Twenty Hours

Content warning: war and military occupation.

The door closed silently. Lina breathed out with slight relief and threw her backpack on the dusty floor. She  regretted it immediately. The dull sound of it falling down went through all the rooms. The rising sun shone through the blinds. She could have come here later, of course. The escape was planned for twenty hours later anyway. But she didn't want to risk being late. She believed her luck was her curse, she had been late all her life. It had already been 5 years since the occupation of her city started, since she was late for the last evacuation bus. Did it mean that all the citizens here also had bad luck? Did they also struggle here as much as she did? She had already lost the distinction between the truth she saw with her eyes every day, the truth she could taste and touch, and the other truth. The truth she heard from those rare TV channels and social media platforms that were not blocked here. She turned right from the entrance door, directly to the office kitchen. Oh, she knew this kitchen so well. Lina spent here hours and even days preparing coffee and laying out cookies for other employees before the war. She had been so happy when she received her first job after university, being a secretary in such a company was exactly what she needed. But at  some point she realized her whole work was to order all possible kinds of papers, bring coffee and not to bother anyone the rest of the time. She had promised herself to stay here for a maximum of half a year until the next opportunity, but half a year slowly turned into almost half a life. She overestimated her city so much, here you could get a good position only if you knew people. And she didn't know the right people. Neither did her parents. Well, at least big bosses forget when they leave the important keys to unimportant people. Now Lina could wait here for the final step. But she still had all those long 20 hours alone in the suburbs. The whole city had probably woken up, but all life was now located only in the heart of the city and strictly until 2 pm, then there was a "curfew", not official, but known and respected. Respected out of fear of the soldiers. Feeling her stomach gurgling, she automatically reached for electric kettle and pressed the button. Nothing. Of course, nothing. How on Earth would she expect anything else? Even in inhabited houses electricity came only once a week, abandoned buildings could forget such blessings of civilization. She pushed the bag of instant soup powder back into the backpack and took out the cheese sticks. Those cost three times their normal price, but since no delivery drivers would risk coming to this city anymore, she was ready to play by those rules for the last time. She spat out the first bite. Mold! All the refrigerators in this cursed city turned into saunas without electricity. Well, everything she had left for the rest of the day was an apple and a can of olives. Of course, some people in the city had better food. But Lina had been saving on everything possible for the last four years in order to get out. It was challenging, considering that the only work available was on the city market and it was difficult to lift all the stuff by herself in extreme heat or freezing weather outside and her new boss even refused to hire her at first, especially after she had been spoiled by office work, but once in her life she finally experienced luck. After that she forced herself to love walking instead of taking a bus, having the same dinners and breakfasts of taking a bus, having same dinners and breakfasts of wheat porridge every day, and choosing 3-in-1 men's shampoo instead of all her fancy bodycare from her previous life. This way of living finally saved her enough to pay her ex-classmate for the escape. He was a soldier. No-no, officially speaking he was a criminal, but under the new regime here he was a proud, brave soldier. He could arrange a car to bring her to the new border. Then she could be free. She would get back to her country. Out of her city but to her country. Isn't it ironic? Lina flinched at the sudden silence. Back then she obviously flinched at noise or stomps, but now they had become a casual part of her life. Like pre-recorded laughter in old sitcoms. Anxiety covered all of her thoughts again. Lina decided to check her old workplace to get distracted. On her way she noticed an open drawer in one of the workers' desks. The chocolate bar caught her attention. Would it be stealing? She definitely needs it more than the owner. She pulled the drawer out farther. Nothing else. She pushed the chocolate into the backpocket of her jeans. Well, it was definitely more comfortable than wearing this tight skirt she used to wear when she worked here before. Lina looked at the picture on the next desk.  There was a daughter of her co-worker. A smiling little girl on the first day of school. Lina knew that a few months before the war this little angel was diagnosed with severe kidney failure. It was extremely difficult to get a transplant or even to get a proper treatment in their city, and her single mother struggled so hard in order to find the solution. But what had happened to this little family? Did they manage to escape? Was the girl even alive? Lina finally pushed the glass door to her small corner. She was happy to touch the glass with her naturally oily hand and not to get a lecture from her boss after that. She sat down in her old office chair. All the dents in it remembered her body and embraced it readily. Lina glanced at the watch on her wrist. Would she make it without an alarm clock if she took a power nap? Almost 19 hours were left until her classmate would pick her up here on the outskirts and drop her off at the improvised border. Even with her luck it was impossible to be late. She leaned back and closed her eyes. A feeling of pleasant anticipation filled her tired body. 

She woke up shaking and it was already dark again. She checked the watch. Had she slept for 14 hours? How was that possible after all these years of insomnia? Lina took the magazine from her table. Then she put it back. It was already too dark to read, and using the light from her phone would use up too much of the charge. What if she needed to walk a lot from the border? Without satellite maps it would be almost impossible. She entered the kitchen again, pulled out the chocolate of her backpocket and saw that it had gotten so soft from melting from her body heat. Still, even like that, it attracted her more than olives. She took a spoon from the office cutlery and started eating it like that. Sugar rush was definitely needed to bring back her the feeling of anticipation. Ok. Less than 4 hours left. She just stared at the wall, trying not to check the time every minute. How could time fly so slowly, when it needed to run? Then she heard something. Not typical shooting, no, and also not the silence like before. The sound of a motorcycle? Her classmate promised her to come by car, but what if he needed to change the vehicle? And time too? There were still more than two hours left. She carefully tried to look out of the window. The moon was bright so she could observe the road. Nothing. But the sound of the approaching motorcycle was still here. Lina finally raised her gaze from the road. And gasped. She remembered what this sound could also be. She looked directly at the one-way attack drone. And she could swear it looked back at her.