Ruslan walked slowly across the squeaky, dazzlingly white snow that covered everything around him, hardly noticing the biting cold. In his ears, the echoes still rang:
«Face the wall! Hands behind your back! Prepare for inspection!»
He was returning after another grueling shift at the women’s prison in Solikamsk. The young man had been working there as a guard for two months, but still couldn’t get used to the dreadful place, despite having spent years in the operational service, witnessing all sorts of things. Due to his straightforward character, he was politely asked to leave—he never took bribes and refused to cut deals with the law.
Eventually, the young man was transferred to local police duties, but he didn’t last long there either, clashing with his supervisor who demanded a formal approach to handling illegal immigrants and convicts, and expected shares of gifts and offerings.
His wife Lera was relentlessly nagging him:
«Why are you such a fool for God’s sake! Come back down to earth, I beg you! Who needs your idealism and principles! Look at your colleagues, quicker and smarter, they’ve long had a decent income! They’re sunning on the beaches in summer, while we’re stuck in this rented one-bedroom, barely making ends meet on your salary!»
«I don’t know any other way to live, and I won’t change. And you, dear, could find a job too, maybe at the daycare, instead of sitting at home all day and driving me crazy!» the young man retorted.
«Me, with my education, wiping kids’ noses and washing dishes? I’d rather find myself a proper man with money!»
After another such fight, Lera really did pack her things and left for her lover. The couple divorced. Ruslan found the separation extremely hard to deal with, wanting to drink himself to death and forget everything, but his ironclad character wouldn’t allow it. To discipline the defiant local officer, who had become a thorn in everyone’s side, they transferred him to the women’s prison as a punishment, thinking he would break down, beg to return, and become more cooperative. He was, after all, a skilled professional who knew his job.
Ruslan had no idea how morally hard it was to see every day the brutal order and nicknames. After all, these were women who once in the past had been sweet, gentle, vulnerable, with broken and twisted fates, forced here to either adapt and become «men in skirts»: fighting, swearing, and physically forcing their right to decent food, sleep, and treatment, or to endure humiliation, spitting, harassment, and fear of not waking up at all! Many veteran guards didn’t even consider the prisoners as human and treated them like life’s refuse.
Ruslan was not used to this yet, trying to see a person, an individual in each, to understand the situation and, if punishment was necessary, to administer it justly and appropriately. For this, he was respected and even nicknamed «flint.»
The young man lived in a cabin of a former forester, quite far from the colony, about four kilometers, which he even found pleasing. While walking home from work, he could at least switch off a little and enjoy nature. He got himself a huge Siberian Shepherd named Jack and lived apart from everyone on the outskirts of a taiga village.
One night, Jack’s terrifying barking woke him up; the dog was literally jumping on the fence. It seemed like someone was knocking. Ruslan didn’t want to leave his warm, heated bed to face the fierce cold!
«Who the devil brought this on! Surely some beast wandered in, and that’s why Jack is freaking out!» the young man thought. He threw on his coat, slung a rifle over his shoulder just in case—the area was notorious—and reluctantly went to check.
Peeking out of the gate, Ruslan was stunned. In the snow lay a woman, her lips blue, her eyes closed, dressed in a prison quilted jacket, felt boots, and a headscarf. A prisoner, he realized. «Dead or what? Just what I needed on top of all the troubles!» he cursed and bent down to feel for a pulse. To his surprise, he felt a faint, barely perceptible heartbeat. His first impulse was to report the escaped convict as required and forget about this unpleasant episode. But something inside clicked, as if an inner voice whispered, «Don’t do this!» Alright, Ruslan decided, I’ll bring her inside, and then we’ll see what to do with her, or she’ll freeze to death or get mauled by wild animals. Even in a quilted jacket, the woman seemed utterly weightless, and he easily carried her into his arms and laid her on the bed in a remote little room, more like a closet, where it was warmest. As he removed her jacket, the woman started flailing her arms and mumbling incoherently:
«Don’t! I beg you! It hurts! Don’t touch me!»
