14 Minutes
— Air raid! Radiation hazard! – the once eternally silent speakers on the lampposts roared. — Air raid! Radiation hazard! This is not a drill! Attention! Immediately take shelter in the nearest shelters! — the male voice seemed to be tearing in half, trying to shout louder so that all the doomed could hear him. It seemed he was trying to believe until the end that there was salvation. But judging by the hysterical notes in his voice, this optimistic note in him was gradually fading, it seemed he would soon drown in an ocean of realization and a sense of inevitability. The feeling that he was trapped.
He flinched because he was standing right under the loudspeaker. The loud, desperate voice hit his ears, making him squint for a moment, as if that could help muffle the sound. He looked around frantically, shielding the bouquet from the wind, and then he saw her. She was running from the bus stop, stumbling, waving her white polka-dotted handbag, not taking her eyes off his face. She ran right through a flock of birds that had landed to peck at something on the ground. As she approached, their wings rustled, and they quickly soared into the air, like harbingers of the impending storm. A storm she tried to deny. He watched her, and all the other passersby became for him, as well as for her, angular cardboard silhouettes covered in ash, flickering somewhere far on the periphery of vision.
— Oh my God! What now? – she said, grabbing his hand.
— Take the flowers, – he said, handing her the bouquet.
— Are you crazy? What flowers? – she shouted.
— Take them, – he said. – And let’s move away, or we’ll be trampled. Let’s go for a walk in the alley. We can just make it to our favorite tree.
She suddenly calmed down. — Promise?
— Of course, – he smiled, feeling everything inside him freeze with fear.
He pulled her along, trying to walk confidently, hiding the slight jerkiness in his movements and stiffness, towards the alley. Every second and every moment seemed to be filled with tension and anticipation, as if the very air around them was compressing, preparing for an unexpected explosion. It squeezed their lungs, making them mentally suffocate in the sea of inevitability, which they so diligently tried to ignore, continuing to flounder on its surface. She laughed strangely, as if not believing what was happening, and this laughter rang in his ears, reminding him of life, of what was once before this moment. And what could have been in the future, what their shared future could have led to. Their hopes and dreams, which were shattered by harsh reality, by the bitter laughter of fate and those who arranged it. He shook his head, trying not to think about it. His hand tightened its grip on hers. Holding her firmly but gently.
© Veronika Sidelnik 2024-08-30