Useless Search

[31 May 1945]

The long black-haired man knew he doesn't need to visit his communal anymore, and his new home has been assigned by the ensemble. His original communal has destroyed completely, until it's just a large, open concrete field with stacks of ruins in front of him. He has left Moscow for four years.... Of course everything has trampled and mushed. Still, he stepped closer to the ruins, try to find anything there.

Wooden blocks. Concrete sand. Wires. Broken glass. Another concrete sand. Broken radio. Ripped clothes. Wooden blocks. Bent metal bed frame. Another wires. Wooden blocks. Concrete sand. Wires. Broken plates. Another concrete sand. Broken metal sink. Ripped clothes. Wooden blocks. Bent metal pipes. Another wires. Wooden blocks. Concrete sand. Wires. Broken mirror. Another concrete sand. Broken telephone. Ripped clothes. Wooden blocks. Bent metal table. Another wires....

He finally found his old clothes in the deepest rubble. And the small broken frame, with the photo of him with Dmitry, Alexei and Vasily. The photo thankfully still not blurred or destroyed, thanks to it's deeply buried under the rubble. But... Eduard balalaika and Vasily's sister's painting wasn't here. He thought those would be just crushed under the ruins. Did someone ever stole their belongings, before the communal get bombed?

He searched and searched. Not even caring that his hands pricked, cut or scratched because of the scraps and broken glasses. By the time night has come and everything around Vadim is dark... he can only found more broken stuff than his true belongings.

Vadim ended his search, then sitting on the ruins while staring in emptiness. To feel his hands pained, and regretting that his search is almost useless - only able to find his clothes and his favorited photo.

And as midnight comes several hours later, he finally picked up his dusty, intact clothes too. He will washed it at the new communal and buy the new photo frame by tomorrow. The pain on his hands slowly subsided.