The date of the first mass Soviet deportation from the Baltic states. June 14, 1941.
Marta checked her phone. No signal. Not low bars—zero. The air smelled of river silt and coal smoke, though the last coal plant shut down a decade ago. tvaikonu str. 5, lv1007, riga, latvia
Marta tried to scream. No sound left her mouth. The waltz grew louder, faster, warping into a distorted military march. The nine cups rattled. The tea turned to rust. The date of the first mass Soviet deportation
Inside, the staircase spiraled upward, wrong. The steps were too shallow, the banister too cold, even for Riga in November. On the first landing, a single bare bulb flickered, casting shadows that didn't match the angles of the room. The walls were covered in layered wallpaper—1950s florals peeling over 1930s geometries, over something older: newspaper print in a language she almost recognized but couldn't read. No signal
Curiosity, as it always did, pulled her across the city.