The $298,000 Sokolov Apartment — Buried Reserves in an Abandoned Dining Alcove

The Sokolov apartment, valued around $298,000, holds its quiet record in a dining alcove long left untouched. Beneath broken tableware and abandoned clutter, an envelope marked reserves remains where it was last hidden.
Dmitri Sokolov, Independent Catering Coordinator
Dmitri Sokolov, born 1978 in St.
Petersburg, coordinated small private catering orders for family events and local gatherings. Eight traces of his routine remain in the dining alcove: a stained order book; a stack of printed menus; a set of reservation slips; a worn apron draped over a chair; a calculator with sticky keys; a clipboard of client names; a bundle of delivery invoices; and the envelope labeled reserves.
Each evening he tallied payments at the dining table, setting aside a portion of cash reserves in sealed envelopes.
Events Cancelled
A chain of venue closures and cancelled bookings wiped out his catering schedule. Reservations stopped abruptly, leaving unfinished order sheets and unpaid balances.
Back in the dining alcove, the envelope labeled reserves remains sealed inside the broken breadbox.
The apartment stands silent and deteriorating, its communal spaces filled with abandoned remnants, and the buried reserves left where they were last secured.