Black Wolf • Boyxboy | Arrow

8

SOVIET RUSSIA

Sasha sat by the window in his apartment smoking a cigarette out of stress. His father Dimitri stood in his kitchen as he prepared to make a meal that knew would calm Sasha's nerves and put him out of his self induced misery. Dimitri began to cut the cabbage, carrots, onions, and potatoes. He then began to gather the beef and making it all into a soup. Solyanka was Sasha's favorite dish especially when his father had made it.

During Sasha's childhood when Dimitri could sense Sasha dissociating with his humanity, he'd make the solyanka dish. The Black Wolves pushed Sasha to levels that no-human went to, especially at such a young age. They were creating monsters, and monsters they did create.

Sasha had been on edge since being dismissed of his duties by Khrushchev. He had no idea what to do with himself now. All he could do was just sit by the window and smoke, and hope that they'd change their mind and need him. Sasha felt useless, as if he were taking up unneeded space in the world.

Sasha took his last puff out of the cigarette and crushed it on the dish putting it out. Sasha scoffed meanly and stood up from the couch he sat on and walked away from the window. All that Sasha could think of was Stalin's last words, 'Trust no one'.

"Forget the old traditional ways." Sasha mocked Khrushchev from their conversation earlier that day. "Pathetic." Sasha spoke out of rage and Dimitri silently agreed as he continued to make the soup.

As much as it affected Sasha, it affected Dimitri as well. Being a soldier to the Soviet Union was all that Dimitri knew in his life. He began fighting for the USSR since he was 15 years old. 40 years of loyal service to the USSR and he was thrown to the curb like he had done completely nothing. Those 40 years seemed like a waste, and it was breaking him knowing that.

Dimitri always imagined that he would die as a Soviet General in the battlefield or of old age, but not this. This was disgraceful to him.

"It's ready." Dimitri finished up the soup as he began to pour some from a spoon onto two separate plates. Sasha walked towards his father and grabbed a plate with a spoon. Sasha took a bite from the vegetables and beef from the soup and was fascinated once again by the talent that his father had in making this dish.

Dimitri loved seeing Sasha's face when he took the first bite from the Solyanka. Sasha looked warm, alive, and happy, it's what he had always wished for Sasha. Dimitri never expected Sasha to become the son figure he had always needed, but never wanted. 20 years later, and Dimitri could never decide if he had made the mistake of forcing his son to become a killing machine.

"You did it again Papa." Sasha teased his father as he continued to eat. As he ate he was deep in his thoughts and Dimitri could see that.

"What is it?" Dimitri asked wanting to know what was in Sasha's head.

"None of it makes sense. The mole in the Black Wolves, Stalin's death, and the dismissal of us." Sasha began to think about it more and more as none of it felt right. It all felt like a set up and Sasha could see right past it all. Sasha looked at Dimitri knowing he could trust his father with this information. "The last thing that Stalin had told me before he died was to 'Trust no one.' I don't know why he would've told me that, but I'm beginning to believe that all of this is as set-up. Maybe the Americans didn't kill Stalin Papa. Maybe our own people did."

"And you're sure about this?" Dimitri took all the information in, trying to process it all. Sasha needed someone to believe in him so that he didn't feel hysterical. Dimitri looked at Sasha as Sasha wasn't bluffing and knew that something was wrong as well.

"Do you believe in me Papa?" Sasha asked as he watched his father wonder. Dimitri nodded and Sasha smiled lightly as he got up from the table going to begin the investigation right away. Sasha quickly grabbed on to his black coat and opened the apartment door immediately leaving.