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Alina was standing by the window of her two-room apartment, watching the first snow slowly cover the courtyard. The building was old, with high ceilings and creaky parquet floors, but for Alina these walls were the most precious thing she had left from her grandmother. The old woman had passed away two years earlier, leaving … Read more

The rays of the setting sun timidly slipped through the kitchen curtain, painting the wall in soft peach tones. I was standing at the sink, slowly wiping my damp hands on a fluffy terry towel. The water was quietly running down the drain, and in that almost meditative silence a sudden scream rang out. It … Read more

Anna had barely crossed the threshold of her workplace when an ambulance pulled up to the modest gray building, followed by a whole line of elegant cars decorated with ribbons and flowers. The scene was so unexpected and unnatural that all her colleagues, caught off guard, started going outside one by one to see this … Read more

The hall glittered with a blinding, unreal brilliance. Hundreds of dazzling lights from the huge crystal chandeliers, reflected in gilded frames and flutes of expensive champagne, struck right into the eyes, making everything that was happening feel unreal. Hundreds of eyes, like flashes of countless cameras, were fixed, unblinking, on the two of them standing … Read more

Sofiya sank slowly into a chair in the staff room, feeling every tired muscle in her body. She ran her palm over her damp forehead, wiping away beads of sweat. Her coat, soaked through, stuck unpleasantly to her back, reminding her of the battle that had just ended. The labor had been long and difficult, … Read more

The Edelweiss café was glowing that evening like a jewel box tossed into the velvety darkness of the autumn city. Beyond the tall stained-glass windows, the first frostbitten leaves were slowly whirling down, while inside reigned a cozy world, thought out to the tiniest detail. The soft light of wall sconces cast a golden sheen … Read more

It all began with a smell. Acrid, biting, seeping into the very core of me. It woke my mind before the feeling returned to my body. I opened my eyes, and the first ray of light struck my pupils, making my eyelids slam shut again, heavy as if filled with lead. A white ceiling, white … Read more

The woman froze by the stove, where she was stirring a vegetable stew. The wooden spoon stopped in her hand, and her gaze sank into the bubbling mix of peppers and eggplants. For the third month in a row, Danil had been meeting her from work with the same demand. “I already told you I’ll … Read more

Galina stood by the front door, blocking Elena Pavlovna’s way. In the young woman’s eyes burned a fire her mother-in-law had never seen before. Behind Galina, children’s laughter rang out – four-year-old Timofey was playing with his building blocks in the living room. “You demanded I get an abortion, remember?” Galina asked her former mother-in-law. … Read more

It seemed that on that day the sun was shining especially bright, flooding the city streets with liquid, warm gold that glinted off car windows and peeked curiously into every window. It felt as if the universe itself was tuning up to a new, major key, getting ready to perform a symphony dedicated to a … Read more