February 24, 2022 — Thursday, 4:56 AM
Darnytsia District, Kyiv.
Oresta jolted upright in bed. She could swear she’d heard it—a loud, chilling boom that made the windows rattle. Blinking sleepily, fear creeping in, her eyes darted around the dark room. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest as she strained to listen to the eerie silence, holding her breath. Beside her, Arkadiy slept soundly, snoring softly as if nothing had happened.
Everything was quiet.
She exhaled, trying to relax. “Must’ve imagined it. Just a bad dream,” she muttered to herself. Shifting in bed, she started to lie back down. Her head hadn’t even touched the pillow when a distant whistle pierced the air, followed by another deafening explosion just a split second later.
Oresta shot to her feet in an instant, and she wasn’t the only one. Arkadiy stirred, cursing under his breath as he fumbled to switch on the bedside lamp. Sitting up, he grumbled irritably,
“What the hell is going on?”
The slender brunette, her toned frame tense, tugged at the hem of her short nightgown. Her wide, blue eyes locked on her fiancé. Was he pretending, or was he still half-asleep? With a huff of frustration, she rushed to the window. In the sky, she could make out a column of black smoke, though she couldn’t quite grasp what it meant. Her heart raced uncontrollably, fear gripping her body, the unknown tearing at her soul. She couldn’t make sense of it. Suddenly, she glanced back at Arkadiy.
“Yesterday afternoon, they declared a state of emergency,” she said, pausing as her breath came in heavy gasps. She didn’t want to voice what her common sense was already screaming at her. “So, it’s really happening…”
Her attention snapped back to the window as a small flicker of light appeared in the distance. A whistle, then another explosion—so powerful the walls trembled. Oresta stumbled back from the window in terror, pressing herself against the wall. She felt the vibrations through her body. Tears streamed down her face, and a cry of horror and despair escaped her lips.
“Those are residential buildings out there… People are still sleeping… Oh God! They’re…” Sobs wracked her chest, followed by a desperate scream. “Mom!”
She was alone—her dad was abroad on business. Grabbing her phone from the nightstand, she noticed Arkadiy staring at her with wide, almost square eyes. But she was already dialing her mother. A long silence stretched on the other end, and then, abruptly,
“At this time, the subscriber cannot…” She tossed the phone onto the bed, her hands shaking.
Despair clawed at her soul. “God, what do I do? Where do I go?”
Another massive explosion roared, this one sounding dangerously close, as if the ground itself shuddered. Oresta dropped to the floor, huddling against the bed. She trembled and cried, unsure of what might happen in the next moment. Suddenly, she found herself enveloped in Arkadiy’s strong embrace.
“Oresta, everything’s gonna be okay, you hear me?!”
She couldn’t control her emotions or the fear consuming her. She heard him, but she didn’t believe him. Fatal words slipped from her lips.
“Arkadiy, it’s not gonna be okay.” Her voice broke as she whispered. She hiccupped through a sob. “That monster… he kept his promise…” She didn’t need to finish the sentence. He’d started a war.
She flinched at the thought. “No, this can’t be happening. War? In the 21st century?! We’re surrounded by civilized people. No, this isn’t possible.”
Another distant, muffled blast contradicted her words. Arkadiy pulled her closer, whispering something, but she couldn’t hear him anymore. Her mind was consumed by a single, terrifying word—“War!”—and with it came death, blood, and destruction. In a flash, she remembered her great-grandmother’s stories of surviving World War II. Back then, as a child, those tales had seemed like pure horror. She never imagined she’d live through something like it. She refused to accept it.
Breaking free from her fiancé’s arms, she grabbed her phone again and sat back down beside him. The clock read 5:35 AM. She dialed her mom once more. The long silence on the line frayed her nerves. No dial tone. She opened Telegram, and her heart stopped. At 5:30 AM, the president had declared martial law. She tapped on his address. He spoke of horrifying things. War had indeed broken out in the country. Apparently, the explosions weren’t just in Kyiv but in other regional centers as well. Tears rolled down her cheeks without stopping. Going to bed last night in a peaceful country, she never could’ve imagined waking up to the sound of missile strikes. Like a zombie, she stared at her phone screen, no longer hearing or seeing anything. Her subconscious was poisoned by that corrosive, dreadful word, “War!”
“Mom!” she whispered hoarsely again.
Snapping out of it, she closed everything on her phone and dialed her mother once more. Her heart felt like it had stopped—there was only silence on the line. A long, eerie, terrifying silence. Finally, a faint, broken dial tone came through, and her heart slowly started beating again, picking up speed. “Please, just pick up. Please be alive…” she prayed silently.
“Hello?”
Relief flooded through her as she exhaled the fear trapped in her chest. Her voice cracked with emotion as she asked,
“Mom, where are you? Are you okay? Is everything alright?”
“I’m in the basement.”
The connection was bad, the words barely audible. Her mother’s voice sounded shaken.
“Are you okay?” Oresta pressed through her tears. Her chest ached, and even Arkadiy’s embrace couldn’t ease the pain.
“I’m fine,” her mom managed to say.
“What’s wrong with your voice?” Oresta asked, suspicion creeping in.
“I…” Her mother paused, then added through sobs, “I was so scared for you, and just… everything.” She sniffled and admitted, “I’m terrified. What’s happening?”
“Mom, please don’t cry,” Oresta begged through her own tears. She didn’t want to say anything yet, not wanting to scare her mother further, though she’d probably already seen the news. “I’m coming to you with Arkadiy right now.”