Locket full of Secrets

by Dana Burkey

  The custom officer in front of me spoke with an accent so thick I could hardly make out the words. Swallowing down my nervousness I tried to stay calm and answer simply.

  “A day or two,” I tried to smile. “We’re staying in Moscow tonight and then we’re going to get a car and head for Germany. We want to make it to France before we head home.”

  Nodding her head the Russian woman stamped my passport and customs forms a few times. Then, with a smile, she handed me my passport.

  “Have a good trip, Claire,” she said, pointing me forward.

  “I’m going to go use the bathroom,” I quickly said to Steven and Olena, who were in line behind me. Without waiting for a response, I headed towards the ladies’ room sign. I walked through the door and into a stall before finally taking a deep breath. We had made it. We were in Russia.

  As I washed my hands in the sink a moment later, I frowned at my reflection. I looked tired and disheveled despite the shower in New York and the sleep on the flight. Not wanting to look quite so travel weary I pulled out my hair tie and ran my fingers through my now tangled hair. Throwing it back into a neater ponytail I washed my face with cold water and brushed my teeth with the travel kit Olena had purchased for me. I still looked the part of a college student traveling through Europe, but hopefully now didn’t look quite so run down.

  “There you are,” Steven smiled before pulling me into a hug and planting a kiss on my forehead. “We’re here.”

  “Finally,” I sighed, pulling back enough to meet my lips with his quickly.

  “Alright, are you guys ready?” Olena asked. She was drying her hands on her pants, having just exited the restroom as well.

  “Sure, but where are we going?” Steven asked, one arm wrapping around my waist.

  “Well,” she paused. “I think we should fly instead of drive.”

  I opened my mouth to ask what she was talking about when I realized she was clearly keeping up our college backpacking rouse. I didn’t think anyone would be listening, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

  “Yeah?” I asked, one eyebrow raised up. “Where do we get tickets?”

  Steven looked between us for a second as if trying to figure out what was going on. Finally, when it seemed to click, he pointed towards the ticket counters a ways down the corridor. Olena smiled, glad we were all on the same page, before heading off in the direction Steven pointed. I glanced at him and shrugged before following Olena, still not knowing where our next destination would be.

  “Hi,” Olena grinned at the woman at the ticket counter. “We need ticket to Keeve.”

  “Kiev?” The woman asked. It was clear to me that Olena has mispronounced it on purpose, but to the woman at the counter Olena was just another young girl that did not know how to say common European city names.

  “Yeah,” Olena nodded before trying a sentence in broken Russian. I did not know what she was saying, but with her bad accent and hand gestures it was clear she was playing her part well. After a few more comments between her and the woman at the counter, Olena handed her a few travelers’ checks. I once again did not dare to ask where she got them from.

  “Passports?” Now the woman was looking at Steven and I, both of us staring in awe at Olena’s sudden acting ability.

  Handing them to the woman, Olena “struggled” to answer a few more questions before our boarding passes were printed. Glancing at the ticket I was relieved we had just over an hour to our flight.

  “Let’s grab something to eat.” Olena smiled at us as we walked away from the ticket counter and to a food court area in the airport. Although we were served dinner and breakfast on the previous flight the thought of food sounded wonderful.

  As we sat moments later munching on McDonald’s I studied my ticket more closely. Surprisingly, we only had a half hour of flight time ahead of us. Looking at the Airport listed on the ticket, I wracked my brain for the city of Kiev. I knew it was a city I had heard of before, but I could not place where it was on a map.

  “So, Kiev should be fun,” I said out loud, casually taking a sip of my pop. “Is it a bigger city than Moscow? I can’t remember.”

  The pause that followed was palpable. Steven and I both watched Olena, who seemed to be wrestling with how much to tell us at this time. Finally, with a sigh, she smiled at us.

  “It is smaller, but has some great pubs and stuff,” she explained. “After all, it is the capital of the Ukraine.”

  As her words sunk in I remembered why I knew Kiev from somewhere. We learned about it in my high school history class. It was the capital, sure, but it was also the closest big city to where the nuclear power plant had exploded. The memory hardly seemed useful at a time like this, but my European history knowledge was less than impressive.

  “So, where are we staying when we get there?” Steven asked in a tense voice. “Do we have reservations at a hostel there already?”

  “I’ll call them from the airport,” Olena shrugged. “It should be okay.”

  “Oh no!” I stood up suddenly, her words jogging my memory. “I need to call Norra and let her know where I am. I don’t want her to worry and...uh….worry.”

  “Okay,” Olena said slowly, clearly shaken by my sudden outburst. “There should be a payphone bank somewhere close.”

  “I’ll come with you.” Steven glanced nervously at Olena before standing up and taking my hand. Olena nodded, obviously knowing I was more of a liability on my own.

  “Be right back,” I sighed, mentally kicking myself, before heading off into the airport.

  “Hey Norra….uh,it’s Claire. I just ummm….wanted to uh let you know Steven and I went to Ohio for the weekend...ummm….but we had some uh car trouble. Yah. So uh, we should be back soon. But I-I just wanted to let you know where, uh where I was since I didn’t tell you before we left and everything. So uh, I guess I’ll talk to you later. Yeah. Okay. Bye.”