Her body was indeed covered in scrapes, dried bloodstains, and bruises. So, the whole squad beat her—guessed the young man. Upon closer inspection, he realized the girl was young, no more than twenty-five years old, and despite her unseemly appearance, very beautiful. Her skin was pale, like porcelain, and thick chestnut hair escaped from under the headscarf and spread out on the pillow. Wide-set eyebrows, a slender, delicate nose, and sensuous plump lips made her look very refined; clearly, she wasn’t just anyone outside. The young man had absolutely no idea what to do, how to treat an escapee?
There were no medicines at home, and the thought of driving miles to a pharmacy in the middle of the night was out of the question. He remembered that in the barn, bunches of some fragrant herbs hung from the former forester’s wall. He used them to keep her hydrated through the night, vigorously rubbing alcohol, changing a cold water compress on her forehead every hour, determined, come what may! By morning, someone was again knocking on the door, Jack was straining at the leash, dogs were barking, and voices were heard.
They’ve come for her soul, thought the young man, covered the guest’s head with the coat, stuffed her quilted jacket, felt boots, and headscarf into the crawl space, and with trembling knees went to open the door. He realized that if they found her in his house, his career would be over, or maybe even worse!
Feigning sleepiness and yawning, he stepped outside the gate:
«What happened?» he asked the guards, who were milling around the threshold, with search dogs sniffing around. Fortunately, a terrible blizzard had swept everything around during the night, and the animals could not pick up any trail.
«A female prisoner escaped this evening, climbed into a truck that was taking mattresses off the territory. And just vanished into thin air. Your house is the only one near the woods. Didn’t you hear anything?» the senior asked suspiciously.
«No, she definitely wasn’t here. I’ve been having stomach issues all night, slept poorly, I would’ve heard it, and Jack was quiet. She probably disappeared somewhere in the woods, it’s such a fierce cold! The animals will scatter her, God help us if we find any remains by spring,» the young man stuck to his story.
«Yeah, you do look pretty bad… Alright, we’ll comb the forest to the end, you know the drill! We won’t go inside, you’re one of us, wouldn’t cover for a prisoner!» – and the man patted Ruslan on the shoulder in a friendly manner.
The young man returned to the house, sat down at the table, poured a shot of alcohol, and drank it in one gulp to somehow calm the tremor in his body and relieve the tension. Only one thought hammered in his head: «Dodged a bullet!» Why he did it, went against the system, violated all imaginable and unimaginable rules, and basically framed himself for a criminal case, Ruslan himself did not understand, but he could not have acted differently. There was something sincere about this girl, he felt, she wasn’t hardened, probably just got tangled up in something.
He approached his ward, who had come to and was looking at him with huge frightened eyes. She whispered with dry, cracked lips:
«Thank you!» – and slipped back into oblivion.
The next day was Ruslan’s day off, he went to town on a snowmobile, bought antibiotics, the smallest men’s clothes he could find, an electric shaver, and a large stock of food.
Returning in the evening, Ruslan found his patient unconscious next to the kitchen table. Seriously scared, he revived her with smelling salts and carried her back to bed. She moved her lips and tried to say something:
«I wanted to make you dinner, but I still have no strength, I’m sorry. My name is Katya. Don’t think I’m a murderer, you can check my case at the zone, I was imprisoned for fraud, but I’m innocent.»
Ruslan snapped at the girl:
«So here’s the thing, Katya! I think you know my name. Let’s do without any self-activity, don’t show yourself in front of the windows, lie quietly, I’ll give you injections, so no one even suspects you might be here. And once you’re better, I’ll tell you what to do next! Got it? I’m already regretting getting involved in all this.»
