10 Days in the War

I woke up at 8 AM and wanted to see the morning news on Telegram channel. I saw the national address of the president. He said that Ukrainians will protect their borders and won't give any change to an enemy. I thought that it's just a political gesture and there is no war yet. I get up and go to my family. They told me that the war has just begun. I was shocked and confused at the same time. How the hell is this possible in our time?

Siren sounds. The war has begun. It started at 4 AM approximately. If I said this in 2020, some people might say that I'm crazy man.

All the day I listen to the news and try to stay calm. The situation is under control and this horror will end (spoiler: not at all). I also had a backup backpack that could help in any critical situation.

In the evening I couldn't believe it. I sat right in the kitchen and looked into the darkness (because of the curfew). Sometimes I could hear machine guns and rifle fire. And then sirens again. Explosions and then suddenly silence. No sound of birds or even wind. Complete and terrible silence.

I went to bed and tried to sleep. I still had frightening thoughts about how it had happened. But eventually I fell asleep.

And 3 hours later I suddenly heard the explosion. I woke up and couldn't figure out what was that. The sound was so massive and deep that I thought it was some kind of a powerful bomb. But nope, it was an enemy attack plane. After that explosion I didn't want to sleep again. I started listening to the news and analyze all incoming messages from the news channels.

I fell asleep again and woke up because of the sirens. We had to move out to the school (where were the shelters). We heard explosions that were far away, but we still kept moving.

There were a lot of people. Long story short, we had to stay there all the day and I had no idea what to do. So I was walking back and forth just like in the Metro 2033 game and still did nothing. Finally I was knocked back to sleep again. I was really tired because I didn't get enough sleep.

At the end of the day we left from the school and went back to home. I fell asleep again and woke up after 2 hours or so.. It was a night, then I fell asleep again (and finally).

Some other days were pretty much the same. We had times when we didn't have sirens and we had times when we heard sirens almost every hour. We had times when we heard explosions nearby, we had times when explosions were far away. So the situation was unstable and we couldn't figure out what to do next.

Exiting the danger zone

After about 10 days, we decided to run away from the war. We had two options: Moldova or Poland. We decided that Poland could be a good option, but eventually Moldova was the best one.

We moved out to the train station and got on first train that went to the city that most closest to the Moldova. We were on the train for about 2 hours. There were a lot of people who also wanted to escape from the war. The mood was gray (and the weather was gray as well).

We stopped in Vinnitsa late in the evening and decided to spend night right there. We still heard sirens, but there were no explosions. We stopped at the shelter. There were so many kind people who trying to help us..

The night was quiet. That was the first time when I slept well. On the next day we continued our movement towards the borders of Moldova. I tried to think of a more positive way while we were moving. When we got on the bus we heard a siren, but the bus started to move as fast as possible away from the potential danger zones. After 2 hours, it turned out that there was an explosion. Right after our move! We were so lucky..

Bye Ukraine and greet Moldova

When we crossed the border line of the Moldova we had to stay in the local village about 2-3 hours. We were waiting for our friend, so he could bring us up. I was still confused. I was sitting on the chair that was one of the ones placed nearby and didn't want to do anything. I had a terrible headache and wanted to go back. But there is no way back.

Some guy (probably a local volunteer) gave me the free SIM card for a first time. That was nice and we finally went away from that village. And additional 3 hours to get to the Chisinau. I was in a neutral mood. I was still shocked and confused.

We arrived in Chisinau at the midnight. I fell asleep immediately..

Life from the new list

A few weeks and we are back on our feet. I began to recognize the environment and understand that everything was gonna be okay.

One month and still nothing has changed. I was in a terrible mood every day. Some days I didn't even want to go out. I still wanted to come back to the home. But each time I understand that there is no way back. Here is a new chance to change my life. Unfortunately, I didn't understand this and I rejected all possible opportunities to grow up.

One year ago. Some things have changed, some habits have modified. Things are gradually going up. I started to make friends, to deal with the uncomfortable situations and adapt myself to the new environment. I had losses, I had failures, I had successes. That's what life means. I still wanted to return to the home. But there is no way back.

Two years ago. I had new opportunities. I accepted them. And I still kept on moving. I already had experience in the freelance field and started to build my first website. I continued to work on my skills and my health. I started jogging early in the morning. I started to filter my environment and keep only important people around me. I didn't want to go home. There is no way back. There is no place for me..

Conclusion

The war changed me. It changed everything in this world. It changed people and their minds. It changed the mood of the environment. It's unfortunate that even now people are still dying for nothing. It's unfortunate that nature and animals have been hurt because of the war. War is not about a demonstration of power. War is about killing.

I wish a piece for everyone and take care of yourselves. Keep doing what you're doing and don't waste your time.