1.2 March: Good For Nothing Son

Yuri’s mother stared at him with a shocked expression. His shoulders slouched, unconsciously trying to shrink away from her intense gaze. She was taken aback because this was the first time, in a long while that her son had volunteered to do something. He had dropped out of university out of the blue around half a year ago and then a few months later quitted his job. All he did was rot away in his room.

She had no clue as to why, and despite being incredibly angry at him for dropping out, she buried those feelings inside and had to calm her furious husband, who raged at the poor boy. Yuri had not reacted and said a minimal amount of words at the time; all he did was go to work in the day, come back in the evening, disappear into his room, repeating the cycle everyday. 

For a while she had decided to leave him alone, she could tell he needed space and had forced her husband to do so as well. Even when he stopped going to work and sat inside his room all day, they left him alone. But that was until she had had enough and one day she barged her way into his room and tried to get him to talk so that she could figure out what was wrong. 

No matter how much she tried to speak to him, pestering him with questions, she did not get an answer out of him, or any sound at all, as if he had lost the ability of speech. After many days of trying to get him to talk, she decided to force him go outside, at the very least for walks to get fresh air. Or even do a simple chore in the kitchen, as long as he left his damned bedroom. Although Yuri listened to her commands and with absolutely no energy, did what he was told. It however, never lasted long and he would go back to isolating himself in his room. 

After a month of this struggle and running out of ideas on how to help her son, she had cried her eyes out to her husband in the kitchen. The very next day his father threatened to throw him outside if he didn’t find a job or help around the house. ‘An adult man should not be acting like this!’ He had shouted at him, all the while his wife clung onto him trying to get him to calm down.

During this entire commotion, Yuri stood in front of them, giving zero reaction. However he did feel guilty towards them and even though his father took back his words of kicking him out, he found a part-time job in some bakery where he was a designated dish washer and cleaner. It didn’t last long though; he was quickly fired for poor time management and being incredibly slow at all his tasks. Yuri felt like a failure and went back to hiding in his safe and comfortable room in his parents house.

So at this moment, Yuri’s mother couldn’t believe her ears, her son had actually initiated to do something! Her eyes welled up with tears of joy. His father was not any less shocked; this was probably the first time in the last six months that he had heard his son speak. He noticed how happy his wife was; both about their son, and about finding a solution to the dacha situation, so he quickly agreed to send their son to live there. But on one condition that he needs to actually work, preferably grow a garden, and fix a few things here and there, instead of just lazing around everyday like he did at hom. Yuri hestitantly agreed to the condition.

At the time Yuri thought that escaping to the countryside would help him clear his mind and give him some peace. It also gave him a chance to help his parents, especially his mom. He saw no negativesabout living alone for a while, away from the bustling city, the small apartment and from the pressure of his parents. It would also give them a break from their failure and burden of a son. But the regret settled fast, after he heard the condition his father had proposed, his father even said that at the end of the summer they were going to come and check the condition of the land.

“Is it ok if I go next month?” He asked them, thinking that if he was going to go, he might as well go as early as possible and get as much alone time as possible. His mother was hesitant at first because March seemed too early and a little too cold to live at a summer dacha but with a bit of convincing from her husband, she reluctantly agreed. When March rolled around, they drove to the dacha all together in their small car that was filled with all types of stuff. His parents had bought him everything and much more, of what they thought he would need, and although his father didn’t show it as much as his mother, he was very worried about his son and hoped he wouldn’t accidentally die from starvation or something, so he ended up buying a lot of non-perishable food items.

His mother explained everything about the area to Yuri in great detail and he tried his hardest to remember all of it. She only finished explaining everything to him by the end of their two hour ride and Yuri’s head felt slightly dizzy but he just smiled and nodded, his father glanced at him feeling sympathy.

Once they had arrived his father helped him bring all of the things inside the house and unpack a little bit while his mother cooked up a meal in the kitchen. They ate together and Yuri sent his parents off who had to drive back to the city to get ready and rest a bit before their jobs tomorrow. His mother hugged him and smiled.

“Answer the phone when we call you.” She said with a glare. “Otherwise we might think you’re dead and call the police.” Yuri knew she wasn’t joking and felt like a prey who was being glared at by a predator. He nodded, making a mental note to make sure his phone is always charged and turned on.

The car gradually disappeared into the distance and Yuri continued waving goodbye to it until it was out of sight, all the while in a daze thinking how the hell he was going to close the heavy and rusty metal gates that they had trouble opening earlier.