Caption:
Pavel woke up trembling from what seemed like it would be a regular night's sleep, trying to find his documents, some cash and pack his bag with shaking hands, at the first hours of Russia's invasion at Ukraine from the bombs falling around Kharkiv. He spent the next ten days on an underground shelter, waiting for an evacuation caravan that could take him and other Ukrainians out of the city. He could hear the blasts and feel the tremors of the bombs falling above but had no idea what was happening as it was too dangerous to get out. The lack of fresh air sunlight, and the humid conditions of staying underground for so long, damaged his respiratory system. His bagpack is now carrying his only possessions. He knows that he might never be able to return home. Kharkiv is leveled to dust and heavy fighting in the city continues even to this day. I met him in Lviv as we stayed at the same host through Couchsurfing. He was a lucid dreaming instructor before the war erupted. With dreams, friends, plans, a home. Now he is stuck in limbo. Like the world of dreams he is so greatly inspired from, he is stuck in an in-between phase. He can't leave Ukraine but neither can stay, as he no longer has a home. On his horizon the only thing that dawns and sets are shades of uncertainty. With nowhere to go, no place to call home, only wait until this ends, only wait until he wakes up from this bad dream. Lviv, March 2022.