Chapter 1

Yuri spent the whole day at work being harsh with his subordinates. He even chewed out the security guard for not sitting exactly at his post. It irritated him that the bank employees talked to him as if they were somehow irreplaceable. No one had explained to them yet that cemeteries are full of people who once believed no one could take their place.

At home, Yuri was gentle and considerate with his wife, but outside those walls he looked at people without the slightest romantic haze.

He considered himself better than them, stronger, smarter. Their lack of sense annoyed him. Yuri was sure that in the place of any one of his employees he would do that job far better himself.

And on top of it all, he could not wait for evening. Everything seemed uninteresting and like an irritatingly long obstacle in the way of what would happen after work. But would it happen? Yuri wasn’t sure he was ready to betray his wife like that. Eros and Thanatos had entwined in the strangest way inside him; sometimes he didn’t understand himself at all. For so many years he had prayed to the image of his wife and, like a sculptor, with his prayers had carved that image toward perfection ... and now he burned with the desire to throw the work of all those years to the mercy of a dirty, thick-headed, disgusting barbarian. What kind of pendulum swing was that, from one extreme to the other?...

Funny how gold and dust can coexist in the same person, isn’t it?

And so, the workday finally ended. It was time to go home. As he left, Yuri glanced back at the Dalen Bank sign with something close to pity.

In there, inside, he hadn’t had to make a decision. There had still been time. Now there was no time left; he had to choose: yes or no. Would Yuri follow his mad plan, or behave sensibly?

What did he choose? Well, I think You know the answer. If people always listened to the voice of reason, nothing truly interesting would ever happen to them. And I would have no stories to tell.