We watched the planes fly, and did not realize that it would be a serious matter. We thought it was just a misunderstanding. Then we were afraid of those planes. And when they started shooting with Grads… or whatever they are, it got even worse.
A guy was riding a bike down the street when shell fell nearby and torn off his leg. It was so terrible. Then they stopped shooting during the day, only at night.
War means shooting, killing people, destroying houses. Four houses could be fired at during the night attacks. People stopped sleeping at night. We were terrified.
In 2014, the light was cut off, as well as gas. We had to cook food over a campfire. It was terrible. And just sat and waited for the light and gas to be repaired.
The worst day was when the police station was bombed. We live in that area. Those shells fly so low. People ran and hid wherever they could. An old man said, "Get down!" Why? I knew we had to run away as far as we could. So we ran. It was so scary that I cannot describe it with words. Shells are so big, you know.
The two of us were not so scared. At least, we could talk to each other. A real red burning shell fell between the house and the wall. We were sitting there and saw how it flew past us. I don't know where I hit. We saw everything. We thought that our heart would stop our of fear.
He was a good husband, very good indeed. He was literate, smart, a real family man. He like to write everything down. And so stressed that he developed leukemia. He had few white blood cells in the blood. So he died of it. Before the war, everything was normal. Now these fears… We were sitting in a bomb shelter. They were shooting so hard that I thought that the ceiling was going to collapse and all of us would die there.
It was a deep basement. A real bomb shelter. But it was old, you know. No one used it, no one needed to. And then when those attacks started, many people used it.
We lived together until 2017. He died on 31 August 2017. I couldn't get over it, I couldn't imagine what it would be like. He was a real man, he knew what to do, how to do it. I just took care of the cooking.
I wish that peace would come. I wish we lived in certainty. I wish we didn't have to live like on a tinderbox, waiting for another explosion and shooting. Now everyone says, "We will not survive, we will die." That's what people say. This fear, if it happens again, they say, "We won't survive." Because everyone knows what it is. We didn't know that before.
I had more flowers here. Everyone liked it. They said, "Oh, how beautiful!" But it is cold in the house. The windows have cracks. Some of the flowers have died. I saved what I could, but... The strongest and most persistent flowers survived. Humans are the most persistent and strongest creatures who will find a way to survive.
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