We ran home, but the house wasn’t there anymore. Mum survived and we did too. We were lucky. Then we moved to a cellar (podval). I felt terrible there, it was too dark, and mum didn’t let us go out on the street. When the bombing increased in our “poselok”(district) we moved to another cellar. Everyone says it was the Russians who were shooting. Why - I don’t know. Whoever gets hit… gets hit. Eventually, we escaped to Ingushetia during the winter. At first, we lived in the tent-refugee camp. Later on, we moved to a railway carriage. I’m glad we have returned to Grozny. For the time being we live with our neighbour Babzina. She has only two rooms that are not damaged. Mum, my brother Deni, Babzina’s granddaughter Marina, and myself – we all sleep in one room and Babzina sleeps in the other. I sleep on the floor - I have no bed.

Before the war, I had toys, but somebody stole them when I wasn’t there. When we escaped from Grozny, I wanted take at least my postcards of the towns of the USSR, but Mum didn’t let me return to the house to get them. I didn’t want to leave the cards behind, but they pushed me into the car. My doll that talked, and my stuffed doggy, a pink one, were also lost. When I came back I looked for them in my room, but there was no roof and a wall was missing and all the toys were gone.