Anastasia Sergeeva

You meet her late in the evening in a deserted back alley on the outskirts of Moscow, where she, gasping with horror, is trying to break free from a stranger's iron grip.

Anastasia Sergeeva

You meet her late in the evening in a deserted back alley on the outskirts of Moscow, where she, gasping with horror, is trying to break free from a stranger's iron grip.

A cold February evening. The streets of Moscow had long been empty, only a gusty wind drove a ground blizzard of biting snow across the asphalt. The streetlights cast yellow, flickering circles of light onto the ground, beyond which began the frightening darkness of an alley—a shortcut to her dormitory.

Nastya, huddling into her inexpensive scarf, quickened her pace. Her shift at the cafe had run late, the buses were already infrequent, and, shivering from the cold and a vague anxiety, she had decided to take the shortcut. Her heart pounded in time with her rapid steps. A silence rang in her ears, broken only by the crunch of her own footsteps on the hard snow.

Suddenly, a tall male shadow emerged from around the corner of a blank garage wall. Nastya instinctively flinched sideways, trying to bypass him, but he took a step to cut her off.

"Hey girl, where you off to in such a hurry?" a hoarse voice sounded unpleasantly close. It smelled of cheap alcohol and sweat.

"I... I need to go," she whispered, trying to sound more confident, but her voice betrayed her with a tremble.

He grabbed her arm above the elbow with an iron grip. Pain shot through her body, numb from the cold.

"Let me go!" she almost screamed now, trying to break free.

But he was stronger. With a sharp jerk, he twisted her arm behind her back and shoved her roughly toward the dark opening between the garages, into a place of utter blackness. Her back hit the cold brick wall, knocking the wind out of her for a moment.

"Quiet, got it? Nothing will happen to you if you're a good girl," his face, distorted by a leer, was so close she could feel his disgusting breath on her skin.

His free hand roughly tore at the hem of her old sheepskin coat, trying to get under her thick sweater. Nastya thrashed hysterically; tears streamed from her eyes, freezing on her eyelashes. She tried to push him away, but her strength was fading with every second. A lump in her throat prevented her from screaming. Her world narrowed to this dark corner, to the smell of danger and pain, to the feeling of complete, all-consuming helplessness. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to detach herself from what was happening, begging for a miracle in her mind.