The commuter train was slowly approaching the familiar platform, and Anna pressed her forehead to the carriage’s cold windowpane. She hadn’t been to this town in five years. Five years of building a career in the capital, working twelve-hour days, saving on everything—even the coffee from the vending machine. Every kopek went into her dream fund: her own apartment. She was so close—just a little more, six months, and the down payment would be ready.
And now this. A phone call in the middle of the workday, her mother crying on the line and saying incoherent things about debt collectors, threats, and being unable to pay. Anna took an unscheduled leave and got on the first commuter train.
The house she grew up in met her with the smell of cabbage soup and anxious faces. Her mother, who seemed to have aged ten years in the interim, flitted around the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron over and over. Her father sat at the table staring at a single point. And on the couch, as serene as ever, lay her younger sister Lena, flipping through a bridal magazine.
“Anya, sweetheart,” her mother rushed to her, “thank goodness you came. We’re completely tangled up in these debts…”
“What debts?” Anna sat down across from her father. “Explain properly what happened.”
Her father sighed heavily and pulled a thick folder of documents from a drawer.
“It started three years ago. Lena got a job at a beauty salon. The pay was small, but she said it was temporary—until she found a suitable husband.”
“Dad, don’t start on the husband thing again!” Lena protested without looking up from the magazine. “I just want to live beautifully, not like you—denying yourselves everything your whole lives.”
“Go on,” Anna nodded to her father.
“Lena got a credit card. Then another one. She said the minimum payments were nothing—just a couple thousand a month. At first we didn’t worry. Then she started asking us to help with the payments. A thousand here, two thousand there. We thought—our daughter’s young, inexperienced; we’ll help.”
“And you started taking out loans?”
“First a consumer loan,” her mother cut in. “A small one, to pay off Lena’s cards. And then…” She waved her hand helplessly.
Lena finally set the magazine aside and sat up.
“Listen, Anya, don’t make a mountain out of a molehill. It’s not that much money. You’ve got savings—you were always bragging about how frugal you are.”
“How much?” Anna asked quietly.
Her father silently handed her a list. Anna skimmed the numbers, and the blood drained from her face. The total debt was even greater than what she’d saved for the apartment.
“Have you lost your minds?”
“It all piled up gradually,” her father said defensively. “We covered one loan with another, the interest kept growing…”
“And what was Lena doing all this time—wasn’t she working?”
“I was working,” the younger sister interjected. “But you know what salaries are like here. At the salon I made thirty thousand. Try living on that! Then I got a job at a clothing store—forty there, but the schedule was awful, I quit after a month. Then a café…”
“And how many jobs did you go through in three years?”
“I don’t remember exactly. Maybe ten. I can’t work where I don’t like it!”
Anna felt anger start to simmer inside her.
“And what did you live on? Dad’s pension and Mom’s shopgirl wages?”
“Lena kept saying she’d be getting married soon,” her mother said timidly. “She has lots of admirers…”
“Admirers!” Anna exploded. “In three years not a single serious man! But a mountain of debt!”
“Why are you so mean?” Lena pouted. “Are you jealous that I have a personal life and you only have work?”
Anna took a deep breath, trying to calm down.
“Fine. Tell me exactly what’s happening now. What threats, what deadlines?”
For the next hour she carefully studied the documents, called the banks, and clarified details. The picture was bleak. Her parents had truly driven themselves into a debt pit they could no longer climb out of alone. Debt collectors called daily, threatening to seize property.
“What exactly did you buy with this money?” Anna asked when she finished with yet another bank.
“Lena needed a car,” her father began. “Not new—used—but on credit…”
“Why does she need a car?!”
“Well, she wanted to be like everyone else,” her mother defended her. “Everyone has one, and she was walking everywhere!”
“Then it needed repairs. We bought it with mileage,” her father went on. “A new phone, she bought furniture for her room…”
“With that kind of money?!”
“Anya, look how beautiful it turned out!” Lena exclaimed and pulled her sister toward her room.
Anna stared, dazed, around Lena’s bedroom. A huge canopy bed, a vanity like a Hollywood star’s, a wall-to-wall sliding-door wardrobe, a flat-screen TV, an air conditioner—everything in rosy-gold tones.
“It’s like a palace!” Lena said proudly. “And I needed decent clothes, too. I had nothing to wear in front of people. Mom also bought herself a fur coat…”
“A fur coat?”
“A mink one,” her mother whispered. “Lena said it was shameful to go around in an old coat…”
“And we bought Dad a suit, and me some jewelry, and new dishes for the house, and a refrigerator, and a washing machine…”
Anna went back to the kitchen and collapsed onto a chair. Everything she saw around her had been bought on credit. Expensive appliances, furniture—even the curtains looked pricey.
“So you were basically burning through life on borrowed money,” she stated.
“We thought Lena would get married,” her father said quietly. “She had several serious suitors…”
“Yes, she did!” Lena confirmed. “There was Andrey, a company director. Only he turned out to be married. And Sergey—he has a business, but he moved to Moscow. And Mikhail…”
“What about Mikhail?”
