-       I got used to it. Weeks and months passed. In this life, I understood that you can get used to anything.

There were good times too. Atanasi was beating me like an animal for anything but he was good when it came to one thing. Every month he was paying a man from Dobrich, who was giving money to my mom. The man was passing by every month. He used to park his truck in front of the hotel and  sit on the porch for a coffee. Then Atanasi used to sit on the table with him, count out 6 one hundred bills and give him the phone number of my mom, written on a paper, with which he rolled the money.

I used to watch the back of this man from behind the curtain in the kitchen and I felt better. Here, tomorrow or the day after, he will be in my village and will see my children…

At the beginning of summer I found out I am pregnant.

How did Atanasi react when he found out you are pregnant?

-       He didn’t say anything but I understood that he knew. I was probably in the fourth month but he kept on beating me. Only at night, he stopped asking me to serve some of his Albanian friends. They used to pass by every week – Friday and Sunday night.

What were the Albanians working?

-       I don’t know. They used to come after midnight and stay for a while – until three, four in the morning. As if they were waiting for someone. Atanasi was speaking their language. He threatened me that before winter he will close the hotel and sell me to them. Others were passing by as well and he used to lock himself in his room with them, where they were talking about something. There were also two Bulgarian gypsies from Bourgas.

What were they walking about?

-       Nothing interesting, they were driving people from Bourgas to here for work. They were father and son.

How did you get to Athens?