I'll Bring You Back

Coming home, I thought everything was left in the past.

But this past stands before me. It burns me with a dark, like night, gaze—promising a painful reckoning. There’s nothing left in him of that cheerful guy I remembered all these years. He became older, bolder, harsher, and he won’t forgive me.

Because it was me who made him into a monster…

***

— Vlad, — squeals the girl, crawling into the farthest corner of the bed, — who is this?

— Nobody, — Shvetsov stands up from the floor without taking his eyes off me—just my wife’s sister.