Concrete Jungle

Chapter 2

         Kathy was looking at what was on her desk and trying to decide when was the best time to tell Sasha about her next assignment. She knew that Sasha was working on the Elephants in Africa piece and wouldn't want to be interrupted until she was finished. So she just let her write for now and decided to broach the topic towards the end of the day. Meanwhile, Sasha was typing feverishly away at her desk as the story poured out of her like water from a waterfall. She had a pencil in her mouth by then and was completely in another world as she retold every inch of her story. This was what had made her a fantastic writer that every reader regardless of age could relate to. She made each story, each piece feel like the reader was there with her and feeling every emotion she spoke of. She was incredibly detailed, and her stories often took center stage of whatever month she was writing in.

Working with a good photographer just highlighted her work. Many times when people picked up their National Geographic issue at the newsstand, or it came to their homes, they would just look through the pictures first. But when they saw the name 'Alexandra Morozova' on the front cover or in the table of contents, they skipped ahead and sat down to read the story. That's the kind of power her words had on her readers, and people wrote in through snail mail and via email continually praising her work. She hadn't gotten a negative response on anything since her college days, and National Geographic actually saw an increase in their client base after Sasha came on board and she was their rising star. So when this idea for this massive project came down, the headquarters in Washington DC, knew of only one writer who they wanted on it. Now, all Kathy had to do was tell Sasha about it.

She noticed Sasha was finishing up around 4 pm because Sasha was looking around, stretching her arms and moving her head from side to side. Those were usually signs that Sasha had finished and just had to look it over before she handed her story off to Kathy to read before final approval to print. Kathy sighed and stood up and peaked over to Sasha trying to catch her eye. When she did, she smiled and waved to her to come into the office. Sasha nodded quickly and got up stretching and groaning a bit from sitting for such a long time. She only got up to get a sandwich and some soda in the break room briefly for lunch. She never went to lunch when she was writing a story, and so the catering in the office fit her perfectly on these hectic days.

"What's up, Kathy? You wanted to see me?" Sasha asked when she walked into Kathy's office.

"Yes, I did. Shut the door please. I have something to run by you." Kathy answered with a quick smile.

"Ok, sounds good. What is it?" Sasha replied, closing the door as was asked of her. She knew that when Kathy asked her to do that, she was going to tell her something important; most likely some major project.

"You think you will finish that article by this evening?" Kathy pointed towards the door as she inquired.

"Oh yeah, I'll have it on your desk by 5," Sasha replied confidently as she ran what she still had to do over in her head.

"Great. Because, do I have a project for you! It's perfect. They want you on it, in DC."

"Sounds intriguing already. Tell me more." Sasha had sat down across from Kathy and crossed her legs, interested. Kathy grinned and launched enthusiastically into explaining the project by saying one, solitary word first for added effect.

"Chernobyl."

After saying the word, Kathy didn't wait for a reply from Sasha as she continued speaking about the rest of the project. She didn't notice that Sasha turned entirely white and shrank back into the chair.

"So April 26th, 2016 will be the 30th anniversary of that disaster. The magazine wants to dedicate the whole month of April to it. We'll need the history of the disaster, who it affected, about that town that was left abandoned, I don't know the name, how many people died, whether there was any government cover-up, but mostly about how everything looks and is 30 years later. It being June, you have a little less than a year to do all of your research. You will get a chance of working with your British pal Benjamin Clark because we want the best scientist to test the waters and see about the wildlife. You will also work with a brand new photographer, but she's phenomenal. Her name is Rahel Davids, and she's from Israel. Her photographs have put her in the top echelon of the world. We are only getting the top people for this. Need all of your work to be done by the beginning of March. So what do you think? Everyone wants you, Sasha. After all, you speak Russian, so this should be easy for you." Pause. "Sasha?"

Kathy prompted Sasha as the latter was staring off into space. There was a silence when Sasha finally focused on Kathy and swallowed hard. This was a chance of a lifetime to write the entire story for one issue, and they wanted her to do it. But it was on a forbidden topic to her, and she wasn't at all sure she could even attempt to open up that portion of her past. Let alone put her family through that again.

"Sasha? What do you think?" Kathy asked again, utterly oblivious to Sasha's inner turmoil.

"C-can I think about it?" Sasha stuttered out to Kathy's surprise.

"What's there to think about? It's a great opportunity."

"I know, but I need some time."

"Alright, the most I can give you is 2 days maximum 3. I can tell them you're still working on the elephants' story." Kathy replied thoughtfully.

"Thank you so much. I really appreciate it! I'll get you that story before I leave." Sasha nodded, gratefully.

Kathy nodded in surprised agreement as Sasha all but fled from her office. She was shaking when she got back to her desk. All she wanted to do was run home but she knew she had to finish editing her own story which she did and then waited until she saw Kathy on the phone to bring her the printed story and lay it down on her desk then hightail it back to her desk and pick up her purse to head home. She barely said goodnight to her coworkers and the secretaries as she bolted for the elevator. Thankfully, everyone was too busy to really notice.

As soon as she was on the ground floor, she ran to the subway like she was being chased by some invisible entity. She never remembered getting home to her apartment that night. The next thing she knew was that she closed and locked the door of her place and breathing heavily she just stood against that door for a long moment. Then she headed into her bedroom without taking off her wedges. She tossed her purse on her sofa as she went, not hearing or seeing it as it flopped onto the floor after bouncing off the sofa.

Upon entering her bedroom, she headed towards her closet, opening the door and getting down on her hands and knees, began moving shoe boxes and other stuff aside going towards the back of her closet where she had an old cardboard box. She pushed it towards her, and when it was in front of her, she opened the leaflets of the box to reveal her own old diaries. She dug into them until she found the one at the very bottom. She slowly lifted it up and out of the box, sinking onto the floor as tears poured down her cheeks. Looking at the diary that was blue in color and had been worn out and the pages were yellow with age. She clenched the diary to her chest as she sobbed. Only one solitary word came out of her while she cried tortured tears of long ago:

"Vasya."

To be continued.....