Release

- Quiet... Mom, they don't seem to be shooting anymore... The woman listened. Yes, there really were no more shots, this part of Mariupol was quiet. But the dilapidated five–story building, sagging and responding to the gusts of the March wind, seemed to grumble to itself - the sounds of wounded concrete and the rustle of ragged wallpaper could be heard everywhere. - Vanya, let's wait a little longer, because you never know... "Mom, I'm going to go quietly and see what's there and how..." He paused for a second. - Were Marinka and her grandfather on the ground floor there, are they alive?.. Mom, I'll be right there. The woman sighed and just waved her hand, saying, okay, go… Vanka clumsily got out from under the table in the living room and, trying to walk on tiptoe, slipped out into the hallway of the entrance. The mother initially tried to distinguish the sounds made by her son from others, but could not. I looked at my own apartment quite recently. Her husband called her "birdhouse." No, not because she was small, but because the music did not stop here – before all this nightmare, Olga Nikolaevna taught children to play the violin at home. However, she never taught Vanya – no matter how much she forced, it was all to no avail. You idiot! Now, you see, I would be somewhere in the conservatory, and not sitting here… They were supposed to enlist in the army this spring. He didn't go. What, he says, am I a fool to fight with my own people? It's true: Kolkin's husband's parents are from Lugansk itself, Olga Nikolaevna is from Penza. So that… ...Something is not going on for a long time... The woman got out from behind the high and seemingly sturdy back of the sofa, went to the passage without a door from the apartment to the entrance, listened again - nothing seemed to be heard… She crept into the kitchen to the window opening along the wall, looked out into the yard unnoticed… And immediately my heart began to beat – Vanka was pulling something heavy into the house from the lawn near the porch of the entrance… My God... they'll kill you! At that moment, I heard a rumble somewhere in the distance! - Vanka, get into the house now! - She leaned out of the window almost to her waist. - Someone is coming!.. At the same moment, a tank painted with a swastika crawled out of Metallurg Avenue, puffing, not hurrying, looking like a dung beetle... Stopped, muzzle like a single mustache, led, sniffing, looking into the windows. The woman even stopped breathing… After standing for a few minutes, the tank snorted and started moving. After driving around the neighbor's Lada, he suddenly turned sharply towards the kindergarten, which was in the courtyard of the house – which his son also went to – and, having reached the playground with slides and a carousel, stood up. Olga Nikolaevna looked down – thank God, Vanka is already gone, he probably managed to run into the entrance. There was a rustle from the stairs. Son. "Mom... Mom," came the voice, "help me… The woman was on the playground in an instant. - What happened? Are you hurt? And then I saw: Vanya is carrying a man on himself – you can't see his face, everything is covered in blood. But by the white curls, now stained with something red and black, I recognized: Marinka… "Oh my God... is she alive?" Before answering, the son came into the apartment, exhaled. - Like... Mom, look for yourself… Olga Nikolaevna knelt down in front of the girl, removed a lock of hair stuck to her forehead. - Marinochka, my daughter, come on, my good one, come to your senses, open your eyes… And she cried…I started cradling her like a little girl… Marinka's eyelids fluttered, the girl sighed and opened her eyes. - Where am I? .. Aunt Olya? Are you? - I, I, my dear. And Vanya is here," she nodded at her son. - He brought you from the lawn from the entrance… - From the entrance? - Marina did not yet understand very well what was happening to her. - Oh, my head hurts… And the body… Vanka imperceptibly wiped away tears with his palm. "Mom, let's put her on the couch," he bent down and picked her up. - Not in the hallway.… And, crouching down so that no one could see through the window, he crept into the living room. I put my head on the only remaining pillow, and my mother settled down at Marinka's feet. - Oh, girl, what did they do to you, my poor... Let me look at you – I'll press, and you say: it hurts or not... - and already to your son: - You go to the kitchen, there's a tank in the kindergarten, aiming towards the avenue, blocking the road so as not to No one passed. Look, in general… Vanya crept up to the kitchen window on all fours, through a piece of glass, as in a mirror, he began to watch the street – he smiled at his own cunning: he would have gone into the army to scout... But here life forced me, taught me military wisdom. But I feel sorry for women – it's not their business to be under bullets. The mother could also leave, but her father is waiting – he went to the pump for water eight days ago… Probably won't come back at all now.… He smeared tears on his dirty face again. No, you can't cry in any way – consider it the only protection for a mother, and you've let loose your whining. And now he has become a defender for Marinka, a classmate. We were friends with her only at school, we never walked together - there were different companies. It turned out that she didn't leave her paralyzed grandfather. Her mother and father live in Kiev – she did not go to them, she was not afraid, she stayed here. I feel sorry for her... consider that her own people bullied her… The last two days have been scary. The yellow-blue flag of Ukraine turned black from the dried blood of the simplest civilians on it… Skulls with bones are just not enough… The day before yesterday, ten people from the National Bank came to their house. Everything was destroyed. They probably found vodka in some apartment, they drank it the first night. Yesterday, two