Here I’m alone, waiting for a bus under the bridge in the outskirts of Kyiv with the columns painted with the colors of our flag. Oleg took the picture when he was coming to meet me. It was Friday, 18th February 2022.
We were going to Mariinsky Park to walk and talk about our future. He was finishing Industrial Engineering and I Medicine School, We were talking already about marriage. We were even seeing apartments to start our life together.
We were alone till the bus arrived. Our voices resounded with several echoes when we talked about rooms and bathrooms and views and balconies, and spaces to enjoy our time. We didn’t care for the whole world to know about our happy plans.
But there was nobody there, just us.
Not today, not today. Missiles and bombs fall everywhere. This place is crowded. Nervous people who don’t want to die in their smashed homes, have come to seek refuge down here. Some are crying, They have lost their homes, some their loved ones, and everything they had. Others were on the streets when the alarms sounded and ran here in a hurry.
Oleg is not with me. He joined the volunteers to defend the country as soon this horror begun. It was the day after we chose our apartment. we were so happy that afternoon, with our hearts full of love. and then at night the sound of bombs carrying death and destruction and hate.
Now I don’t know if our building is standing or destroyed if my fiancée is alive or dead and if I could tell this story to my children one day.
From one day to the next
From one day to the next, we were making plans for the future and passed to try to keep alive in the middle of a cruel war. I have seen destruction, murders, injured, people like me. I don’t have time to rest. At the end that lack of rest is good because I don’t have time to think about wether the next body in the gurney will be Oleg or my father.
Today I don’t wait alone in my usual spot for a bus. Today I’m waiting for the sirens to stop yelling and the explosions to cease and then, I will continue walking (or rather running) towards my hospital.
Two weeks ago I was planning my wedding in a park. Now I’m trying to survive in a war and save lives at the ER room, always worrying for the life of my future husband and my family.
Tell me please, Why?
The featured photo is by Erdbeerstern
Excellent. I had a similar idea myself as the colours and scene is so leading, although I have not had time to write anything (yet).
Go for it! and Thanks for the compliment
I cannot unsee the colors on the columns. What a powerful write, and a heartbreaking story.
Thank you. These days there is difficult to think in another thing but those poor people and that nonsense war.