“Your family — complete paupers, homeless in ragged clothes with empty plates!” Oleg spat venomously, as if he had just spat toward the kitchen, his fingers gripping the TV remote tightly. Each press of a button felt like a sharp, hostile strike — as if the device itself was to blame for his bad mood. … Read more
Lena was folding tiny baby onesies when the key rattled in the lock. Her heart dropped—Andrei was at work, and the spare key was with her mother-in-law “for emergencies.” Only for Galina Petrovna, any day of the week counted as an emergency. “Lenochka! Where are you?” She stepped into the hallway, tugging her sweater down … Read more
I agreed to let your sister live with us while she was studying, but she graduated six months ago, so she can get out of here! I don’t need this freeloading do-nothing in my home anymore!” Veronica said this in a flat, emotionless voice, but the sound of her putting her plate in the … Read more
Lena sat at the kitchen table, twirling a pen between her fingers. A blank sheet of paper lay in front of her, and she still couldn’t bring herself to write the first word of her résumé. For the third month in a row, the job search was going nowhere—either her qualifications didn’t fit, or the … Read more
Darya sank down onto the couch with difficulty, carefully supporting her rounded belly. Seven months of pregnancy were becoming increasingly hard to bear. She closed her eyes, trying to dissolve into the blissful silence of the apartment. The day had been exhausting. Since six in the morning, she had been standing in lines at the … Read more
Evening was drawing to a close, and in the apartment where Nina, her husband Anton, and her mother-in-law Vera Pavlovna lived, it was usually quiet. But today had gone wrong from the very morning. Two-year-old Semyon was cranky, Vera Pavlovna kept finding reasons to be dissatisfied, and Nina felt completely exhausted. She did her best: … Read more
“Natasha, the guests will be here in two hours!” The man on the phone sounded anxious. “Have you prepared everything?” Natalia glanced at Alyona, who had finally fallen asleep after a sleepless night, and could barely hold back tears. “Andrey, I’ve only just managed to get ready to go to the store. Alyona cried all … Read more
“Mom says they’ll be here for lunch. Don’t forget we’ve got cutlets in the freezer, you froze them yourself,” Sergey said lazily, pulling a shirt out of the wardrobe. Ksenia stood at the sink, a sponge in one hand and a piece of soggy baguette in the other. The bread, like her, clearly had no … Read more
Lyudmila was sitting in the kitchen by the window when it happened. She simply got up to fetch the salt to finish the soup—and suddenly her legs turned to cotton, чужие, not hers. She didn’t make it to the table—she sank to the floor, knocking over a jar of grains. Buckwheat scattered across the linoleum, … Read more
The message came on a Thursday evening while I was chopping salad for dinner. My husband’s phone was lying on the table, screen up—he’d forgotten it in the kitchen again, as usual, when he went to take a shower. I wasn’t even planning to look. But the notification practically pulled my eyes to it. “Igoryok, … Read more