Svetlana is silent as she sneaks out the door of their bedroom. She glances one last time at the man she has been sharing a bed with for the past 5 months. His mouth hangs open and he is snoring ever so lightly. She could have been way worse of. He is a nice man, gentle and caring when he wants to be – mostly he has just been polite. Polite enough to ask about her life and family and once in a while, about the baby. Their baby. From now on it's going to be her baby. She closes the door quietly. She doesn't feel bad. There is no place for her in this family, in this country. She wants to go home, and be with her own. The man in the bed is too young and too in love to have a child. Many times she has found him sitting, staring into the distance with a hint of a smile on his face, lost in his memories. She wants him to have that love now, not the charade they have been playing. That isn't good enough for any of them.
But first, she has to set them free.
She has planned it for weeks. Quiet meetings with friends and distant relatives. Her bag is ready, passport and plane ticket inside.
She found her way out, when she walked in on Terry shooting up a few weeks ago. A snarl on his red face as he barked at her to get the hell out. It wasn't hard to get the purest product – anything can be found at the spa. She opens the door to Terry's room and soundlessly replaces his grimy drug with her pure one on his bedside table. It almost feels like he is getting of to easy, dying in a haze. But it has to be believable, and so that no can be blamed. Not Mandy, who has treated her as a sister, or Mickey, who has tried his utmost to make their situations bearable, and who she has come to regard as a friend.
It feels heatless to make the children go through the same thing as when their mother died, but everybody will be better off, she convinces herself. She falters for a moment, but remembers the actions of the sleeping man before her. How he has broken his children in every way possible – he is truly a monster.
The sky i starting to lighten in the east, as she steps out in the fresh, cool morning. A light breeze rustles her hair, and for the first time in months she feels as though she can breathe freely. In a few hours the others inside will feel the same. She smiles as she starts walking.