Igor Eliseev - One-Two

“You are so cold! You must be absolutely freezing. Let me cover you,” Yura says and puts a blanket over us. His eyes are red; I think he’s just tired. Only now do I understand that for the first time in my life I am watching him in a white robe, his white robe.

“You look so tired, you need to rest and recover because you are doing too much,” I tell him, but he doesn’t move. “Hey, you must be going. See you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, right, see you,” he says, clumsily backing to the door. “Oh, no, wait a minute.”

He takes a piece of paper out of his pocket and comes up to our bed.

“Here, it dropped out of your pocket. I’ll put it on the bedside table.”

Then he leaves us alone for the evening.

Shortly after, I reach out to the bedside table and take the drawing. Dampness and time have made it worn, blurred, faded, reminding me of a smudgy blot. No one can tell now how many people it depicts and whether they are beautiful or ugly… but I think everything’s beautiful that is done through the human heart and soul, that makes our inner world visible, that gives us a chance to look at ourselves from the outside in – everything is beautiful, even us. But this life isn’t endless; we need to hurry, to have the time to do great things, to put the most important things into words, too. How much I love you, Hope! I am so sorry I didn’t tell you this before. I will surely do so, as soon as you wake up… so that I can, at last , fall asleep.

But before that I need to tell you so many things. Very soon, there will be no “us”. There will only be “you” and “me”, separately, and nevertheless, we will never stop being one whole. You in Me and Me in You. My God, it’s so cold. You look happy while asleep and I can’t stop thinking about how cold I am. Why is it so chilly here? I just can’t get warm like in the hospital when they plunged us into icy water…

I shiver all over with fear and shame, but I can neither leave, nor go inside; my feet are groaning and buzzing as if nailed to the hospital floor. For many hours I’ve been standing behind the door and listening eagerly, catching every word spilled from her lips. Yura is sitting on a near window sill, his face turned away, and only the reflection in the window reveals that he is crying – crying because of his inability to do anything. Today he lied for the first time in his life, for he couldn’t summon the courage to tell the truth: Hope is already gone, and Faith will be the last to die. But so far… Yura has asked me to stay with Faith until she falls asleep… forever. And I can’t say no.

Eventually, the voice behind the door falls silent, having finished the retelling of the story already told. I go inside and close the door behind me.

“You’re in time,” Faith says to me.

I take out an orange and hand it to her, wishing her a happy new year.

“Thank you,” she answers politely and puts the orange on the bedside table. “We will eat it together when Hope wakes up.”

I nod and give a silly smile.

“You were right, it is always the right time to do the right thing, not once in a lifetime, but always before it’s too late,” she says, peering into the blackness outside the window. “You know what is amusing? All I did before was try to shorten our lives, but now the only thing I think about is how to make them longer. There is so much to live for: life is amazing and full of miracles; too bad I didn’t notice it before, and good that I understand it a little better now. Maybe you should write about it, to remind everyone.”

And, turning her face to me, she declares:

“Please, tell them my story, will you? Don’t say no; I’m asking you. I believe in you like you believed in me once. Help people to find hope and never lose faith, so that they can see how wonderful life is.”

For now I don’t really understand why I came to them – not because I needed help – actually, the right to help someone is something you need to deserve – but did I need their help? Her request is a chance for me to start writing again. I will achieve so much later.

“We will tell you everything as it was. Perhaps, Hope won’t mind. I’m going to ask her when she wakes up.”

Now it’s the right time to do the right thing, to become the person I always wanted to be.

“I believe that she will agree,” she adds. “So, will you write?”

“I will,” I answer.

This is what I will have to live with. Not just live, but also bring myself to the judgment of my readers, probably, no less severe than myself. My God, it’s really so cold here .

For several years I have been collecting the records from the heroes of this book for this book. But I could not find everyone, and not everyone agreed to talk to me; I had to figure out many facts.

This novel is in no way a confession about how hard it is and how long it takes to write a book and how little truth remains in the end, nor is it a book of complaints. It is a chance to be sincere with myself. Most of all, it’s a chance to be sincere with you; not everybody is that happy.

For more than fifteen years I have been hesitating. Should I publish this story? I kept writing and rewriting, forgetting and finding my way back, only to forget again. But now, I believe the right time has come. I hope this book is for you.

Igor Eliseev (Igor Miroshnichenko)(born 12 March, 1977 in Rostov-on-Don, Russia) is an English-language writer, novelist, and essayist; he writes under the pen name Igor Eliseev, his mother’s maiden name.

Igor graduated from the Don State Technical University, where he studied engineering procedure, in 1999. He also studied at the Moscow University of Industry and Finance, graduating in 2009 with a degree in the management of commercial activities.

He first tried his hand at writing sketches and scripts for a radio show. He also found himself particularly drawn to portrait and fashion photography. Some time later, he became one of the most in-demand photographers in Moscow. His photos brought him a lot of attention and a taste of financial freedom, but ultimately, literature remains his true and only calling.

Igor Eliseev began his literary activity in 1999 with a number of short stories, essays and a film script. Later, the plot of the script developed into a literary novel – the most important project of his life and one that has not yet been completed. In 2015, however, he finished his second novel, which, by a twist of fate, became his debut novel. One-Two , a book that is dedicated to the memory of his mother, tells the story of two conjoined sisters born in the era of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

He has been interested in oriental martial arts ever since he was a child and practices Judo, Karate, Jiu-Jitsu and Chinese Wushu; he worked as a martial arts instructor for several years.

ONE-TWO

by Igor Eliseev

Edited by Jonathan Finch

Publishers Maxim Hodak & Max Mendor

© 2015, Igor Eliseev

Cover illustrations © 2015, Igor Eliseev

© 2016, Glagoslav Publications, United Kingdom

Glagoslav Publications Ltd

88-90 Hatton Garden

EC1N 8PN London

United Kingdom

www.glagoslav.com

ISBN: 978-1911414-25-4 (Ebook)