronica to find out more about her, but she had already left, taking her brother and sister with her. They waved to Yulia in the hallway and went about their business. She wanted to discuss this strange behavior with someone she knew, but none of them noticed anything strange.
At night Yulia realized that she was not at home again. This time she didn't realize where she was until a voice next to her said:
- Well, sis, you're finally home. Do you recognize us now?
Looking around, Yulia saw that she was standing in some large meadow, near which a large oak tree was growing. Margarita Sergeyevna came out from behind the tree and approached them.
- What, she doesn't remember? - She asked Herman. He shook his head negatively.
- Come on, Iliana. - she took Yulia's hand. Then she took her closer to the tree, and put her folded hands on her head. And then she remembered. Everything.
***
Her name was Iliana. Her true home was this world. But being the most curious of them all, she was eager to learn about life on other worlds. It could only truly be done through birth. Margo, who was her family's mentor, always made sure she was given a name at least somewhat similar to her real name. She had been Elina, Lina, and now Yulia... Her sisters and brother always kept an eye on her.
- When we noticed that you started to feel as if you were "not from here" - said Herman - We decided to take you away. We realized that you couldn't live all of Yulia's life. Don't worry, nothing will happen to the one everyone calls Yulia Isayeva, she will just become more... ordinary. And she'll stop telling weird stories. But that won't upset anyone. And then, if anything, we can always bring you back, or put another one of ours in her. I forgot to tell you, Yulia and everyone around her won't remember the last events.
That's the story. Curious Iliana continues to observe life in other worlds even now. And maybe she'll come back again.....
The end.