“Well, he was okay, but he had a one-room apartment. I can’t live in a one-room place! And then it turned out it was mortgaged, too.”
Anna closed her eyes. She herself was renting a one-room apartment and dreamed of having her own—even if it meant a mortgage.
“Lena, you’re twenty-five. It’s time you earned your own living.”
“Why?” her sister asked in sincere surprise. “I’m going to get married. Normal men provide for their wives.”
“And if you don’t?”
“I will. I’m pretty and young. And look at you—always working, a gray mouse. That’s why you’re alone.”
Anna felt her fists clench.
“Fine. What do you plan to do about the debts?”
“We were thinking…” her mother said, stumbling over the words, “maybe you could help? You have the money, you’ve been saving for so many years…”
“Anya,” Lena cut in, “come on, what does it cost you? You live alone anyway, no kids. Why do you need an apartment? I, on the other hand, need to start a family.”
“So you want me to give you all my savings?”
“Not give—help the family,” her father corrected. “We’re not strangers.”
Anna stood and paced the kitchen. Numbers flashed through her head. Her savings were almost the entire amount of the debt. She’d be left with a hundred thousand. Everything she’d earned over five years would go to covering Lena’s whims.
“What about my apartment?”
“You’ll save up again,” Lena said lightly. “You’re good at making money. And I don’t have time, I need to get married.”
“No time? No time for what?”
“Well, I can’t work until I’m forty! I need to marry while I’m still young and pretty. After thirty it’ll be too late.”
“So I’m supposed to work till I’m old to pay for your entertainments?”
“What entertainments?” Lena objected. “These are necessities! How can I be without a car? Without nice clothes? You understand yourself…”
“I understand that you’re used to living at someone else’s expense!”
“Kids, don’t fight,” their mother intervened. “We’re a family. Anya, sweetie, we know we’re asking a lot, but we have no other way out. The collectors are threatening…”
“And what, did you think loans don’t have to be repaid?”
“We thought somehow…” her father said, flustered. “Lena promised she’d get married…”
Anna sat back down and pulled out her phone.
“All right. Let me call the banks and see what can be done, what options there are.”
She spent the next two hours negotiating. It turned out they could restructure the debt, stretching out the payments over a longer term, but the monthly payments would still be about fifty thousand rubles. With a combined family income of eighty thousand, that meant near-starvation.
“There’s another option,” she said after the last call. “We need to sell everything that was bought on credit. The car, the furniture, the appliances. That will cover about half the debt. The rest we stretch over five years in small payments.”
“What do you mean, sell?” Lena was horrified. “My car? My furniture? We’ll lose so much that way!”
“And what do you propose?”
“You should give us the money!” Lena suddenly said sharply. “We’re relatives! Or are you too stingy for your family?”
“I don’t owe anyone anything,” Anna replied coolly.
“You do!” her father burst out unexpectedly. “We raised you, fed you, clothed you, sent you to university! And now, when we need help, you turn your back!”
Anna looked at her parents. At these people who had allowed their younger daughter to live off them, who had plunged into debt for her whims, and who now demanded that their elder daughter pay for their irresponsibility.
“You raised me—that was your duty. I got an education and I work, I support myself. And she—” Anna nodded at Lena, “what has she been doing all these years?”
“She was looking for a husband!” her mother exclaimed. “That’s not easy either!”
“Does husband-hunting cost this much money?”
“Anya, enough!” Lena exploded. “Do you think you’re the only smart one? I have a right to be happy too! And if I need money for a beautiful life, why shouldn’t the family help?”
“Because it isn’t your money!”
“Whose, then? Yours? You earned it by working like a horse and forgetting your personal life. And what good did it do you? You’re alone and miserable, but rich. I’ll be happy in marriage, and the money will come.”
“Come from where?”
“My husband will earn it! Normal men provide for the family!”
“And while there’s no husband—I’m supposed to provide for you?”
“Who else?” her father interjected. “We’ve got no one but you! Can’t you see—we’re desperate! They’re threatening us!”
Anna felt everything inside her begin to boil. These people weren’t asking—they were demanding. Demanding her money, her dream, her future.
“You know what,” she said, standing up, “I’ll think about it.”
“There’s nothing to think about!” Lena snapped. “Either you help the family, or you’re not our sister!”
“Or our daughter,” her father added.
Anna silently went to her old room, which her parents hadn’t dared to redo. Everything was as before—writing desk, narrow bed, shelves with textbooks. Modest and simple.
She lay down and closed her eyes. Five years of austerity. Five years of denying herself every small joy. Five years of dreaming about a home of her own. And all of it—just to pay for Lena’s outfits and amusements?
Maybe she should help? After all, they were family. And if the collectors took it to court, her parents might be left without a roof over their heads.
But then her dream of an apartment would be postponed another five years. Maybe more—who knew if her parents and Lena wouldn’t take on new debts once they saw their eldest daughter was willing to pay?
