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
The solid vault of the sky split open, pouring endless streams of cold, piercing rain down onto the earth. The monotonous drumming of heavy drops on the roof of the old car blended with the quick, anxious rhythm of her own heart. Margarita was gripping the steering wheel with damp, almost numb hands, trying to … Read more
“You live off everything that’s already done for you, you haven’t put in a single kopeck of your own!” my mother-in-law hissed while I silently set the table in the apartment whose renovation I had paid for down to the last ruble. They thought I would endure it forever. They didn’t know I had already … Read more