1:23:45
It is a beautiful early morning in the city of Pripyat, quite warm and clear. Anastasyia takes a sip from the warm milk she had just made to fall asleep. She looks at the clock hung between a picture of her husband and son, it was twenty-three minutes past one. Anastasyia puts her mug down on the coffee table and falls into her armchair, staring out the window in front of her. A light illuminates the dark sky in the distance. She strokes her furrowed brow. The apartment shakes, her family awoken by the shake accompanied by her blood curdling scream.
BEEP
“Hello, is this the Military Fire Station Nr. 2?”
“Yes”
“What is on fire over there?”
“There was an explosion in the main building between blocks three and four”
“Are there any people?”
“Yes!”
“Call the commanders!”
“I already called the commanders.”
’Call all of them, all the officer corps.”
BEEP
“Fire department?”
“Hello Ivankov.”
“You are ordered to move to Pripyat! Move to the nuclear station. The roof of the third and fourth block is on fire!”
BEEP
“Ok. I’ll come as soon as I can,” says Vasily
“What’s happening, Vasily? I don’t recall you being on duty tonight.”
“Everyone is being called in. Military and civil firefighter from all over Pripyat, Polesskoe and Kyiv are being ordered to the nuclear powerplant. Sounds like some sort of explosion that caused the roof to burst into flames. You go back to bed, and I will see you later, love,” says Vasily as he strokes his wife’s cheek.
“Ok. Good luck, Vasily. See you later.”
Vasily exits their apartment and closes the door behind him.
“Where is dad going, mother?” asks Alexei.
“Your father has to work tonight. There is a fire at the powerplant.
Anastasyia falls back in her chair facing the window. Light from the powerplant still illuminates the sky.
“That doesn’t look right. The colour of the sky looks off.”
“What is all the commotion about, my child?” asks Anastasyia’s father, Anatoly.
“There was an explosion at the nuclear powerplant. Almost everyone was called in.”
“What a shame.”
“Dad, does the air look strange to you? The colour of it just doesn’t feel right. I think something bad happened.”
Anatoly chuckles. “Nothing is wrong, Ana. They probably put the floodlights on for the firefighters to see better.”“I doubt it. The floodlights would have been damaged or even destroyed in that explosion. The lightshow started right before the explosion. There has to be more to it than we know.”
“All we know is that there was an explosion. There is nothing to worry about, my child. Let’s go to the railroad bridge. We can see better from there.”
“Fine. After we get back from the railroad bridge, I’m packing my bags. I’m not staying here when my gut tells me to leave. I’m taking Alexei and you with me. I’m just not taking him with us to the bridge. He needs to sleep.”
Sirens echo through Pripyat as Vasily’s fire trucks arrive at the scene of the explosion. The men jump out of the truck and open the firehouse hatch. Vasily grabs the bundled-up firehose and starts to unravel it. Another firefighter activates the firehouse. Vasily stares up at the burning powerplant. He spots a bunch of smooth black rock on the ground. He starts grabbing them and throws them in a giant pile behind him in order to clear space for his fellow firefighters to put their hoses down.
“Don’t fuck around with stuff that look unfamiliar,” Vasily.
“Hey Boris, do you taste metal in the air?”
“Yeah, what is that?”
“No idea.”
Vasily feels his hands starting to tingle. He shakes it off and grabs the hose to douse the fire.
Anatoly and Anastasyia meets with an elderly couple at the railroad bridge.
“Everything alright, Anastasyia?” asked the woman
The dust floating in the breeze tickled Anastasyia’s nose, drawing out an unwelcome sneeze.
Anastasyia pauses for a moment. “Not really. Vasily is at the station. I feel like he is in danger. I also left Alexei at home. At least let him try and sleep a bit. Doubt he is asleep. These sirens make it impossible.”
“There is nothing to fear, Ana. It’s just a fire.”
“See. Even Olena agrees with me. Our boys are not in danger. They are perfectly safe. They have never been harmed. Neither Vasily nor their son, Victor have been injured or killed on the job. This is like any other fire.”
“I have always had faith in our boys, its just that there is something different about this one. I feel like I taste metal in the air. That is not normal. There is something the State isn’t telling us. If they do intend to tell us something, they better do it soon rather than later. I believe everyone wants to know what is going on.”
