Author: admin

The shadow of the tall poplar outside had already fallen across half the yard when the worst thing in all sixteen years of the Beketovs’ life together began. The air in the living room—thick with cigarette smoke and mute tension—felt like you could slice it with a knife. Artyom Viktorovich, a man with hands etched […]

“Don’t touch me! Let me go! Don’t!” That desperate cry rang out over the river’s smooth surface and died away—heard by almost no one, understood by no one—swallowed up by heat thick as honey. The languid, exhausting swelter pressed the grasses to the ground, silenced the birds, and muffled sound itself, as if brushing aside […]

Natalia woke to the insistent ringing of the phone. The clock read just before eight on an August Monday. Vitaly beside her grumbled and pulled the pillow over his head. “Hello?” Natalia’s voice was hoarse with sleep. “Natalya dear, it’s Valentina Ivanovna, your mother’s neighbor,” came the anxious voice of an elderly woman. “Sweetheart, be […]

Natalia stood in front of the bedroom mirror, assessing her appearance. The dark-blue dress with an elegant stand-up collar fit her perfectly, accentuating her waist and concealing small imperfections. It hadn’t been cheap—Natalia had spent almost half of her monthly salary as a design engineer on it—but her mother-in-law Raisa Dmitrievna’s jubilee seemed a worthy […]

Rain drummed against the café windows where Kira was waiting for Pavel. A year of dating is no small thing, and at last the guy had decided to introduce his girlfriend to his mother. Kira was nervous, adjusting the dark blue dress she’d bought especially for the occasion. She wanted to make a good impression. […]

“Igor, forgive me, please, if I’m interrupting,” Tatyana Yevgenyevna’s voice was quiet, almost apologetic, as if she were asking not for a favor but for some great, unthinkable indulgence. She stood in the kitchen doorway, her dry, pigment-spotted hands clasped in front of her. “The door to my room… it creaks terribly. I got up […]

“Kirill, this isn’t funny anymore. It’s not even sad. It’s just humiliating,” Inna said in an even, almost indifferent voice, looking not at her husband but at the cloudy streaks the drizzling November rain left on the glass. They were sitting at a corner table in a faceless chain café where they’d run away to […]

Yana pushed the apartment door open and immediately heard voices from the kitchen. Her husband Igor was talking with his mother—Valentina Stepanovna. The woman had arrived in the morning and settled in the kitchen, as usual. “So what’s going on with the TV?” Igor asked. “It’s gotten really old,” the mother-in-law complained. “The picture is […]