people went through the entrances, looking for something to profit from. But they only looked into the "birdhouse" – what is there to take? Everything was looted before them. It seems that then Marinka and her grandfather were discovered... Eh, why didn't you ask about him right away? As Ivan thought about it, he crawled back into the room. Marina was unconscious again – her eyes were closed and there was perspiration on her forehead. The mother was sobbing silently… - Vanechka, what is it being done?.. How can it be that such creatures live under the same sky as us on earth? They breathed the same air with us… My God, she, the unfortunate one, was tortured for a day – how is she still alive, it is unclear… The guy tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but it didn't work. "Is her grandfather alive?" - Grandfather Petya was stabbed to death in front of her eyes. So that she wouldn't resist... then, when they thought she was dead, they threw her out into the yard. Oh, my God, you miserable… And the sobs burst out of his chest. The son sat down next to his mother on the floor and hugged her. - Mamulechka, don't cry, don't, we need to be strong to survive. And we'll save Marinka too – she's young, she'll pull through, she'll get out… And he stroked his mother's recently turned gray hair with his hand. - Oh, son, can we… I wish our people had already come. But she calmed down, exhaled, and began to collect some rags so that, where possible, Marinka could be bandaged. Ivan crawled back to the kitchen to the window – to his observation post. Although, well, what can he do alone? Against the tank. Against inhumans… ...Maybe I dozed off a little, because when I opened my eyes, it was dusk outside. In the room, mom and Marina were also asleep – a former classmate was snoring in her sleep like a child, her eyelashes trembling, mom – with her head on the armrest of the sofa, curled up at her feet. Let them rest – there is someone to guard… And he returned to the kitchen again. I listened… And suddenly I caught some new sounds from the street – as if a stone crunched under the sole. Ivan got up and looked through the window from the side. Shadows… Several people in camouflage – about a platoon – slowly, looking around, with weapons in their hands, walked along the right side of the avenue towards their house… And then the last ray of the setting sun on the sleeve of one of them picked out white-blue-red stripes… Are they really ours?.. Oh my God, they are!!! At the same moment, Ivan noticed some movement in the kindergarten out of the corner of his eye - almost soundlessly, with a barely audible snake hiss, the tower of the black tank began to turn towards the group of fighters. What should I do? They will die… The decision came in a moment. Vanya rushed headlong to his mother. - Mom, Mom, wake up! - What happened, son? Olga Nikolaevna shook off sleep in an instant. - Mom, our people are coming there. The mother even covered her mouth with her hand so as not to gasp. - Only that tank is there, aiming at them. Mom, I'm going to try to warn you sometime.… - Vanechka, how is it? - I don't know, I'll think of something. I'm smart, you know… And, kissing his mother on the forehead, he slipped into the darkness of the entrance. And already on the steps I heard: - Take care of yourself, son… The air outside is so transparent, as if it doesn't exist at all – everything is clearly visible, every last year's blade of grass, every twig filled with spring juice. And the smells... here in Mariupol, it always smelled of peace and goodness – bread, flowers, the sea. Only all this was with a pleasant admixture of the smell of metal – that's what a combine! He was famous all over the world. And now... there's only one soot and soot… Ivan, hiding behind thick rosehip bushes along the kindergarten fence, crept almost to the tank itself. But he still didn't know what he was going to do right now. Maybe we should just take the attention away from ours? And then something clicked inside the machine. The guy from the movie knew that with such a sound, shells are loaded, they are preparing to fire. And stood up to his full height. Should I shout for them to hide? To make it in time… The cabin hissed once more, the muzzle went down a little. Now trouble is going to happen… At the same moment, Vanya jumped onto the iron colossus, clung to its muzzle to stop it, and screamed with all his might: - Guys! Guys!!! Save yourself!!! There's a tank here! Sharakhne-e-e!!! And it rumbled… ...And his mother was looking out the window at that second… ...Vanechka… ...My son… And then there was only silence. - Come on, Aunt Olya, it's already been three hours here... - Marina and Olga Nikolaevna stood on the arm of a fresh mound of black earth with a homemade wooden cross, to which a sign was nailed with two nails: "Ivan ..., 18 years old"… They buried him right here, under a rowan tree in a kindergarten… The very guys whom my son saved helped. And today they promised to come, but something is not there - they probably went further, to help others out of trouble… And only turned around to the house, as on the path leading from the kindergarten building, they saw a large man – two meters tall – in a uniform with orders. At first, he approached his mother. - Thank you, - he bowed his head, - thank you for your son… He was a real man, a hero. Then he turned to the grave, got down on one knee, stood for a minute, and then he unfastened one of his orders from his chest and put it on the mound. - Here, brother, here you go.… He stood up and saluted. And he went without wiping his tears… Almost immediately, the spring sky brightened and became so blue that it hurts my eyes! Has it been cleansed or something… And already, somewhere in the distance, dark clouds could be seen floating away, thunderstorms rumbled somewhere there. Nothing, everything will get better soon, everything will be fine