The girl nodded her head fearfully and went quiet. The young man nursed her for three weeks, injecting antibiotics, stuffing her with pills, and feeding her decoctions. Gradually, Katya began to recover. They slowly became close, and the girl told him why she ended up in prison:
«I had my own beauty salon, a cool, elite one, my parents gifted it to me, and a large bank account was opened in my name after they died. I fell in love with a guy who seemed to accidentally get run over by my car, that’s how we met. He promised me the moon, showered me with gifts, and carried me in his arms. That’s when I fell for him, but behind my back, he was fooling around with my business partner Alla. I have a son, Maxim, he’s nine now. At that time, only my little boy felt something was off, he kept telling me: ‘Mommy, I don’t like this uncle! He’s bad and mean.’ But I, the fool, didn’t listen to him, thought he was just jealous. Well, my Arturchik turned out to be a gigolo. He and Alla pulled off a tricky scheme, they didn’t pay taxes, showed me fake reports, and took out loans in my name, that’s why I was imprisoned for fraud. And the worst part, they put my little Maxim in an orphanage right after they locked me up,» and Katya burst into tears.
«Yeah, you got yourself into a mess, you fool! How indiscriminate you women are! You push away decent men and cling to scoundrels!» the man exclaimed.
«Ruslan, please don’t turn me in. I’ll do anything you want! I won’t survive in prison, the thugs beat me every other day. I’m just not a fighter! I was afraid to sleep, they strangled me at night and laughed wickedly over me. But the last straw was the harassment by the prison chief, your Artiukhov! He took me to his office and said, either I start snitching on everyone, telling who breathes what, or he would rape me every day, and he started making advances. I screamed. Then he hit me full force, I fell to the floor and he added:
‘Think, you fool, you have till tomorrow!’
What was I supposed to do? I wanted to hang myself, just didn’t have the guts,» and the girl began to frantically take off her shirt and pull off her underwear:
«Do you want me to thank you?» she stammered, burning with shame.
Ruslan flew into a rage:
«Get dressed quickly, what do you think I am, a complete beast? That’s not what I want! I felt sorry for you, I’m trying to help! Stop with these tricks!»
«Okay, Katya. You can’t stay here any longer, sooner or later, someone will see, you can’t hide here forever. Now we’ll make a man out of you. Here’s an electric shaver and scissors, cut your hair short. I bought some men’s clothes, a jacket with a hood. I’ll drive you to the station at night, you’ll jump on a passing train, I’ll give you some money. You’ll make a deal with the conductor, say in a low voice that your name is Ivan, you’re going to your aunt in Ryazan, but you lost your ticket, just offer money right away… I’ll write down the address for you, it’s my distant relative, I’ll send her a telegram. Stay with her for a while. And I’ll try to find out everything about your son and that scoundrel Artur! Got it?»
The girl nodded and went to the hallway, grabbing all the necessary items. An hour later, she entered the kitchen, and Ruslan’s jaw dropped – in front of him stood a skinny, attractive, bald-headed boy. The luxurious chestnut hair was gone!
The young man decided not to show up on the roads and led Katya through the forest on skis along a route only he knew. After three hours, they finally reached the place, right on time for the train, the man had planned it down to the second. It was clear the girl was struggling, she was gasping for breath after her cold, coughing, and running out of strength, but not once did she whimper, silently puffing, fully trusting her companion and savior.
He pushed her onto the step of the speeding train, threw in the backpack, and shouted:
«Well done, you’re a fighter! Remember, you’re Ivan, you’re going to Ryazan. Everything will be fine, trust me!»
Katya took one last frightened look at him, wiped away a tear, and disappeared from sight along with the departing wagon.
Ruslan sighed, entered a diner at the station, and drank himself silly! He couldn’t believe that it all worked out, and Katya was now free. He realized he had fallen in love with her, and was definitely determined to find out the whole truth and achieve justice.
At home, he burned the quilted jacket, felt boots, headscarf, and Katya’s luxurious braids in the stove, meticulously covering all traces. Now his hands were untied, he wasn’t trembling every second for the girl’s life, and began conducting his own investigation on weekends. The young man had plenty of experience in this matter!
Ruslan found Artur through his connections; he lived in a neighboring regional center. The young man armed himself with a camera and followed him; Artur was just wooing another naive rich fool, spinning her a pretty yarn. It turned out the girl was no ordinary one, but the daughter of the mayor for a minute. This is perfect, thought Ruslan, and after collecting decent compromising material on the gigolo, went to the MAYOR’s reception. A deafening scandal erupted, Artur was arrested for financial fraud. In gratitude, the rich father asked Ruslan:
«What can I do for you? Thank you for saving my little girl from the clutches of this scoundrel, and me from ruin. I will fulfill any wish, I promise,» the man offered.
