1 Chairs

"Why do we sit down. I mean I get that it's a totally natural position but is it just that cause we see everyone sit down. Why don't we just lie down all the time." Alexander said. We were on beds opposite each other. "How would I know why we sit down. It's not like there's anything wrong with sitting down." I said. "Well you don't know that for all we know sitting down is actually really bad for you," he said. "Well, it isn't nobodies ever died from sitting down," I say. The loud sounds of step come from the floor above us. A cough, then silence again. Someone knocks at our door. "I'm not getting up you do," Alex said. "What the hell, why should I, you get it I'm tired," I said. The knocks keep on getting louder and someone shouts "Open the door I come bearing gifts" Alex gets up, raises his arms up high into the air and then walks to the door. He opens it up. As soon as he opens the door outcomes Khatya. Katya is small, smaller than you or me, smaller than anyone I know. He isn't a midget just small, not even a small personality just kind of small. "Gifts you say, some friends I welcome you in," Alexander said. They hop, jump and scout as they enter the room replacing the respectable silence. "I bring you two the finest bottles of vodka you'll ever have," Katya said. I get up and walk over to them. Katya was carrying a bottle and the other man next to him was as well. The man towered over all of us even Alexander. A giant had stepped into our room. Normally Khatya would bring his cousin or his brother but now he had brought an actual giant.

"He's like seven feet tall. Jesus Khatya didn't know they made people this big anymore." Alexander said occasionally snorting with little bits of laughter. "Yes, I know this tiny little man is my cousin's step-brother. What do you call that step-step brother, well he's called my something." We all laugh and go back to the main portion of the room. Alexander and I sit on the beds, Khatya starts pacing in the back, finally, the giant sits down on the carpet. The carpet was a gathering place for all things evil and dirty. When the Khrushchyovka had first been made back in 1955 they must've been clean enough but soon the years of teenagers and drunkards living there had done its toll. The carpets were a solid yellow color with flakes of gunk, dirt and whatever unsettling things had ever happened to them. The giant's hand came down slowly. Almost as if he was waiting to get a taste of the waiting gunk. Alexander yelps, "Stop!" The giant goes on for about a second before he hears him. Katya laughs "Have you never been in one of these. Almost all of these are like this, grimy unkempt hellholes. "I think you mean our hellhole," Alexander said. Katya again starts to giggle uncontrollably gradually building into a crescendo of little giggles and snorts. Katya stops, "Have you heard Andrei is gone."

Alex brow furrows and his eyes open up wide "What no, what happened?"

"I don't know but apparently he just disappeared into thin air."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that. Like a magic trick"

"Well you never know with these single guys, sometimes their serial killers, sometimes they sell cereal it all really the same."

Wait for what? "Umm serial killers and cereal salesmen are very different things."

Alexander flashes his grin. "Same difference." We all chuckle and Katya snorts and huffs with his odd form of laughing. My leg is uncomfortable sitting there, doing nothing, wasting lots of things away. "There was the talk of booze?" I say.

"I think so but it would be a waste to enjoy it in this "room" Katya enunciated room if he was joking.

"Might as well go outside," Alexander says. We leave the apartment and out onto the street. All around us are the familiar gray buildings, the bricks, the shedding paint. We all huddle around together and move to the gray fountain in the center of the buildings. A couple of people milled around between the buildings, nobody really looked at the other. A group of girls went into a building, people mill about, we just sat there. We passed the bottles along to each one of us. This happened for a couple of seconds before anyone spoke. One of us coughed, someone else shuffled their feet.

"That is terrible vodka Jesus" Alexander chuckled a little bit. It left a terrible unpleasant burning feeling in the back of the throat. I coughed, Alexander coughed, Katya coughed, the big guy rumbled his voice. In between the coughs I swore I could hear a bit of laughter.

"Katya you really need better taste in Vodka I mean shit." Tears rolled down Alexanders eyes and he laughed.

"This is my vodka, my baby, you dare insult, my baby. I put more effort into buying this bottle of vodka than you do your entire life." Alexander chuckled, we all started to calm down and cool air started to fill my lungs. Katya's phone rang, we all looked at him. He talked for a bit on the phone. We all just sat around doing nothing, there was nothing really to do. Alex looked at the ground, the giant looked at the sky, I looked at the giant. A cough again, obviously the taste of the bad vodka had not left someone's throat. Katya hung up.

