Essays

Iryna’s tragical story


„I’m meeting him today. I’m scared and I have a bad feeling about it…but he has to do what I say. I have the picture that can destroy his whole career.
Polly has no idea. I don’t want her to get involved. It’s better for her if she doesn’t know anything.
I hid my sim card behind a picture of me. The photo of Trench and Galina is on it.
I can only hope that Polly will find it there. If anything goes wrong then the only one who can help my sister, will be Polly.
I bet he is already waiting for me...“ – Iryna’s diary entry


Her breath is heavy as she stands in front of the colossal house. She‘s frightened but she‘s sure about her plan. In her eyes that‘s the only way to save her sister.
„Maybe I shouldn‘t have arranged to meet with him here…“, Iryna thinks. Still, this was the only place where he accepted to meet her. He told her he was too scared that someone would see them.
With shaking fingers she rings the bell on his door. Trench opens with a serious expression on his face. „Come in“, he says. Without saying anything Iryna enters his house. She looks around and is extremely impressed. The living room is huge. All the furniture looks so expensive.
Iryna thinks of all her dreams when she came to London. She wanted to start a new life. She thought she would find a good job and that she‘d be able to stand on her own two feet. She always imagined that maybe one day, she would also be able to live in such a beautiful house. „How naïve I was“, she thinks.
She turns back to Trench and looks at him, feeling absolutely disgusted. This is the man who tortured her little sister. Her little Galina.
„So, your wife is not here I suppose…“, Iryna says.
„No, she‘s at home. This is our second house…but we just use it for parties“, Trench responds going over to the sofa. „Sit“, he says.
„I prefer standing.“
For a few minutes none of them says a word. Iryna feels her hands shaking again and puts them into the pockets of her jacket.
„So, tell me what you want. Let‘s bring this behind us as quickly as possible“, Trench says in a quiet but unsteady voice. Iryna can see how nervous he is.
„It‘s simple. You have to get my sister out of this brothel“, she demands, with a strong and confident voice. She doesn‘t want him to see how scared she really is.
„That is no problem, I can do that“, Roger responds. He stands up and walks towards the windows. „Is that all?“
„No“, Iryna says baldly.
„Of course not.“ She hears him laughing quietly.
„I want money! I‘m sure that‘s not a big deal for you. You have enough“, her voice breaks in the end. She wraps her finger around the little knife in her right jacket pocket. She took it from Polly‘s kitchen thinking it would be too dangerous to visit him without anything to protect herself. She knows that he can be aggressive and just hopes he won‘t do anything to her. If he intends to, she will be ready to protect herself.
„How much did you have in mind?“, he asks.
The moment Iryna feared the most has come. „Ten thousand.“
Trench laughs more loudly now. „Ten thousand!“, he repeats. „That‘s a lot, don‘t you think?“ With a smile on his face, he looks at her now.
„Not for someone as rich as you are“, she says. She tries to find her strong voice again. „Remember…I have something that can be very dangerous for you“.
The smile on Trench‘s face disappears. „He‘s getting mad“, Iryna thinks. Still she won‘t change her demands.
„You do“, he whispers. „You are a very brave girl, I have to say“, he says walking towards Iryna. She holds the knife in her bag so tightly that the blade begins to cut into her own flesh.
„The fact that you are here alone. Fighting for you poor sister…that really is brave.“
„I don‘t care what you think“, she takes a few steps back. „So, do we have a deal or not?“ She can feel the adrenalin rushing through her veins.
„Ten thousand…My wife will be curious about the reason why I took so much from our account“, he seems to be talking to himself.
„That’s not my problem“, Iryna says, now also in a more aggressive tone. The vexed expression is back on Trench‘s face but she is not intimidated by it.
„As I said…a very brave girl“, he whispers, coming a few steps closer to her. „I can‘t give you that much money.“
Iryna starts walking towards the door. „Okay…“, she searches for something in her bag. „Then this is going straight to the press“, she holds the picture of Trench and Galina in her hands.
„You will not do this“, he starts shouting.
„Oh, I will. Believe me!“
Iryna is almost at the door, when she feels his hands around her body. He pushes her to the ground and she can feel the pain in her back as she hit’s the hard floor.
„I said, you will not do this!“, he is screaming now.
He tries to take the picture from her hands but Iryna manages to push him back. She attempts to crawl to the door but again she feels his hands, this time they are grasping her right leg.
„Your sister is just a stupid little whore and you are no better!“, she hears him yell.
She feels all her aggression building up in her. „Shut up!“, she shouts as she kicks her feet into his face.
She manages to stand up and looks at him, lying in front of her feet. „You will pay for this! For everything you did to Galina!“, she screams at him.
His nose is bleeding. „You are such a pathetic old man. Look at you“.
She turns her back on him and runs to the door. But for some reason, she can’t open it.
„It‘s locked!“, she whispers panic-stricken. Her shaking hands try to get it open but she‘s not strong enough. Iryna didn’t even notice that he locked the door when she came in.
She can hear Trench laughing behind her. „What are you going to do now, strong girl?“
She whirls around to face him and sees that he is on his feet again. Trench wipes the blood from his nose and is still smirking.
„You planed this, didn‘t you?“, she asks breathlessly. „You were never going to give me what I want.“ Iryna almost cries but then she draws the knife from her pocket and points it at Trench.
He looks at her surprised. „Do you think you can hurt me with this?“ He walks towards her.
„I will kill you!“, she screams. In this moment Trench has already managed to jump right on her and push her back to the ground. The two of them start fighting and Iryna is trying her best to get out of his grip.
He holds her hand with the knife in it to the ground, so she is unable to use it.
After a knee-kick between his legs, he slowly rolls on the ground next to her with a loud painful sound coming out of his mouth. Iryna takes the knife and is poised to hurt him with it but he kicks her back and she falls over the sofa and hits her head on the coffee table.
She can feel the pain going through her whole body. The white carpet is stained with red. She feels the warm blood under her head.
Iryna wants to stumble after the knife but she can‘t find it anymore. She‘s not even able to move.
Trench slowly walks towards her. „I told you…you should have given me the picture“, he says quietly. „Now you won‘t be able to help your sister…you are not even able to help yourself.“
He is now kneeling right in front of her. She watches him taking one of the pillows from the sofa. She knows what he will do next.
„You think that was the only copy of the picture?“, she whispers. „This is not the end.“
„Shut the hell up!“, he screams louder than ever and pushes the pillow right into her face.
Iryna feels she‘s dying. She‘s not even fighting back anymore. She‘s not able to.
„I‘m sorry Galina…“, are her last thoughts.
Trench is so full of aggression that he feels hot tears running down his cheeks.
After a few minutes, he stops pushing the pillow into Iryna’s face. He knows she is dead.
For a while, he just stares at her. He’s paralyzed realizing that he just killed someone.
Suddenly he hears a sound coming from his trousers pocket. It’s his wife calling.
“Hello?”, he answers in a quiet voice.
“Hey honey! When will you be at home?”, she asks him.
“Give me an hour”, he says. “I need to take care of something. I’ll be home soon.”