Chapter 12 #2
The six largest cities in Ukraine had been virtually destroyed, and many villages, their crops burned, their history erased.
A thriving modern country had been returned to the dark ages.
Nearly seven million people had fled to other countries, a quarter to a third of them children.
Twelve million people were homeless. And there was no way to help them.
As the war raged on, many who stayed were living without heat, water, or electricity.
Most of those who had fled to other countries had said that they wanted to return when the war was over.
But when would that be? They had left to save their children’s lives and their own, but they hoped to come home again.
But to what? Their homes had been destroyed before or after they left.
An entire country was starving, with literally nothing to eat.
The population was dependent on the mercy of other countries now.
Seventeen million people would need new homes, if the refugees returned, although some of that number were children.
The homeless population was larger than the entire population of several countries, nearly half of the original population, in a country that had been functioning well before the war and was now nearly dead.
Almost every civilized nation in the world wanted to help them now.
It was going to take an entire world to bring the Ukrainians back to life and revive their own indomitable spirit.
They had to find the strength, the energy, and the faith to hang on until the war ended, which took immeasurable courage.
And Yulya knew she would face hardships and heartbreak going back, but it might be the last time she saw her parents. She had to go.
—
Petro and Oxana had left the hospital during a brief lull in the bombings of Kyiv and returned to the shelter.
Three of the residents had died, two from starvation, and one from the explosion when one of the last apartment buildings in the area was bombed.
When they got back to the shelter, Oxana cooked some of the rice the hospital had given her for all of them, along with some dried beef and beans.
The others they shared it with were grateful and happy to see them.
Their world had shrunk to the size of their own shelter and the people in it. They were a family of survivors.
Petro and Oxana had no home to go back to, and neither did anyone else in the area.
It was impossible to think beyond that hour, that day.
The only time they had was now. They were still alive.
They had each other. Their love for each other was deeper and stronger than before.
Their possessions no longer mattered to them.
Every moment they had with each other was still a gift.
The world they knew had crashed around them, but they had survived together, and kept each other alive.
—
Yulya booked a train ticket for herself to the border.
Nina agreed to take care of Pavlo and Daryna for as long as Yulya would be gone.
She was hoping to bring her parents back to Warsaw if they would come, although she doubted they would, but at least she could make sure that they were safe in the circumstances they were in.
She had heard little from them since they left the hospital.
And she was going to try to get answers about Symon, before people who might know something left the country or died and the trail went cold forever.
Their neighborhood had been razed and people had already dispersed in the area.
It would be hard enough to find them now. She was leaving the next day.
“You shouldn’t be going alone,” Olek said to her when he came home from work and she told them her plan.
“Do you want to come with me?” she asked him directly. She wasn’t afraid. She wanted to get there now as fast as she could, now that she decided to go. Olek hesitated before he answered and glanced at his wife. He didn’t have his sister’s courage or determination.
“I really don’t want to go,” he said honestly, and he didn’t have the compelling reasons she did, except to see their parents.
“I don’t want to see a place that I loved ruined, and to face all those tragedies.
My life is here now, with Nina and the boys.
We have a good life. I can’t go back there.
If you need my help with Mama and Papa, I’ll come.
I still think you should let one of the refugee agencies try to find Symon for you and not go there yourself.
It’s too dangerous.” Yulya was sure it would be, the country was in chaos, but she had to go herself.
She had always known that she was stronger than her brother.
He never liked to see the ugly side of life, and preferred to let others do the dirty work.
He didn’t have the courage to go and see what had happened in their country, even to see their parents.
She didn’t blame him for it and she loved him anyway.
But she knew she had to go herself. She would contact the refugee agencies when she was there.
But she loved Symon, he was her husband and the father of her children.
No agency would love him as she did or care as much, or look for him as thoroughly as she would.
She wanted to leave no stone unturned. She couldn’t stay in Warsaw, waiting to hear the news.
She wanted to search for him herself, and if she couldn’t find him, she would know that he was dead.
“Try to text me when you see Mama and Papa,” Olek said, grateful that he had a sister like her.
“I will.” They hugged each other, and her children were relieved that she was going to look for their father.
Daryna slept in her bed with her that night, while Yulya lay awake all night, thinking about Symon.
She got up at six to get ready to leave, and she kissed them all before she left.
All she wanted to do was get there now, no matter how bad it was.
She took only a backpack with her, with some medicines in case her parents needed them, or Symon if he was alive and ill.
She took the bare minimum of clothing, wore boots, and took running shoes.
She didn’t take a suitcase, just an overnight bag.
She had no idea where she’d be sleeping, probably in shelters, or maybe even in train stations or public places.
She had waited three months to go there, since their building was bombed and Symon disappeared, and nothing would stop her now.
She was on a holy mission to find her husband, which gave her all the courage and energy she needed to face the truth at last.