Setting: Moscow, Russia. 1906

 

Characters: Anastasia, Deceased Aunt (Suicide); Ruslan, Anastasia’s Husband; Kazimir, Ruslan’s brother; Dora, Niece of Anastasia and Ruslan.

 

•   Ruslan

-   5’9”; 200 Pounds; Male; Long, slicked back brown hair with short sides; scruffy moustache/beard; Muscular Build; previously worked in a coal mine in Moscow before fleeing to Vilnius.

•   Kazimir

-   5’8”; 170 Pounds; Male; Medium length, middle-parted wavy brown hair; clean shaven facial hair; Slim build; previously worked in a tobacco factory before fleeing Moscow with Ruslan.

•   Dora

-    5’3” ; 110 Pounds; Female; Long, side-parted brown hair; slim body type; currently works as a farm worker at her family’s farm.

 

 

Anastasia committed suicide by hanging on after enduring years of a broken marriage to Ruslan. Ruslan discovers her body in their room, hanging from one of the wooden beams that acted as a support along the ceiling, after a night out of drinking with his brother, Kazimir. On the nightstand was her suicide note, that revealed her struggles with such abuse from the man that once vowed to show her unconditional love and the hostile treatment she received from his brother. As a dying wish to redeem himself, Anastasia writes to Ruslan to give their niece, Dora, whom she showed never-ending care for, her will. Going against the instructions on the note, Ruslan tears open the envelope that encased the will and read it himself. Ruslan grows jealous when he discovers that Dora would receive $10000 from his wife’s savings and he would get nothing. He contacts authorities and acts hysterical as the body is taken away, keeping the suicide note and the will hidden.

 

In the morning he arrives at Dora’s home to tell her the news, and as she breaks down in his arms, he tells her that he did not know exactly why his wife would ever do such a thing and that he loved her with all that he could. After he leaves Dora’s house, Ruslan hatches a plan to his brother, Kazimir, to take the money and start life anew, away from the struggles and his wife’s family he so hates and Kazimir agrees. Three days after the incident, Anastasia’s funeral is held. After her casket is buried, Dora asks Ruslan if she left any clues behind as to why she committed suicide, and he tells her that he never stops wondering why she didn’t as he fears it was because of him. Unknowing of Ruslan’s abusive ways, Dora dismisses the notion and assures him he was a wonderful husband. In the night, Ruslan and Kazimir perfect their plan and prepare their belongings to leave. Afraid someone will see him burn the suicide note and will outside of his home, Ruslan decides to bury both in a large metal tin in his backyard, along with various items belonging to his wife. The next morning, Ruslan and Kazimir arrive at the town’s bank, and Ruslan withdraws the $10000 from the joint-account he shared with his wife, and they head to the train station and buy tickets to Vilnius, Lithuania.

 

            A week later, Dora, still mourning over the loss of her caring aunt, visits the home to plant flowers in her memory. Told by family members to allow Ruslan some time alone, she makes her way straight to the backyard through the gate that connected to the side of the house. While digging holes for the flowers, Dora’s shovel clanks against metal, and after clearing the dirt aside, she finds the tin buried by Ruslan. She opens it and finds the will and the suicide note, along with a necklace locket containing a picture of Anastasia and a picture of herself as a young child. She discovers that she was in fact granted a large sum of money, and reading the suicide note, she grows furious with the betrayal of her uncle. She heads inside the home to confront him, only to find all his drawers empty and his belongings gone. Dora then heads to the town’s bank with hopes of the money still being there, and the bank teller reveals to her that she remembers a man and his brother that came in a week ago, withdrew money from the account and overheard them talk about heading to Vilnius.

 

            In the night, she grows increasingly furious over the thought of Ruslan’s actions towards Anastasia, and cries hysterically over the fact that she knew nothing about it. Dora then promises to herself to avenge the loss of her aunt by finding Ruslan and Kazimir herself, and punishing them for what they have done, as Anastasia acted as the motherly figure towards Dora, as Dora’s parents died when she was at such a young age. She packs her belongings and a picture of Ruslan and Kazimir. In the morning she buys a ticket to Vilnius and sets off for Lithuania. During the twenty-four train ride, she sits alone, letting the anger boil increasingly higher, but then she is hit with the sudden realization that she doesn’t know what to do when she confronts them; what will she say? How will she act? She arrives in Vilnius and settles herself in the town’s local hotel, still unsure of what her future holds.

 

            Over the course of the week, she interviews citizens of the town asking them if they knew anything about her uncles, showing each passerby a picture of the two, but to no success. A month passes by with no clue as to where her Uncles are, Dora is just about ready to give up on looking for them. She contemplates contacting authorities, but figures it would be to no use as she should have told them as soon as she found out her uncles ran off two months ago.