  Hanging up the phone I let out a long sigh before turning to Steven, who was leaning on the wall next to the phone booth. A smirk played on his lips, clearly amused by my terrible acting ability. I was only thankful it was the middle of the night and I got to leave a message on our dorm phone instead of talking to her live.

  “Okay, that should help.” I shrugged, taking Steven’s hand before heading back to where Olena was still sitting with our stuff.

  “Are you doing okay?” he asked, keeping his voice low in case anyone could hear us.

  “For now,” I said with a weak smile. “Hopefully Olena will tell us more soon. I have a feeling we’re about to be in a little more danger than we were in Michigan.”

  “We should head to the gate,” Olena explained, standing up and giving me a long look once we made it back to our table. I tried to smile but it fell a little flat. Steven gave Olena a quick nod, hopefully assuring her that I had not blown it with my call home.

  “Let’s go,” Steven announced as we threw away our trash and pulled on our packs.

  “Yeah, we don’t want to miss our flight,” Olena nodded, giving me another look before turning and walking towards our gate.

  “I think I need another nap,” I mumbled, hoping it would cover for my odd behavior anyone might have noticed. Reaching over to give my hand a quick squeeze, Steven gave me a smile and a wink.

  As we walked to our gate and boarded the small plane, I went over and over again in my head the details of our trip. I had no reason to be so worried, I told myself. I was on a fun college trip with my best friend and boyfriend. We were just exploring Europe and having a good time. Taking deep breaths, I felt relatively calm by the time we took off.

  Flipping through a magazine for the short flight, I listened as Steven and Olena chatted casually. They were both sitting to my left, a window on my right. Glancing out the window I smiled, hoping that by getting to know Steven more, Olena would be more accepting of him. A light rain sprayed on the window, our flight keeping us low enough to be below the large clouds I had noticed from the last plane we were in
.

  “We’re landing already?” Steven asked a few minutes later as the tilt of the plane began its descent. “We barely finished take off.”

  “That is how these short flight are,” Olena explained with a shrug. “But just think, it saved us almost two hours of driving, and we will have plenty of time to sightsee before we check into the hostel.”

  “Sightsee? Like walk around the city?” I asked, turning to face them finally.

  “Yeah,” Olena said with a pointed look. “We have to make sure we are ready for the rest of our trip, so we need to do a little shopping.”

  I nodded, my mind filling in the blank on a lot of different things we might be shopping for around Kiev. I imagined a lot of the items were shiny and sent bullets flying at men that might chase us, but kept the thought to myself. Steven shifted in his seat to put his arm around my shoulder before glancing back at Olena.

  “Maybe we should split up so we get more shopping done at once?” Part of me was annoyed that Steven needed to come to my rescue so often lately, but a bigger part of me was just glad he had good ideas that would keep me from over-stressing and blurting out things I didn’t need to share with the general public.

  “That might work,” Olena nodded slowly. “We can talk about it once we leave the airport.”

  “Okay.” I smiled, thankful we were at least almost done traveling for the time being.

  Once we made it into Kiev it became clear that we were sticking together for the time being. As soon as we left the airport, Olena led us to a small shop full of trinkets. While Steven and I looked around at the small items for sale, Olena walked up to the owner and began speaking to him in Russian. Or perhaps Ukrainian now. Either way, I had no idea what they were saying. After chatting for a little the two walked into a back room. Clearly, the shopping trip was still going to occur even if Steven and I were present.

  “Ready to go?” Olena asked when she returned from the back room a few minutes later.

  “Time to go to the hostel?” I asked, setting the souvenir I was holding back onto the shelf.

  “Uh, no,” Olena admitted as we walked for the door. “We have one more stop to make.”

  With a sigh I followed Olena, willing time to pass quickly until we could stay inside where people were less likely to see, or rather find, us. Instead of focusing on the negative, however, I tried to look around at the buildings and scenery around us. As we walked towards the center of town, the architecture began to light up in the afternoon sun, showing off the unique style. Passing a bakery I allowed the sweet smells of pastries to fill my nose, adding to the fall weather around us. The city was truly beautiful, helping to calm my frayed nerves.

  “Here we are,” Olena announced, as we stepped into a small shop near the center of town.

  Taking in the room around us I saw a lot of maps, but sadly could not read any of the signs that announced just what I was looking at. Olena and the woman working in the small office were chatting quietly in Ukrainian. I caught a few words here and there that they said in English, none of them quite providing enough information to understand what was going on. Finally, Olena handed the woman a few travelers’ checks and the two shook hands.

  “Okay, we can head to the hotel now,” Olena smiled, turning to us.

  “You mean hostel?” I asked, relieved we were heading inside one way or the other.

  “No, we are going to need more privacy than a hostel,” she explained as we walked out of the shop and down the street.

  I nodded as if this made sense, while inside I was just as confused as ever. Thankfully, our walk to the hotel was short and it was only a few minutes before we were taking off our packs in our top floor suite.

  “Aren’t we celebrating a little early?” Steven asked as we entered our room, as Olena immediately pulled a bottle of champagne from the mini bar.

