10 Black Car
We arrived in the city of Rivne at night, all the lights at the train station were out for safety reasons, as well as most of the city including the public lighting, so I couldn’t see much around us. We had gotten an Airbnb for the night, but we still had to meet a person to get the keys of the place. We called a cab and he took us to this person’s home first. When we met this woman, she gave vague instructions on how to get to the building we were going to stay in, the cab driver seemed to understand everything so we took off after a short exchange.
I can’t remember exactly how, but when the cab made one last right turn, I knew that it was not the street we were looking for, we should’ve gone straight one more block. I couldn’t bring myself to say anything. I felt insecure about what I have heard and understood (they spoke Ukrainian). The cab driver was a local, and I’ve never been to this city, so he was more likely to be right.
As soon as we made the turn, a black car going in the opposite direction passed by us and slowed down, almost came to a stop. I saw the man driving, he was alone and he was looking a bit too hard, trying to see everyone in the cab. A couple of blocks later, our driver turned left, believing that the building we needed would be in sight, but it was a dead end. I looked back and the same black car had turned around and was taking a second look at us. He stopped for a few seconds, and then kept driving and disappeared.
Rita was calling the owner of the apartment, telling her that we couldn’t find the entrance, and describing everything we were seeing, a dead end, a dark multi-level parking lot, a closed coffee shop. The woman couldn’t seem to understand where we were, or how to help. I took a second look behind us, and the black car was back, this time he was driving towards us fast, he stopped a few meters from our cab and started talking to us but I didn’t understand what he was saying. I seriously thought he was going to kill us, either he was a Ukrainian vigilante or a russian saboteur.
Suddenly, five soldiers fully armed came walking out of nowhere, I assume they came from the parking lot, and asked everyone to identify ourselves and to get out of the cars. Our driver explained our situation to two of them, while the other 3 were talking to the man in the black car. We all showed our passports, and they even checked the cat’s passports, before taking a look at the inside of the cab and confirming that those two bags had cats inside.
They scolded the man in the black car and sent him home (I guess he was a vigilante), and then they had a long talk with the cab driver, he seemed too nervous so one of the soldiers made us call the owner of the apartment on speaker to talk to her. He talked to the woman to confirm who we were, and she gave instructions again. After they hung up, they also scolded the cab driver, he was not supposed to be driving people around, curfew was in place. They asked us to go immediately and so we did. “Take a right here in the corner, then another right.” they told the driver, and I was surprised to realize that I was correct all along about where we were going. Not that I felt any better.
The driver took a right, and then another right before getting to the avenue, so we came to another dead end. I was telling Rita that, again, that was not the street, but she ignored me and tried to call the woman again. The driver grabbed a flashlight and came out of the car, Rita came after him, with the woman on the phone, I was so mentally exhausted that I couldn’t say anything.
The driver was using his light to read street signs, shop signs, to try to see past a closed gate. The whole city was dark, so the flashlight looked brighter than it probably was, and it definitely looked suspicious. I got out of the car and looked around, trying to see if there were people in the windows, or around the corner, I was sure we were going to get shot any second.
“Stay here, don’t go anywhere” Rita said, as she and the cab driver went to look for the building on foot. They walked to the corner, turned right, and disappeared into the night. I was left standing there, in almost complete darkness, next to a car with the doors open, and two cats inside meowing because it was really cold.
“What the hell am I doing here?” I thought to myself. “Just keep calm, keep calm.” I realized I was whispering now. I talked to the cats, I talked to myself, and once again all of this seemed too unreal.
After a few minutes which felt like hours, Rita and the driver came back, they found the building and it was exactly where I thought it was. We all got in the car, and the driver finally dropped us off where we were supposed to be.