Get out of here while you’re still in one piece!” Tanya shouted, and her phone flew into the wall. The screen went dead, spraying shards across the linoleum. Good. Let that snake stop calling. Let her shut up with her orders, her poisonous voice, those endless: “Where is it?” “Why isn’t it like this?” “Denis’s … Read more
“You didn’t wash the cups properly again, Lida! Look at these marks!” Tamara Petrovna’s voice sounded like an alarm—sharp, metallic. Lida stood at the sink, lips pressed tight. Foam from the dish soap clung to her mouth; anger burned in her eyes. “Mom, I just washed them,” she said quietly, but evenly. “Washed them… sure. … Read more
“Still, Gleb, I think we really need to think this through before taking on obligations like that,” Alya said, carefully studying the documents spread out on the kitchen table. “Alevtina, we’ve discussed this a hundred times already. A new apartment is our future,” Gleb said, impatiently drumming his fingers on the tabletop. “Three rooms instead … Read more
Now that was a New Year’s, alright. Olga would later remember it like a very bad, very cruel fairy tale—one where she wasn’t Cinderella at all, but some useless, dusty thing they’d forgotten to throw out of the house. They celebrated, as usual, at Galina Petrovna’s place. A lavish table, set so heavily that the … Read more
“Did you buy those pasta again for a hundred and twenty?” The voice from behind the door sounded as if Yulia had messed something up somewhere. “I told you—in ‘Pokupochka’ they’re eighty-five!” Yulia froze in the kitchen with the grocery bags—she had only just set them on the table. Her hands were trembling with fatigue, … Read more
“Where’s the money?! The card won’t work!” Marina held the phone a little away from her ear. Dmitry’s voice slammed through the speaker—sharp, demanding. She was sitting in her office on the twelfth floor. Outside the window: a construction site—cranes, concrete blocks. “It works. Just not for you anymore.” Silence. She pictured him at a … Read more
Marina’s phone chirped, vibrating against the tabletop. A message from Sergei: “Want to go to the dacha together this weekend?” Marina stared at the screen in such confusion, as if he’d suggested flying to Mars. In twenty-five years of marriage, she had almost forgotten what their dacha looked like from the inside. Sergei had always … Read more
The sterile whiteness of the hospital room made his eyes ache. The sharp smell of bleach and medicine—the constant companion of any state-run clinic—seemed to have soaked into his very soul. Dmitry sat on the edge of the bed beside his ten-year-old son, Kirill, forcing the most carefree smile he could. This year the spring … Read more
The next contract for the delivery of medical equipment blurred in front of her eyes. The numbers and clauses had long since merged into a monotonous mush. Elena rubbed the bridge of her nose and leaned back in her chair. The phone call from her husband came at just the right time. “Len, hi. Listen, … Read more
— “Are you seriously saying this right now?” Raisa set down the comb she’d been threading pearls into and slowly turned toward her husband. Her voice was quiet, but there was steel trembling inside it. “Sell my apartment to pay off your mother’s debt?” — “Well what else are we supposed to do?” Andrey stood … Read more