“I’m not going with you,” Oksana said calmly. “I’ve already made up my mind, and I’m going alone.” “You… what are you going to do? This is a joke, I hope?” “No jokes. I’m already at the stage of buying the ticket.” Oksana and her husband Igor hadn’t been to the sea for several years. … Read more
“— Olechka, you can’t do that—she’s your own mother, after all…” “— Mother?! That word doesn’t suit her at all! Please remember this: I don’t have a mother. I don’t. She died in childbirth.” “— Olya…” gasped Sofya Borisovna. “What terrible things you’re saying!” But Olya was already striding into the hall to go home. … Read more
Yana turned the key in the lock and let out a sigh of relief. Finally home. Behind her was another exhausting day at the office, where clients demanded the impossible and management pressed with deadlines. Her two-room apartment greeted her with its usual order and silence—everything lay exactly where it was supposed to. She kicked … Read more
Ksenia sat on the floor among the cardboard boxes, holding the keys to her very own apartment. Twenty-six years of life, and finally, she had a place of her own. “I can’t believe this is mine,” Ksenia whispered, looking around the empty room. Sunlight poured through the large windows. After years of renting tiny corners, … Read more
“What do you think you’re doing? Are you out of your mind?” Igor’s voice was no louder than a whisper, but the steel grip of his fingers digging into Kristina’s forearm spoke louder than any shout. He nearly dragged her out of the brightly lit, noisy living room into a narrow, dim corridor, where the … Read more
Marina sighed, staring at the computer screen. The numbers in the report blurred before her eyes—it was already eleven at night, and she was still at the office. Being the head of the marketing department at a large IT company demanded total commitment, but the pay matched the effort. At thirty-two, she earned more than … Read more
— Mom, can I come in? I need to talk, — Natalia stood in the doorway of her parents’ apartment, clutching a large bag. — Come in, but take off your shoes carefully, I just cleaned the floors, — her mother stepped aside to let her in. — Your dad’s home, reading the newspaper. The … Read more
Vera Vasilyevna Loshkareva, a waitress at the restaurant “Skatert-Samobranka,” was changing into her uniform before her shift and listening in on her colleagues’ conversations. “She searched for him for thirty years, and met him on a cruise ship,” Zinaida was telling the plot of a movie. “Just like that, recognized him after thirty years? Nonsense,” … Read more
— Daughter, don’t worry about me. Right now, you must not quarrel with your father. Please, don’t try to defend me.” Julia remembered these words from her mother forever. She was only fourteen then, and in her young heart, it felt as if the world had collapsed overnight. Her mother’s words sounded like a warning, … Read more
Semyon Petrovich, or simply Petrovich — that’s what everyone who occasionally stopped by this forgotten-by-God place called him — with a strained groan plunged his shovel into the heavy, damp earth. Another day, like hundreds before. He had been working here, at the old village cemetery, for twenty years now, ever since the noisy and … Read more