Band of Brothers || To Hell And Back

Chapter Eleven: Anna

"Hey, Lewis, right?" a woman's voice stopped Lewis when he was just about to execute his plan. Lewis turned around and was taken aback seeing who had spoken to him. It was Anna Roosevelt.

"Yeah", he sighed, still surprised. 

"Your mother told me you had asked questions about my sister", Anna said sharply. When Lewis had watched her from distance, he had thought Anna and Elle didn't look like each others at all. Anna was a blonde and her eyes were green whereas Elle had black her and dark eyes. At first glance, Lewis would've never guessed they were even related at all but now, after looking at Anna from very close, he could tell they reminded each others surprisingly much, even though Anna was almost twenty years older and wore make-up.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude", Lewis answered and smiled apologetically. Anna didn't look especially angry but there was enough sharpness in her words and expressions to put Lewis on the alert.

"Why are you asking questions about my sister?" she asked frowning and to her defense, she had every right to be wary and question Lewis's motives. 

"I'm merely intrigued", he answered, thinking about how he was supposed to lure either Elle back to the dining hall or Anna to the upstairs.

"What do you wanna know?" she asked and even though her voice was sincere, Lewis took a while to determine whether Anna would actually answer his questions. 

"I don't mind talking about my sister", she continued and smiled to Lewis. 

"Why don't you refer to her by her first name?" he asked in sudden curiosity. Lewis knew he should've just execute his plan but he couldn't deny he wasn't curious. 

"A habit", Anna shrugged, "after she disappeared her name was like a curse word in our household." Lewis nodded to tell Anna he understood. He sat down on the stairs and Anna sat next to him. Both of them watched the hall filled with people for a while. 

"What kind of a person Elle was?" he asked. He had been serving with Elle for the past six months and yet, sometimes it felt as if he didn't know her at all. After all those lies, it wasn't a surprise. 

"She was the kind of person who did whatever she wanted. Consequences or public contempt didn't matter to her", Anna answered. 

"I've heard Elle was quite the troublemaker", Lewis stated.

"She was. Her life was pretty restricted and she grew really frustrated with it. Creating chaos was her own way to protest, I guess", Anna said and drank the rest of the champagne from her glass. 

"What do you think happened to her?" Lewis asked and waved a waitress to give Anna an another glass of champagne.

"She ran away", Anna answered firmly. Lewis had expected more hesitation, uncertain speculating and Anna's firm answer surprised him, especially since the news had never even brought up any other explanation than kidnapping. 

"I thought her security arrangements were really strict", Lewis said, again hoping to get Anna to say more. The woman took her time to answer, drank the champagne again and was clearly deep in her own thoughts.

"They were crazy strict. I knew Elle and I know she was cunning and resourceful enough to get past them. And she had every reason to flee", Anna said and drank the whole glass. She didn't look at Lewis but he could tell Anna felt uncomfortable with talking about the assumed escape. Anna's firm belief Elle had run away made Lewis curious; what would make Elle want to leave the White House so desperately? 

"Why would Elle flee?" he asked and hoped Anna would keep talking. He waved a waitress to give her another glass of champagne, hoping it would make her careless with her words. At least alcohol had worked on her sister. He looked curiously how Anna was silent for a long time, drinking the champagne and asked for another one. She looked like she was having an inner argument until she blurted out.