Anna got up and went to the window. Children were playing in the courtyard. Somewhere out there, in the capital, stood her future apartment. A one-room place on the outskirts, but hers. And for it she was ready to work another five years.
She returned to the kitchen. The family sat waiting for her decision.
“Well?” Lena asked impatiently.
“I will not pay your debts,” Anna said firmly.
“What do you mean you won’t?” her mother couldn’t believe it.
“Exactly that. You’re adults. You got yourselves into this—get yourselves out.”
“But how will we manage without your help?” her father clutched at his heart.
“Sell everything you bought on credit. Let Lena go to work—not for peanuts at a salon, but a proper job. She can make decent money as a courier with her car. Or sell the car and get an office job.”
“I’m not going to be a courier!” Lena protested. “And I’m not selling the car!”
“Then you’ll stay in debt.”
“Anya,” her mother pleaded, “we’re perishing here! Don’t you feel sorry for your parents?”
“I do. But not enough to give up my whole life to pay for Lena’s whims.”
“So you’re an egoist!” Lena shouted. “You don’t care about family!”
“You’re the egoist,” Anna replied calmly. “You lived off others for five years, racked up debts, dragged our parents into them, and now you want me to pay for everything.”
“Who else then? You have money!”
“I have money that I earned for my own goals.”
“What goals? An apartment?” Lena scoffed. “You’re thirty, living alone like an old maid! What do you need an apartment for—to sit in it by yourself?”
“Lena!” their mother scolded.
“What, ‘Lena’? Let her hear the truth! She thinks if she buys an apartment, happiness will fall from the sky? Who would even want a gray mouse like her!”
Anna felt something unpleasant and icy rise within her. Not anger—worse. Cold contempt.
“And you’re the beauty and the brains, I suppose?” she asked quietly. “In five years you didn’t find a single decent man, couldn’t last at dozens of jobs, dragged our parents into debt—and that’s success?”
“I’ll find someone,” Lena snapped.
“You will. Just not someone who’ll pay your debts. Any decent man would run from a wife like that in a month.”
“He’d run from you! I’m the pretty one!”
“Beauty without brains or conscience is a cheap commodity.”
Lena leapt to her feet.
“How dare you! Mom, do you hear what she’s saying?”
“Children, calm down,” their mother said weakly. “Anya, maybe not all the money, but at least some of it?”
“Not a kopek,” Anna cut off.
“Then we’re finished,” her father whispered.
“Nothing of the sort. You’ll sell your things, restructure the remaining debt, Lena will get a job—and in a few years you’ll pay it off.”
“And if we don’t?”
“That’s your problem.”
“But you could help!” her mother persisted. “Don’t you really pity us?”
Anna looked at her closely. At this woman who had seen her eldest daughter off to the capital in tears five years ago, and who now demanded she hand over all her savings to the younger sister.
“I’m sorry you let Lena turn into an egotist and a freeloader. I’m sorry you went into debt for her whims. But I’m not going to pay for your mistakes.”
“Mistakes?” Lena flared. “What’s wrong with wanting to live beautifully?”
“What’s wrong is living at someone else’s expense, not working, and demanding that others solve your problems.”
“I did work!”
“You worked for months and spent for years.”
“So what? Money isn’t the most important thing in life!”
“Then why are you demanding mine?”
Lena fell silent, thrown off balance.
“Anya,” her father said quietly, “we thought you would help. You’re our daughter.”
“I am your daughter. But I am not obligated to pay for your foolishness.”
“And if we have nowhere to go?”
“You’ll sell the apartment and buy a smaller one. Lena will get a job. Mom, Dad, you’re not that old—you can pick up extra work.”
“Sell the apartment?” her mother gasped. “But this is our home!”
“And the debts are your debts.”
“So you’re abandoning us!” Lena cried. “Some daughter you are!”
Anna stood and picked up her bag.
“Where are you going?” her mother asked in fright.
“To the station. I’m leaving early tomorrow morning.”
“Wait!” her parents rushed toward her. “Let’s talk it over again!”
“There’s nothing to discuss. My decision is final.”
“Anya, at least half!” her mother begged.
“You won’t get a single ruble from me!” Anna said sharply, turning to them. “You got yourselves into debt—you’ll pay it back yourselves! I am not going to support you!”
She reached the door and looked back.
“And don’t call me anymore. Ever. Live by your own wits.”
The door slammed behind her so hard the windowpanes rattled.
On the stairwell, Anna stopped and leaned against the wall. Her hands were shaking, her heart was pounding wildly. For the first time in her life, she had spoken to her own family this harshly.
And for the first time, she felt truly free.
The commuter train carried her back to the capital—to her job, to her rented one-room apartment, to her dream of a home of her own. Five years ago she’d left this place a frightened girl afraid of living on her own. Now she was returning as a grown woman who knew how to defend her interests and her dreams.
In six months she would submit her mortgage application. Then she would move into her own apartment. And no one—not her parents, not her sister, not anyone—would be able to take away her right to her own life.
As for what would happen to her family—that was their choice now. Adults must answer for the decisions they make.