Welcome to the Crazy House

Prologue: Dobroe utro

My name is Evgeni Dmitriyevich and I was born on January 1st in Novosibirsk. I was the first child of year 1991 in our region. My maman, Viktoriya, later told me, I was a true star. They even put me in a local newspaper. Even though I don't remember my birth, I consider it a big moment. My maman and my papa, Dmitri, welcomed me merrily to their life. They got married thirteen years before I came to this world. My maman told me many times that years with my papa had been the happiest of her life. But life played a cruel game on my family. I was seven years old, when papa went on a business trip. Maman missed him very much. After two weeks, she received news that a tree collapsed on his car and papa's body crushed like a porcelain doll. I didn't understand what happened. I didn't understand why maman was crying so hard. Sometimes, when lights were off, and cold night was creeping in, I could hear maman cry. After a year of not seeing papa, maman Viktoriya put me in car and we went on a long ride. Two hours later, we stood in front of a big tombstone. There were three names written under surname Romanowski. I didn't recognize the first two, but the third one, which said Dmitri Nikolayevich, crushed my heart. I remember crying. Crying hard. Papa was gone. My dear papa. From then on, I spent most of my evenings in my room. I would sit down and close my eyes. "Zhenya, Zhenya come here! I have something for you," I heard papa say as I ran towards him. And he kissed me and gave me a gift – a teddy bear. Sometimes, when lights were off, and cold night was creeping in, maman could hear me cry. I don't remember much of life before papa's death, but I know that I was never again as happy as I was when he took me in his arms.

My favourite colour is red – red as matryoshka doll my mother kept in the living room. She often said it brought us a lot of luck, which I never understood. It is because I remember lying on flood, covered in blood, watching that doll. Watching it and asking for help. But nothing happened. I was still there, and the doll was still as red as blood on my face.

My favourite book is Crime and Punishment, from Dostoyevsky. But in Russian. English version is still a little bit hard to read. You must keep in mind I am not a native English speaker. I am from Russia. My favourite food is buckwheat bread with walnuts, because it tastes like home. And home is what I miss the most in my life.

And this is all you need to know about me in order to follow me on this bezumnyj journey. A person in white said I should write down my life. I don't know how smart this idea is, but I have nothing to do here, so I might as well give it a try. Maybe, words written in this notebook will create something worthy. The only thing left is that I tell you, that what you are reading right now is the direct result of my life – receive it with your soul as a white canvas.

My name is Evgeni Dmitriyevich Romanowski and this is my story.