«Well, if any… Help me get a case review, this bastard drove my acquaintance to prison! I’d like to restore justice.»
It took half a year to achieve a case review, and Katya was completely exonerated. The lawyer advised her to file a harassment complaint against the prison chief, so he agreed to turn a blind eye to her escape and no new sentence was added.
One unresolved issue remained – how to return Maxim to his mother? It seemed simple enough, here’s the mother, there’s the son, a genetic test in hand. But it turned out to be much harder than justifying a woman. Not only did they have to knock on the doors of various authorities for a month, undergo a psychiatric evaluation, and so on, but when they were finally allowed to take the boy, they saw a terrible picture. Maxim thought his mother had abandoned him, he was traumatized by the shock, became mute, withdrawn, didn’t communicate with anyone, and turned into a coiled hedgehog. He didn’t run to meet Katya, but maliciously pushed her away when she tried to hug him, and ran away in tears. The other children either bullied him or shunned the unsociable boy, and among themselves, they called him Mowgli.
The headmistress was stubborn:
«Sorry, but I won’t give you the child in this state. Establish contact, you so-called mothers, first you abandon your children, and then you’re surprised why the child has a psychological trauma. Just so you know, when that lanky guy brought your son here, the boy sat by the window for half a year, cried his eyes out, always calling for his mommy. Then he went silent, and hasn’t spoken since,» and the woman shook her head disapprovingly.
Katya cried uncontrollably on the doorstep of the orphanage. Ruslan, as best he could, comforted her.
«He’ll never forgive me! I’m to blame for everything, I traded my son for that gigolo, here’s my payback.»
The young man took her by the shoulders and sternly said:
«Remember, you can never give up. Maxim is in shock right now. He’s very angry with you, that’s true. But love and affection will surely melt his little heart, I’m sure, you just need patience for him to trust you again, understand?» – he explained to her.
He decided to help in his own way. He put on his police uniform and, during a parade, went to visit the boy himself. The little guy was sitting by the window, drawing something. Ruslan called out to him:
«Max, hello. Can I come to you? I have an adult man’s conversation for us! After all, we’re both men, right?»
The boy looked at him with interest and gestured that he could sit next to him.
«I’m a policeman, and I don’t lie, because I protect people. So I want you to know the truth about your mom, you’re grown up, right? She didn’t abandon you, Uncle Arthur deceived her, just like he deceived you, and deliberately separated you, sent you to the orphanage, and put your mom in prison. She loves you very much and always thought of you. I helped her get out of prison, and she immediately decided to take you home. It really hurts her that you don’t accept her, and she cries all the time. Women shouldn’t cry, right? You’re a man, so you’re strong and brave, try to forgive her and make up with her. Can she come to see you again?»
The boy’s face brightened, and he nodded. Ruslan shook his hand, like an adult, and left.
He told Katya in the evening:
«Try to visit Max again tomorrow, I have a feeling that everything will work out. He’s a good kid!»
The next day, Katya was already at the orphanage early in the morning, holding a huge fire truck toy.
They brought Maxim out. He looked at her warily, but without aggression.
Katya reached out to him:
«Sonny, forgive me, I’m not the best mother, but I never abandoned you, honestly, you’re the most precious thing I have! I bought you this fire truck, remember, you dreamed about it when you were little?»
Maxim couldn’t hold back and rushed to hug his mother, smearing tears across his cheeks, they cried for a long time and couldn’t let go of each other.
That same day, the happy mother and son finally left the orphanage. Ruslan was waiting for them at the threshold. As was proper, he shook the boy’s hand and winked conspiratorially. The boy suddenly spoke:
«So, home, dad?» From joy and surprise, they all hugged and laughed. Each member of this trio had gone through a difficult, thorny path to their happiness, and finally, they found it, becoming one big, happy family!
