lullaby

Oleg gently stroked his son's head. His gaze was lonely and weary from the years. He could only see his son with one eye. The other was gone. His large, warm, scarred hand slowly ran its fingers through the blond hair of Sasha, his son. Sasha was still a child. He was only six years old. They lived in a small village surrounded by fields and dense forest. In an old, decrepit two-room hut with an old Russian stove and a plethora of odds and ends. Oleg looked at his son and quietly hummed a lullaby. Sasha didn't have enough maternal love; his mother had left them long ago, back when Oleg was at war. Oleg watched and quietly continued humming the words he had already learned well.

• "Sleep, son, it's time
  Spread your wings in the sky
  Strict attentive night
  The animals hid in their burrows
  There's gunpowder hidden in the bullets
  Only the wind howls with all its might
  There's a blizzard raging outside the window.
  And the moon, her friend
  Hid behind a screen of clouds
  And from there he squints
  Bringing discouragement to the mind
  And depriving the river of its banks
  Sleep, son, flowers and herbs
  They faded and were right -
  Each person has their turn in the world.
  So you too, the moment will come
  You'll stick a pin into someone's heart
  Unless someone kills first."
  Through this lullaby, Oleg always taught Sasha the most important rules for survival in this difficult world.

Oleg is a single father. He lost one eye in the war. His wife left him when his son, Sasha, was less than a year old. Everyone in the village hates them, considering them cursed. Oleg hunts, looks after Sasha, and generally does housework. He appears cruel and stern, but he's actually calm. He sometimes scolds Sasha, but that's only because he was raised that way. He wants to protect his son from this cruel world.