Alisa looked at her husband, and in her consciousness, clouded by pain, only one thought pulsed: “Choose me, please, just this once. Choose me, not her.”
— Mom, you don’t understand, — Denis began in a trembling voice. — Alisa is really sick. This could be serious.
— “Serious,” — Zoya Pavlovna twisted her lips contemptuously. — Serious is when you have a heart attack, not when your stomach hurts from some bad yogurt. I told you, Denis: take me to the dacha. Everything is ready there, Aunt Valya is waiting. I’m not changing my plans because of her whims.
She spoke as if Alisa wasn’t even in the car. As if she wasn’t a living, suffering person, but an inanimate object, an annoying obstacle.
— But I can’t just leave her here! — Denis almost shouted.
— And who’s talking about leaving her? — Zoya Pavlovna replied without batting an eye. — Take me, it’ll take half an hour there and half an hour back. Then you can come back and take your precious little wife wherever you want. To Dnipro, or to the ends of the earth.
Alisa listened to this dialogue and felt her last hope die. An hour. A whole precious hour of time that she might not have. Every jolt of the car, every minute of delay could be fatal.
— Denis, no, — she whispered. — We can’t… wait.
He turned around, and she saw panic and confusion in his eyes. He was like a boy caught between two fires, not knowing who to listen to.
— See, she’s already ordering you around, — her mother-in-law remarked venomously. — Got you completely under her thumb. That’s not how I raised you, son. A man should have his own opinion, not dance to his wife’s tune.
Those words were the last straw. Denis clenched his jaw, his face hardened.
— Fine, Mom, — he said in a hollow voice. — Get in the car.
Alisa couldn’t believe her ears. Really? Is he really going to…
— Where are we going? — Zoya Pavlovna asked with a triumphant smirk, opening the door.
— To the hospital, — Denis cut her off. — All of us. And then to the dacha.
— No! — her mother-in-law roared so loudly that Alisa flinched. — I said: I am not going to the hospital. I have no business there. These are her problems, not mine.
— Denis, do you hear me? You have a mother who raised you, who dedicated her whole life to you. And then there’s her, — Zoya Pavlovna pointed a finger toward the back seat. — Some girl who came from nowhere, who’s here today and gone tomorrow. So who are you going to choose?
The ultimatum hung in the ringing silence. This was not just an argument about where to go. It was a question of loyalty, a question of his entire life. Alisa held her breath. She looked at the back of her husband’s head, his tense shoulders, and waited. The seconds stretched on like hours.
Denis was silent. He stared straight ahead at the empty road. Then he slowly turned his head to his mother.
— Mom, please get in, — he said tiredly. — We’re going to the hospital.
Zoya Pavlovna realized she was losing. Her face contorted with fury.
— Is that so! So you choose her? — she screamed. — This beggar with no family to her name, and you don’t care about your mother? Well then, know this: I no longer have a son. You can forget my address, my phone number. I’m dead to you.
She slammed the door with such force that the car shuddered. Denis sat motionless, staring at a single point. Alisa saw a single, spare, manly tear roll slowly down his cheek. She felt sorry for him. Sorry that he had to go through this. But at the same time, she felt a surge of gratitude. He had chosen her. He hadn’t abandoned her.
— Let’s go, — she whispered.
Denis flinched as if waking up. He nodded, put the car in gear. But at that moment, Zoya Pavlovna flung the front door open again.
— I’ve changed my mind, — she said in an icy tone. — You’re right. We must help the sick.
She sat down, slammed the door, and crossed her arms, staring straight ahead. Denis sighed with relief and started the car. Alisa did not share his optimism. She knew her mother-in-law. She would not forgive such a humiliation. This sudden compliance was merely the calm before the real storm. And Alisa, to her horror, was right.
They drove in silence for about ten minutes. Denis turned on the GPS, which showed that the nearest hospital in Vilnohirsk was still about fifteen kilometers away. Alisa huddled in her seat again, the pain not subsiding. She closed her eyes, trying to tune out, but every movement of the car sent a torturous spasm through her.
Suddenly, Zoya Pavlovna said in a calm, almost indifferent tone:
— Denis, stop, please. I need to use the restroom.
Denis obediently pulled over. They were surrounded by forest, the highway was almost empty.
— Mom, there’s nothing here. Maybe you can hold it until the hospital?
— I can’t, — she snapped. — I’ll be quick.
She got out of the car and disappeared behind the trees. Denis turned off the engine. He turned to Alisa.
— How are you?
— Bad, — she whispered. — Let’s go quickly. As soon as your mom gets back, let’s go.
He took out his phone and started looking at something. Alisa lay on the back seat, listening to the sounds of the forest. Birds were singing, the wind rustled the leaves. A truck drove by in the distance. Zoya Pavlovna did not return. Five minutes passed, then ten.
— Where is she? — Denis became worried. — Mom! — he shouted out the window.
Silence. He got out of the car and walked around it.
— Mom, where are you?
At that moment, the back door on Alisa’s side flew open. Zoya Pavlovna stood there. Her face was contorted with malice.
— Get out! — she hissed.
— What? — Alisa didn’t understand.
— Get out, I said! — Her mother-in-law grabbed her by the arm and yanked her. — We don’t need you! You faker!
Alisa cried out in pain and surprise.
— Denis! — she called.
Denis ran over, saw what was happening, and froze.
— Mom, what are you doing?
— I’m getting rid of her! — Zoya Pavlovna shouted. — She’s ruined our lives! You argue with me because of her? Let her get lost!
She was dragging Alisa out of the car, and Alisa was too weak to resist. She almost fell onto the grass, miraculously staying on her feet.
— Denis, help me! — she pleaded.
But Denis just stood and watched. He didn’t move. He just stood and watched as his mother pulled his sick wife out of the car. He had chosen again. And this time, his choice was final.
— Die, you beggar! We don’t need your problems! — her mother-in-law’s words sounded like a gunshot in the deafening silence of the forest. They burned into Alisa’s consciousness, searing away everything else: pain, fear, hope.
She was on her knees on the hard, prickly grass of the roadside, clutching her stomach, and watching as Denis, her husband, stood a few feet away with his head bowed. He wasn’t looking at her. He couldn’t or wouldn’t see her humiliation. He had allowed this to happen.
— Mom, don’t! — he finally mumbled.
But his voice was so weak and spineless that it sounded more like an excuse than a protest.
— We have to, Denis, we have to! — Zoya Pavlovna snapped. Her eyes shone with an unhealthy glint. She was in her element, reveling in her power and impunity. — She wanted to ruin our trip? She got it. Let her find her own way to her hospital now. Maybe she’ll learn some sense.
She went to the back door, pulled Alisa’s small handbag out of the car, and threw it at her feet. Phone, keys, wallet—everything she had.
— Take your junk! — her mother-in-law threw at her. — And I better not see you again!
Alisa looked at them, at these two people who had been her family that very morning, and didn’t recognize them. They were monsters, monsters in human form. The pain in her stomach momentarily receded, overshadowed by a different, much more terrible pain—the pain of betrayal.
She shifted her gaze to Denis.
— Denis… — she whispered. And in that whisper was a final, desperate plea.
He raised his eyes, and she saw in them… nothing. Emptiness. There was no love, no pity, not even anger. Only fear of his mother and a desire for all of this to be over quickly.
— I’m sorry, — he forced out. — Mom’s right. It’s your own fault…
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