Irina was sitting at her desk when someone knocked on the office door. Oleg peeked inside, looking at the familiar space with a somehow new gaze. “May I come in?” he asked, though he had already stepped over the threshold. She nodded without taking her eyes off the screen. The house had been inherited from … Read more
Claudia, as usual with the first rays of the sun, went out to the garden. There was no shortage of tasks: she needed to water the beds, weed the grass, check the chicken coop, and inspect the fruit trees — all of which required attention and time. And she had no helpers. No one nearby. … Read more
Anya was sitting in the armchair, examining a lipstick. It wasn’t hers… She never wore lipstick. Especially not such a bright red color. Once, having found a long black hair on the car headrest, Anya asked her husband whose it was, since she was a brunette with a bob haircut. “Ah… don’t stress about it. … Read more
He sat on the cold metal bench, wrapped in a worn-out cloak—once worn while working as a master at the housing office. His name was Nikolai Andreevich. A pensioner, widower, father of a single son, and, as he had once thought, a happy grandfather. But all of that collapsed one day. When his son brought … Read more
Are you sure?” the realtor reviewed the documents once more. “A deed of gift is serious. It will be difficult to reverse later.” “I’m sure,” Yana signed. Her hand did not tremble—she had decided everything. The May morning bathed the notary office in sunlight. The air conditioner hummed peacefully on the windowsill, and the reception … Read more
Alice was hurrying home late in the evening along a dark and deserted street, feeling waves of fear. She had spent the entire day in the library, finishing a term paper that was due in a week. Immersed in intense study, the girl hadn’t noticed how time had quietly flown by. There was only a … Read more
A warm May day wrapped the park in golden light. Lyova and Misha, both wearing identical school trousers and blue shirts, sat on the grass, and nearby, stretched out at full puppy length, lay Rex — a large, shaggy Alabai with a wet nose and kind, almost human eyes. “Look what he can do!” Lyova … Read more
Just rest, dear,” Stas’s sticky voice sounded overly caring. “A couple of weeks in a good sanatorium — and you’ll be fine again. You’ll regain your strength.” I tried to focus my gaze on my husband. My head was buzzing like it was stuffed with wet cotton. “I don’t want to go to a sanatorium,” … Read more
Elena slowly flipped through the photos in the worn leather album she had carefully kept all these years. Her fingers gently touched each picture, pausing on those where Olga—her adopted daughter—genuinely smiled during school celebrations, the graduation party, her first day at university, and birthdays. Twenty years of motherhood had flown by in the blink … Read more
Anna Fedorovna sighed heavily, placing another pot under the stubborn trickle of water seeping through the dilapidated roof. — What a disaster! — she whispered, looking up at the ceiling as if trying to see the very sky through the cracks. — When will this ever end? The rain’s gone mad — it just keeps … Read more