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Goodnight

Iryna got home late one evening from a night shift at the hospital. To her surprise, her children were all studying for the exam tomorrow they had in school. She would never find them studying like that. "Wow, this is shocking! I have never seen all of you just practicing for an exam," she said. "What made you want to practice now?" she asked as she took off her coat and hung it on the coat hanger. "The internet was switched off for a few hours," replied Kalyna. Kalyna is the oldest, mature, and a more sensible girl. She is always left to mind her younger brothers when their mother would be working. "Oh, that is a bit weird. I don't remember turning the internet off," replied Iryna with confusion.

As she goes to check their router, their power turns off for a few seconds, then turns back on. The children run to their beds in fright, asking their mother what happened. Iryna was starting to get unsettled but comforted the scared children. "It looks like the internet provider has switched off our internet, but don't worry because I will go and find out tomorrow about it." replied Iryna trying to reassure them with some ease. The children went to brush their teeth, using their cute animal toothbrushes and their watermelon-flavored toothpaste that they enjoy using.

Iryna's husband, Vladimirs was killed on active duty when he was at war in Afghanistan, ever since the children were raised by their mother, Iryna, who has learned how to cope with children and do things that a man would usually do. It was a lot to take in the first year, but they coped with it and moved on, thinking about him now and again. The children were in bed waiting for their favourite thing, kisses! Iryna would come into the room, tuck the kids one by one in and kiss them on their small fragile foreheads.

As she closes the door to the kids bedroom, she starts crying quietly. She misses her husband very much at that moment, it hurts her to know that he can't see them growing up, but she knows that he is protecting them from above. As she goes to brush her teeth, a loud bang came from outside that shook the building. She hurries to a nearby window to observe the incident, but as she gets closer, what sounds to be a car alarm going off on repeat gets louder and louder.

She can see debris scattered around the road, people running away with injuries and soldiers with big tanks. Her quick instinct kicked in, she was rushing to her medkit in the kitchen and was ready to administer health care to the injured people. However, a round of gunfire was shot. She hesitated for a minute, then ran back to the window. The people that were running away were on the road, laying. Iryna didn't know if they're dead. At that moment, her three children came rushing to her, crying and scared.

Iryna tried to calm them, but another round of gunfire were shot which made the children jump in fright and scare them more. Iryna was trying to get to her mobile phone, when Matvey said; "The soldiers are coming into our block. Are they going to kill us too mama?" Before Iryna can say anything, the power was switched off. She quickly looked back at her phone and dialled 104. As it was ringing, she ran to lock the second lock on the door. No one was answering the phone, so she told the kids to go into their bedroom and hide. Another loud and strong bang came from behind the building which made the whole building shake even more. Picture frames fell from the walls, clocks, and other items.

She went to a window, and what she saw made her cry again. The block behind their building was bombed, with smoke and fire filling the dark air. In that building, Kateryna was living with her husband Oleksiy in that building. Kateryna would babysit Iryna when she was a child, and even now, from time to time Iryna would ask her to babysit her three children. She wiped her tears and ran into her children's bedroom making sure to lock the door behind her.

She had remembered that she bought Matvey a portable radio, it was a light blue colour and easy to use. She turned it on, turned the volume down and starting flicking through the channels to see if there was any broadcast. She started hitting the radio in fury and was crying because all channels gave a static noise. "Go to sleep kids, it will be alright. Mommy is here to protect you, and you know I won't allow anyone to hurt you." She said trying to reassure her kids. They all got their pillows and blankets, and started to lay themselves on the wooden cold floor. "No no, go and sleep on your beds. You want to get good sleep." Iryna said. "But, if anything happens, I want to sleep together, with you around." replied Matvey. Iryna started to tear up and giggle softly. "Don't worry, mommy is here and around."

The children picked up their belongings and went to their beds. Iryna gave them their kisses and rubbed each one of them on their foreheads. Just then, a faint voice could be heard on the radio, although the static made it hard to tell what it was saying. Iryna ran to the radio and starting flicking through the channels to get to the right channel and to make out what they were saying.