"Well it looks like I must leave my friends, my sister just got back and I must pick her up of course." Katya lowered the left side of his head to the ground in a mix between a shrug and a pose like a statue. I laughed and Katya lowered his head even lower. Something was just simply amusing about a guy lowering his head to the clouds for such a weird action. Katya frowned and then started to walk away towards a gap in the great big apartment complexes. The giant didn't follow him. The giant sat himself down on the fountain. Alexander than also sat next to the giant as well looking deeply at the giant's ear. His mouth was wide open as if he was about to say something and then he realized what he actually wanted to say.

"Did I ever get your name?"

"Oh, it's Boris," Boris said.

"Why?" Alexander said.

"I don't know," Boris said.

"Why my ass Alexander that's a stupid question" Alexander snorted and then immediately stopped his smile.

"Why is the only question you can ask," Alexander said.

"I'm not even going to try and argue it's worthless."

"Pussy"

"Why thank you, master." I bowed deeply almost thrusting my face into the dirt. Boris rumbled his throat again. We then all heard a shout and from where Khatya departed he arrived again. And like he entered last time he was not alone. With him was a girl. The first thing I noticed was her hair which was like Katya's in that it was long and was there. She had weirdly pretty ears and she was wearing a black T-shirt where the name in giant red spelled out Megadeth. Do you know the feeling when you think you've seen someone before but you just seem to not recognize them anymore? Alexander put his hand over his mouth.

"Have we met before?" Alexander said.

"Wait were you at that concert thing."

"I mean which concert thing that isn't really specific." Alexander looked down at his feet.

"Of course you know her. Both of you do she's my sister!"

"You have a sister?" I said giving my greatest shit-eating grin.

"Didn't I just tell you that?"

"No, you just said that you were going to magical fairyland to bring back the fairy princess." Alexander laughed and said.

"And I cast a spell on you cursing thou who tries to harm thee." She laughed as well.

"Well, Mrs. Fairy Princess what are you doing here?"

"Oh, my knight I just came back from Sweden."

"Sweden is such a weird country," I said.

She frowned for a second pointing her eyes in the air as if thinking for a bit.

"And why is it weird?"

"I don't know always felt kinda exotic. Like Cuba or China." She curled her face up into a half smile. Then she gave a bark of a laugh like Katya's but it had a lot more of a throaty sound. There was a silence after she laughed. We kinda all just looked at the ground.

"Well, that conversation stagnated," Alexander said.

"No shit it's almost as if we weren't talking," I said looking at him.

"Well, I and my dearest sister have to go. Boris, you want to stay or leave?" Katya said.

"Sure I'll leave," Boris said as he walked towards Katya. They walked out of the square, through the buildings and finally going out of sight. We walked back home on the road. Our feet sloshed on the wet snow making a suction sound as we walked along.

"I'm so tired I got so little sleep last night," Alexander said.

"Same no idea why."

"Eh. Don't really care such is life. What time is it?"

"Like 6:00."

We walked up the stairs to go to our building. There was a guy sitting and smoking on the top stair. He just watched us as we went up. Though it seemed as if he didn't really care because as soon as we left his sight he went right back to looking at the grey sky. We got to our room and opened it up. Alexander went into the bathroom and I sat on the little chair Alexander bought. The toilet flushed, Alexander went to his bed and sat down.

"Wow, she really changed didn't she," Alexander said. He was lifting his legs to touch the wall as he lay down. Occasionally his legs would bounce off the wall and back again.

"Yeah shit. Totally different from when I last saw her." My arms were being slowly pushed more and more into my body so I got out of the chair. I also dropped onto the bed and stared at the ceiling.

"And she likes music." Alexander grinned a little.

"You don't like music," I said.

"No I don't but you see my dear Mikhail sometimes you suddenly like things."

"Oh yeah, all of sudden really surprising."

"Haha. I laugh so much." Alexander's eyebrows pushed up on his forehead.

"Jeez, she was so-"

"Yeah, I know the feeling." We should make a band. She could do whatever she played, I could sing, Katya could do whatever he wanted and Alexander could play bass.

"We should make a band."