Survivor speaks on 50th
Anniversary of Blast
Story by: Galina Lvov
MOSCOW (AP) - Aleksei Orloff
was only nineteen years of age when his sight was taken from him. He was one of
only two other survivors from a 2013 city bus bombing just outside of Volgograd.
As a condition of the interview, Orloff require that I
mention exactly why he consented to speak with me in the first place:
(GL): “So Mr. Orloff in your own words, please tell our
readers why you wished to have this interview conducted.”Mr. Orloff sits across from me in a time yellowed sweater.
Though his eyes do not function as mine do, he seems to know exactly where I am
in the room.
(AO): “I don’t wish for them to forget that these things,
they used to be not so common.” Aleksei coughs then reaches (but not blindly)
for a cup of coffee he has placed upon the table top. He sips and then returns
casually to speaking. “Mine wasn’t the first, but somewhere in the middle.
Those behind them knew they’d attract attention. And when that worked they
didn’t relent.”
Mr. Orloff speaks of the fact that in 2013 public
transportation suicide bombings across the world were only in the teens. Now in
2063 they occur that often within a month (Hitting what was thus far considered
their peak in the 2030’s during the Great American War).
I’ve met Aleksei in the Moscow shelter for the disabled.
The tenement is outdated when even measured against the government’s turn of
the century efforts to lure the Olympic games to a country where safety and
cosmopolitan was a major concern for the world’s citizens at the time. It is
mostly a building where children are housed and Aleksei is one of the few
adults are segregated to the oldest wing of the property.
(AO): “I met a girl that day. It was beautiful outside. I
was on the way to my second day of work at a new job in the city.”
(GL): “How did the other passengers seem to you before the
bombing?”
(AO): “Calm, unaware… we were all distracted by life, good
or bad it did not matter. We were caught up in other things…”His face doesn’t hide his advanced age, rather through ancient
third degree burns it is only accentuated.
(GL): “When did you realize something was afoul?”
(AO): “The girl, she was young, pretty. Very polite. I
thought she was even flirting with me perhaps.
(GL): “What did she say to you Mr. Orloff?”
(AO): “She asked me how old I was.”
Orloff’s mood then switched. He goes from recounting a
story that seems almost quaint to something else. His sightless eyes quiver
then narrow, and his entire body becomes stiff, defensive. His voice quakes
then cracks.
(AO): “She asked me how old I was…then she asked me if I
planned to live much longer.”When the tears began I asked Aleksei if he wanted some
tissues or to take a short break.
(AO): “No, I am fine. It has been half a century this isn’t
the first time I have shed tears over this memory.”
Aleksei Orloff seemed to flush at his own comment, he
quickly added s follow up.
(AO): “Though it has been many years since…”
(GL): “What happened after that Aleksei?”As if someone had flipped a switch, the man’s demeanor
returned to only pleasantness. His words became soothing, easy, marked by
reassurance.
(AO): “She smiled at me. Her hair was so vibrant in that
light. She stood, walked towards the center of the bus. She threw her coat
aside-just like they used to do in those American Westerns. She exploded into
fire and light.”It was at this moment that Aleksei looked at me. Not around
me, not in my general direction, not near where I was sitting, but at me.
(AO): “Have you ever tried to cry out
for someone, and then realized you didn’t know their name?”
(GL): “What was the last thing you saw
Aleksei?”
(AO): “The world burning.”
(GL): “The girl that had smiled at
you, she was the bomber?”
(AO): “Онаявляетсядьявол. She was the devil. Catia Bodhana. At 32,
she wasn’t much older than Aleksei at the time of the bombing. She had been
coerced by the Chechen rebels to carry out the attack. Within the bus, there
were eighteen people who might’ve survived. The bomb that Bodhana had used
didn’t pack enough explosives to destroy the entire bus, or even those on it
during the incident. Unfortunately, the bus’s driver panicked and veered from
the road.”
(GL): “What should we learn from your
experience Aleksei?”
(AO): “You mean, sorrow what you should learn from my sorrow?”
(GL): “What do you want to tell the people Aleksei Orloff?
What should they learn from your pain?”
(AO): “They should learn that which they did not learn
before, my warning was the same as it was when I first lost my sight half a lifetime
ago- when the last reporter tried to capture my words, my sadness and pass them
onto the world. They must know that no matter how attractive the girl is on the
outside, sometimes that serves only to conceal the darkness within.”
(GL): “Thank you Mr. Orloff. I and the worldappreciate your
time.”I was already standing when Aleksei called out to me.
(AO): “Sit down you fool!” the old man had begun to shout
at me with an urgency I wouldn’t have dreamed. “I am not finished yet!”
I took my seat once more. Aleksei found my hand as it had
gently brushed the table. He gripped it, and he eyed me through dark glasses in
a way that made me doubt his blindness.
(AO): “It’sabout knowing that anyone can be bought...”It was a strange thing, trying to match eyes with someone
that lacked sight. But I didn’t need to peer into the windows of Aleksei’s soul
to know what dark intentions lurked within. I pulled my hand away with a start,
grabbed my satchel and headed for the door as fast as I could.
(AO): “…and learning to expect the unexpected.”
Aleksei never got a last look from me as I hit the door
running. However odd I’ve seen him every day since. My memory of him cuts off
as I turn and bolt for the door though, and I can’t help but imagine what he
felt, how he looked as he became fire and light.
