Maryn got on the wrong bus trying to get home from school in Russia. Suddenly, she realized she wasn't anywhere familiar. She got off the bus.
She didn't have any change or cash to get back on the bus going the other way.
She pulled up her GPS on her phone and put in her address. She was 5 miles away from her apartment. It was 10 pm. It was cold and dark. And her phone was on 2%. She found a taxi but they didn't take cards. She couldn't find an ATM.
She started walking. And I tried not to be frantic.
Here is the conversation her and I had on Messenger:
I just got home
How did it work out? Did
you walk? Get a ride?
I walked
And only by a miracle
did I get home.
You'll be okay. I'm so
glad you're okay.
I almost wasn’t
What do you mean you
almost weren't?
So before my phone
died that last thing I did was memorized the directions on my phone.
I then repeated them
to myself to keep calm and also so I wouldn’t forget.
I get to the part of
the round about where I was supposed to take the third exit.
I started walking that
way and 5 minutes in something really didn’t feel right so I went back to the
huge round about.
There was no way to
get to exit of the round about so I started to cry because I really had no idea
where I was this time.
I had a feeling to try
and quickly cross the street to the left side. So when no cars were coming I
ran across.
There was nothing but
a huge dirt lot and I had the feel to walk to the other side of it to this
little backroad I saw at the end.
There were a bunch of
buildings behind the back road and a voice told me to stand in the middle of
the road looking out toward the main road/round about
As soon as I did it
dawned on me that I recognized these buildings
It was the ginormous
apartment complex that Mishas parents lived in!
And that that back
road was the one my host family often took as a short cut to the round about
and eventually the city.
I just started walking
straight back through the huge complex.
I definitely wasn’t
aware of how big it was but just kept walking as far back as I could go until I
saw an opening back out into the main road.
I somehow got to the
other side of the round about, and just felt like I need walk just a little
further
A few minutes later
out of nowhere I saw the bus stop I was originally supposed to get off at and
the road that led to my house.
I was praying the
whole time too.
Just pleading to not
have to wander through the night.
I just did everything
I was told to/felt like I should do
Your dad Maryn. It was
your dad.
I know.
I heard his voice.
He told me he’d stay
close.
That I was smart and
intuitive.
That I would be okay.