 

            Overwhelmed with the sadness and disappointment of failing to avenge her aunt, Dora heads to the town's local pub to drink away her frustration. She sits by the counter, ordering glass after glass, with her hand on her head and tears running down her face as she stares at the photograph of her two uncles.

 

"Lose somebody?" A voice asks.

 

Dora, wipes away her tears and looks up to see the bartender standing on the other side of the counter, wiping down the inside of a glass.

 

"Pardon?" Dora replies, her voice still weak and cracking.

 

"Did you lose somebody?" The bartender asks again, glancing towards the picture of her uncles she had left on the counter.

 

Realizing what he was looking at, she picks up the picture.

 

"You can say that." She says, now locking her eyes with the inanimate profile of her two uncles.

 

"Can I take a look at that?" The bartender asks, reaching out for the photograph.

 

She hands the photograph to him, he inspects it, and a wide grin comes across his face. Unsure as to why he was so happy, Dora asks the bartender why he was smiling.

 

"Well, today might be your lucky day. Take a look over there." The bartender replies, reaching over Dora's head and pointing towards something behind her.

 

She turns around, realizes what the bartender was gesturing towards, and her eyes widen, her heart skipping a beat.

 

There she saw them both, out of nowhere, at a crowded table, laughing and drinking away with a large group of people.

 

"They've been ordering drinks all night, spending their money like it's nothing. I have no idea where they got that much money, but I would love to go through whatever they did to become that rich." The bartender explains, awing at the cash the uncles had in their hands.

 

"Trust me, you don't." Dora replies sternly.  "Can I ask you a favour?"

 

"Sure." The bartender answers.

 

"Don't tell them I was looking for them. They're not expecting me, I want to surprise them myself." She explains to him.

 

"Sure thing, I can do that for you." He replies, smiling at the thought of her surprise.

 

"That's much appreciated." She says, thanking him. 

 

 

            Dora waits at the counter, carefully watching her uncles, but keeping a low profile to ensure she isn’t noticed. Her previously distinguished anger sparks within her again as she looks on to them, spending her Aunt’s money on numerous bottles of alcohol to keep their company entertained. As the crowd dies down, and her uncles begin to leave, she thanks and pays the bartender, and heads outside to wait for them.

 

            While outside comes the familiar sudden realization that she has no idea what to do when she confronts her uncles. Physically, she doesn’t pose as an immediate threat to her uncles, only standing at 5-foot-3 and just over 110 pounds. Her uncles on the other hand tower over her; Ruslan standing at 5’9”, 200 Pounds due to his muscles built by working at the mine, and Kazimir standing at 5’8” and 170 pounds. Although she stood no chance physically, she knew that she had spent too much time committed to finding her uncles to give up now. Soon after, her uncles exit the pub, and began walking their way home with Dora not far behind them.

 

            Fifteen minutes later, Ruslan and Kazimir arrive at their new home, a comfortable bungalow in the centre of a neighbourhood just down the street from the bar. Dora, having trailed further behind the two, watched from afar as they unlocked their front door and headed inside. She notices a light from a room on the side of the house light up, so she carefully sneaks under the window to peer into the room. She sees her two uncles conversing inside, and notices Ruslan reach underneath the bed and take out a large brown suitcase and places it on the bed. Ruslan opens the suitcase, and reveals the large wads of cash that were supposed to be granted to Dora. Ruslan and Kazimir gather the remaining cash from their night out at the pub and place it in the suitcase along with all of their unspent money. The pair celebrate over the large amount of money they had stolen.

 

“I’m glad you’re wife killed herself, if she had lived, all of that money would’ve been given to that good-for-nothing niece of yours!” Kazimir exclaims.

 

“I am too, I thought all of this money would’ve been spent towards Anastasia and I! That’s why I never questioned her. But after reading her will, I’m glad that I got to it first!” Ruslan agrees.

 

            The two laugh as Ruslan organizes the contents of the suitcase and places it back underneath the bed while Kazimir heads into a different room.

 

            Now filled with rage over the defamation of her aunt’s name, Dora storms to the front door and relentlessly bangs on the door. Kazimir then answers the door, and looks confused as if he does not recognize who Dora was. A moment after, Kasimir’s eyes widen, signalling he recognizes Dora and Dora quickly pushes him backwards, knocking him over the table. She runs into the kitchen to find something she can use to defend herself, but is grabbed by the neck from behind by Kazimir.

 

“How did you find us?” Kazimir asks Dora, who he has trapped in a chokehold.

 

            Dora’s hand reaches for the dining table, frantically looking for something to defend herself with. Her hand comes across a teapot, still hot from the tea Kazimir just brewed. Without thinking, she throws the hot liquid onto Kasimir’s stomach. Kazimir takes back his grip on Dora as he struggles to take his shirt off, and while he is distracted, Dora hits him over the back of the head with the teapot, shattering it and knocking him unconscious.

