One year, particularly in 1890, on a rainy night, Albert Rasputin was sitting in a cheap apartment.
In this room were Albert's mother and his two sisters. He was his mother's only child after his father passed away. The night rain stopped and thunder roared. The place was dark to an eerie extent. The fire warming the room was fueled by pieces of Albert's clothing. Albert was tall, and the family's room was very small. Albert had to bend down so as not to knock his head on the ceiling. He was wearing a long black coat and a tattered hat. You could see holes in the hat. He approached the door.
- Mom, I'm going out to work.
- My son, it's dangerous outside, don't go to work today.
- I'm sorry, Mom, but I have to go.
He opened the room door and went out, continuing to walk in the darkness of the night until he spotted a homeless woman begging for money. He ignored her and went to his job, which was a shoeshiner. Albert sat in his usual spot.
- Shoeshiner: Who wants to clean their shoes?
A person passed by Albert.
- Sir, do you want your shoes cleaned?
- I have no problem with that, but you are filthy, no matter how much you clean my shoes they will get dirty because of your dirtiness.
Albert lowered his head, as he had no response to this man, especially since he worked in such a humiliating job.
Albert continued his work until a woman came with her husband. Albert was cleaning the woman's shoe when the man accidentally got Albert's clothes dirty. The man got angry and stepped on Albert's head. Albert was a large man, and if he wanted, he could have killed the man who stepped on him.
After this incident, Albert took his belongings and started walking back home. He met the beggar who was on his way.
- You big guy, why are you working in this job when you have a body like that? Why not work in construction?
- I worked there and got fired.
- You fool, you like humiliation.
Albert was upset by her response and said:
- At least I'm not begging for people's pity.
- Boy, while I'm begging for pity, people are stepping on you.
Albert felt insulted by this old woman's words.
Albert returned home, and all he had earned that day was humiliation only.
- Albert, my son, what happened to you? Why are your clothes covered in dirt?
- It's nothing, I just fell into a mud pit. Anyway, I'm going to my office to write down how much I earned today in the ledger.
Albert opened his diary and wrote:
My dear diary, today is the sixteenth of October, today is a happy day, I was insulted only twice, but I did not earn any money. These arrogant commoners, how I wish I could insult them, and how I hate that filthy old woman, humiliating herself on purpose and accusing me of being worthless.
Then he settled down to sleep.
The next morning, Albert woke up to his sister's crying; she worked in a modest bakery. She was saying that a man accused her of being a prostitute and that she came from a garbage family. Albert was angry at what he heard, but he pretended he was not interested. He put on his coat and hat, then left the room. He went to a bar owned by a lady named Margarita Ivanovna. Margarita's father was of French origin, which made her hate common people and the poor. Her mother came from a rich class, but she divorced her father, and Margarita became part of the common class. Nevertheless, she still dreamed of being rich. Albert entered and said:
- Hello, Miss Ivanovna, can I have some alcohol?
- Do you have money to pay for the alcohol, you commoner?
- O of course, look.
Then a person dressed in elegant clothes, clearly wealthy, entered and said:
- Margarita, give me some alcohol.
- Of course, I will give you now. And you, you commoner, get out of here.
Albert left, shattered and broken, and on his way he encountered the man who had stepped on him the previous day. The man said to him:
- Look, it's the cheap one, brother of the cheap one! Why are you still alive? Come on, die!
Then he punched Albert's jaw, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground. The man continued to stomp on him until he got tired. The beggar woman saw all this and said:
- Ha ha ha, he said I humiliate myself.
That was the last thing Albert heard before rage blinded him and took control of him.
- What? What have I done? Why did I punch this man until he died? Why did I strangle this old woman until she died? What am I? What have I done?
Albert left the two bodies at the end of the narrow alley and saw there a little girl who was scared and crying, and there was a boy about twelve years old. Albert picked up a stone and killed them to hide all the witnesses.
Albert exited, trembling from the alley, and saw no one in the street. He ran to the apartment where he lived.