  “We are not celebrating,” she explained. “This is the last place they will expect us to stay in Kiev, so it is the safest. Even if they figure out we are here in the city, they will never assume we are staying in a place like this.”

  “I for one am choosing not to question it right now,” I announced, lying on one of the richly upholstered couches in the sitting area. Even if was for a night, this was going to be a great chance to rest after the last few days.

  “We should order room service,” Olena announced as she opened the bottle of champagne and poured us each a glass.

  “We’re drinking now?” Steven asked, taking a seat next to me.

  “Well, we are of age here,” Olena reminded us, bringing us our glasses. “Besides, we have a long day tomorrow, we might as well enjoy ourselves tonight.”

  “And what exactly are we doing tomorrow?” Steven asked after taking a sip of his drink.

  Olena paused to a take a drink, consuming half of her glass. Setting the remainder of her drink on the coffee table, she smiled at us.

  “We should order room service,” she tried again, clearly not ready to give information yet.

  “Okay, but then you will tell us?” I asked, not sure how much longer I could handle being in the dark.

  “I will fill you in, I promise,” she nodded. “But first we should get some food and drinks ordered so we can hang out the rest of the evening without any interruptions.”

  Finally giving in to her request, we spent the next few minutes drooling over the room service menu. Although we had burgers only a few hours before, the luxurious food offered at the hotel seemed to have us all famished even thinking about it.

  While we waited for the food to be delivered I took time to shower. Steven unwrapped my arm beforehand so I could wash it gently on my own. I hummed along to myself while letting the water run over me, aware of Olena and Steven chatting in the sitting room. I once again found myself hoping that they were getting along, and that Olena was beginning to see just what a great guy Steven was.

  The food arrived by the time I was showered and dressed in another outfit Olena had purchased for our disguise. Just as Steven finished re-wrapping my arm, it was time to eat. The table in the dining room was covered in the food we had ordered, complete with candles and place settings for the three of us. As we began to dig in Olena poured each of us another glass of champagne before clearing her throat to begin.

  “Alright,” she said, before letting out a big sigh. “Time to fill you in on this mess we are in.”

  Leaning back in my chair I tried to prepare myself for what she was about to say. Unfortunately, no amount of prep time could have made me ready for the words she spoke next.

  “We’re going to the Chernobyl power plant tomorrow to prove the meltdown of the reactor was a cover up for something much bigger.”

  “Wait, what?” I asked, not believing what I had just heard.

  “I should start at the beginning,” Olena tried again. “I am not from Russia. I was born in Pripyat, Ukraine. My family lived there thanks to my dad’s job at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power plant. He worked there with my uncle Uri. They are both dead now thanks to Chernobyl.”

  I started at Olena in shock. In the four years that I had known her, this was the most I had heard her talk about her family. Not only that, but I suddenly realized that anything she had said to me before about her family was more than likely a lie. The stories about growing up in Russia were likely all made up to go with her back story. Taking a big gulp of my drink, I listened as she continued her story.

  “The accident happened during a test in reactor four,” she continued. “It was scheduled to take place early in the day, but was postponed. What the world does not know is why. Uri, however, did. He was there when the test was to begin and saw the real reason. Men were moving weapons from out of reactor four, hiding them from the workers running the test. The Soviet Union was storing them at Chernobyl, but needed to keep that a secret. Uri had a camera with him at work that day to take photos of the Ferris wheel that had just been built in town. He used the camera to take photos of the men, but his film was almost o
ut. So, that night he returned with a new roll of film.”

  Olena had a faraway look in her eyes as she spoke. This was clearly not something she talked about often. I found myself wanting to hug her, but was too afraid it might stop her from talking. Instead I reached out and held onto Steven’s hand. He glanced at me then looked back to Olena, as wrapped up in her words as I was.

  “Before Uri went back that night he left the first film canister with my aunt Svetlana, and told her to keep it safe… That was the last time she saw him.” Olena paused to take a deep breath before continuing. “Uri went back to the plant and snuck into reactor five to take more photos. He took a whole roll of film, then went to his car to load more. When he went back, this time to reactor four, security spotted him. My father was working in the control room and knew something had to be wrong for Uri to be there. The test was already going on so he could only hope that Uri would not get into too much trouble. My dad thought he was just showing up drunk or something, so he was not too worried.”

  Olena downed her drink and filled it again before continuing. Her face showed little hint of emotion, although I had a feeling her insides were churning like a building storm.

  “Not long after security went to find Uri, everything started to go wrong,” she began again after finishing her glass. “My father did not think about Uri anymore, but instead was trying to stop the accident that was building. By postponing the testing to move the weapons, the core sat overheating without its cooling system up and running. It made the entire reactor a ticking time bomb. When the first explosion erupted, Uri was crushed under the falling beams of the building.

  “I heard the explosion at home.” Olena finally made eye contact with me, her gaze piercing. “I did not know what it was at the time, or that anything was wrong. I was only 6 years old, so I went back to sleep easily. In the morning I went to school like normal. We all did. It was like nothing had changed. The smoke and steam from the plant was not a concern since everyone was still going to work like normal.”