“Listen up everybody! For those who fear for our boys at that power station, do not. Please remain calm. Sometimes we fall prey to fear, but by keeping our faith in the Soviet Union, we will be rewarded. If there was something wrong, the State would have told us by now and evacuated us from Pripyat, but they haven’t. The Soviet Union has never hidden anything away from her citizens that they needed to know for their wellbeing.”
“If what you are saying is true, my friend, your daughter is saying some dangerous things. Very, very dangerous things. Why do you think the State is lying to us, Anastasyia?” asked a man from behind them.
“I trust what my gut is telling me, and it is telling me to evacuate Pripyat with my family because it is dangerous to stay here.”
“Can you explain to me how you chose your gut over the State?” asks Anatoly.
“I am unable to explain it at this time, dad.”
“Just as I thought. You have no answer. You are disgraceful, Ana. To spread what you are currently spreading is disgraceful, especially at a time like this. Look at the air, Anastasyia. Its beautiful. I speak for everyone here when I say that it is sort of fun seeing a phenomenon like this in our city.”
“Well, it’s not like going for a swim fun or making out with your spouse fun, it’s more like shoving shards of broken glass up your ass and taking a bath in Tobasco sauce fun.”
“That’s it. You are now being irrational, Ana. You are no daughter of mine,” said Anatoly in a sinister tone.
“At least I am passionate about my family and trying to keep them safe from harm. Now, when I tell you my gut is right at this moment, it is right. There are definitely times where it was wrong, but I am telling you all right now that it is right and that we are in danger if we remain in Pripyat.”
“If you are so passionate about your family, why leave your husband behind?”
“I am not leaving him behind. I will leave a note on where he can find us once he is done, but I don’t think he will be come home. I have a feeling he won’t come home this morning. Since nobody is believing me, I am going home to pack a bag for me and Alexei. We are leaving Pripyat,” cries Anastasyia.
A few hours later, Anastasyia throws open her apartment door. She drops her bags at the entrance and Alexei cries on his way to his room.
“Why are you still here?” asks Anatoly.
“They sealed off the city. I can’t leave. I told you there is something they aren’t telling us, but no, you wouldn’t listen to me because your head is so far up your communist arse, the lump in your throat is your bloody nose.”
“I heard the firemen have been transported to the Pripyat hospital. You’ll find Vasily there.”
The sun rises over Pripyat. The air around Chernobyl was still illuminated, the same since the explosion. Ambulance sirens echoes through the city as the night shift and the firefighters start arriving from Chernobyl. Helicopters fly into the airspace and land at the Pripyat hospital. A mob of people try to enter the hospital, but military police stop them. Here and there someone slips through but is stopped at the door. Anastasyia breaks through the throngs of people and past the first line of military policemen with another man who wants to see his family member brought in. The military police stop him at the door but fails to stop Anastasyia.
Anastasyia rushes through the hospital. In the distance, she sees a military officer behind a glass window with a nurse by his side. Anastasyia bangs on the window.
“I’m sorry to bother, but I am looking for my husband. He is Vasily Baranov. He was a firefighter at Chernobyl this morning. Do you have him here?”
The man ignores her, but her love for her family won’t be interrupted by him. She bangs three more times before he looks up.
“Vasily Baranov. He is part of the 6th Paramilitary Fire and Rescue Unit. Please, I need to find out what happened to my husband!”
The man grunts and relents. He reaches for and opens a file on his desk.
“Baranov, Baranov, Baranov,” the man repeats as he scans the piece of paper.
“Mrs Baranov, I am afraid your husband was severely burned by smooth black rocks he picked up at the powerplant. The injuries were way, way too much for his body to handle.”
The door of the apartment swings open. Anatoly looks back from his chair at his daughter bursting into the apartment. Anastasyia slowly walks to the kitchen drawer. She opens it and grabs a breadknife. Her eyes fill with tears. She says a hymn under her breath.
“Open wide, O Earth, press not heavily upon him, be easy of approach, hail him with kindly aid; as with a robe a mother hides her son, so shroud this man, O Earth.”
She lifts the knife and swings it down.
“ANASTASYIA NO!”