 

“Did you burn yourself again?” Ruslan asks, coming out of the room at the end of the hallway. “I told you to be careful.”

 

            Ruslan looks up and sees his brother on the ground, and a woman standing over him. Him and Dora lock eyes, and he realizes that they’ve been caught. Ruslan makes a dash for the front door, and is tripped by Dora as he runs by, hitting his head off the side of the table. Still dazed, he tries frantically to get back on his feet, but Dora still wielding the sharp broken teapot handle, holds him against a corner.

 

“What are you going to do now, Dora? Kill me?” Ruslan asks, frightened by the cold piece of glass Dora has pressed against his neck.

 

“You do not know how long I’ve thought about it, after what you’ve done to me, and after what you’ve done to your own wife. You know she was like a mother to me? She raised me! You were barely even there for me! For us!.” Dora yells back, kicking Ruslan in the stomach. “I know what you’ve done, and you should be ashamed of yourself, abusing the woman you vowed your life to. You’re pathetic.”

 

“I’m sorry!” Russian replies, gasping for air.

 

“You think that means anything to me now?” Dora asks, pressing her weapon harder against his throat. “Auntie Anastasia’s dead, and no amount of your pathetic apologies will ever change that.”

 

 “I’ll do anything! Please, just don’t kill me.” Ruslan replies.

 

“I really wish I could, but she raised me better than that. She raised me to respect the life of everyone, even a disgusting, low-life, pig like yourself.” Dora explains, unleashing one more kick to his stomach. “Now, get up.”

 

            Ruslan slowly gets back on to his feet, his back against the wall, and Dora’s weapon pressed against his throat, at the mercy of a woman so much smaller than him. She relieves the pressure off his neck, and a small trickle of blood runs down where her handle had pierced. Still pointing her weapon towards him, she gestures to the hallway, asking him to lead. They step over Kazimir, who is still unconscious on the kitchen floor.

 

“You’re going to give me back the money I was granted.” Dora coldly explains.

 

“How are you so sure the bank doesn’t have it?” Ruslan responds.

 

“I saw the suitcase from underneath your bed,” Dora replies, pressing her weapon against the back of his neck. “Now, you’re going to get it, and give it to me. That money could really be used well back at the farm at home, and not on bottles of alcohol at parties.”

 

“So that’s where you found us?” Ruslan asks.

 

“For two people who just stole ten-thousand dollars, you would think you’d keep a low profile for a while.” Dora mockingly replies.

 

            Ruslan retrieves the suitcase and opens it, revealing to Dora how much cash they had stored away.

 

“How much of it is left?” She asks.

 

“A good seven-thousand of it, alongside some money Kazimir and I saved up from back home.” he replies.

 

“That’ll do, give me the bag.” She demands.

 

“All of it? How will we support ourselves here? We are living off of this cash here, we don’t even work. We don’t have any of the qualifications to be working around here, there isn’t a mine anywhere near this town, and the factories are on the other side of the country. We’ll be on the streets!” He explains, obviously frightened at what his future holds.

 

“Really? Well, maybe you should’ve thought about getting work before buying a house you couldn’t even afford, a lifestyle you don’t even deserve.” She coldly replies. “But don’t worry, that’s a life worthy of men like you.”

 

“Can’t we just forget about all of this? We’ll pretend this never happened, and we can come home with you!” He asks.

 

Dora thinks his suggestion over for a moment, and then looks up back at him and replies, “Get your brother up, you’re coming home with me.”

 

“Oh, thank you!” He exclaims.

 

            The three leave the house and head on the train back to Moscow. Once arriving back home two days later, Dora’s family is conversing with local authorities in the living room of their home, discussing the missing persons file they reported for Dora and her uncles a month earlier. When they see Dora enter through the door, the whole family is overjoyed, embracing her. Her relatives then attempt to embrace the two uncles, but Dora stops them and explains,

 

“Don’t touch them. I have something to show all of you.”

 

            Out of her luggage, she retrieves the will and the suicide note of Anastasia, and hands it to her family.

 

“They stole the money that was granted to me. I found them in Lithuania, spending it on parties and alcohol. They were going to make a new life their out of the money they stole, without saying a word to any of us.” Dora explained.

 

            Ruslan and Kasimir hung their heads in shame, and when asked by authorities, they had nowhere else to hide, so they agreed.

 

“Nothing will take away the pain of the loss of my aunt, but hopefully you guys can experience the pain you put upon her as you both rot behind bars.” Dora whispers in their ears, before shutting the door as the two are taken away by the authorities.