The Orphan and the Widow

Chapter 7

I boarded the plane, followed by Yelena and Bella.

"Are you ready to go home, Bella?" Yelena said once we settled into the plane seats.

"Yes. I miss my bed." Bella replied, before plugging her headphones into the supplied tablet, and started a movie.

"I was thinking about getting a dog." Yelena said suddenly.

"A dog?" I raised an eyebrow. "Going through a mid life crisis I see."

Yelena rolled her eyes. "Yeah well... my sister died, and I'm left with a house and two kids. I'd call it a mid life crisis."

"I think a dog would be a great idea." I laughed.

"I knew it." Yelena pumped a fist in victory. "We'll go to a shelter when we get home."

"Great." I looked out the window as the airport blurred. We picked up speed, and I gripped the arm rest as the wheels left the ground.

Yelena put a hand on mine. "Hey. Are you okay?" I realized I was barely breathing. I looked around in panic. "It's okay, Sofia. It's okay." She put a hand on my shoulder, and snapped her fingers in front of Bella's screen.

"What?" Bella looked up, and noticed my panicked state. "Breathe, Sofia. Breathe. We're okay. No one is going to hurt us." Bella said in a reassuring tone.

We hit cruising altitude, but I still was struggling to catch my breath. Yelena pressed the help button, and an attendant came over.

"How can help you?" She said kindly.

"My niece is having trouble breathing." Yelena said to the woman. "She gets panic attacks."

"Oh no." Her face went from the fake costumer service face, to sympathy in seconds. "I'll see if I can get an oxygen mask for you." She quickly hurried down the narrow isle, and came back a second later with a mask.

"Here you go. Take deep, even breaths in and out. You'll catch your breath soon." She handed me the mask, and I followed her instruction.

Eventually, my breath mostly returned, and I tried to get some sleep.

"Again!" A woman said. "Strong arms, child!" She hit my younger self's arm with a stick, hard enough to leave a mark.

My feet ached from the point shoes that I had been wearing for the past 8 hours, and we were finally nearing the end of the session.

"You're new mission came in, Petrov." A man said at the door. "Come now. Dreykov wants to see you before you leave."

I followed the man out of the room, and upstairs.

"She's here." The man said into the radio.

"Enter." Dreykov's voice replied.

The man opened the door and shoved me inside.

"Ah. Sofia Petrov." Dreykov smirked. "I want to send you on this mission because you are the one I trust with anything."

I nodded stiffly. "You will kill the entirety of group 187. They have been rebelling, and must be dealt with. They are the girls between the ages of 9 and 13. I want them all dead." Dreykov hissed the final part of his message. "If you don't succeed, you know what will happen."

I gulped. He smirked, and pressed a button on the computer. Extreme pain radiated through my body, and I screamed in agony, but the pain invaded my throat, and no sound came out.

"Sofia. Sofia."

"Sofia. Wake up." Yelena shook me awake. "You were yelling in your sleep."

I looked around, unsure of where I was, or who the woman in front of me was.

"Where am I?" I looked around frantically. "Who are you?" I spotted Bella. "Bella, who's this woman?" I unplugged her ear buds.

"Sofia?" She said, looking into my eyes. "Are you okay? That's Yelena. She's a good person." Bella grasped my arm lightly.

"She's... good?" I said softly, the idea played around with my mind.

"Sofia, snap out of it." Bella snapped in my face, and I returned to reality.

"I'm so sorry, Yelena." I said, guilt seeping into my chest. "I don't know what happened."

"It's okay, Sof." Yelena smiled kindly.

"How about we talk about something happy?" Bella suggested.

"Okay." I smiled and my sister. "What type of dog are you wanting, Yelena?"

Quick info:

The italics are the dream. Assume most stuff said by people in the red room is in Russian. The dream takes place a year before Yelena and Nat rescue everyone.

Info 2

The mission was to kill Bella's unit, but then when she met Bella she knew that they were sisters. A year later, Yelena and Nat rescue Sofia, so she gets them to find Bella. Sofia has severe anxiety, including flying, and ptsd from her time in the red room.