Children's Games: A Story of Modern Consequence

Chapter 8

~Anna~

For the hour that Dominik and Katerina were gone, Anna lay awake, staring at the empty half of the bed. Even though she had left in a rush after Dominik's quick steps, Katerina had left behind a neat and tidy area, as befit a soldier.

Anna had learned from her years of experience and training that she didn't need that much sleep to function adequately, even in a high stress environment such as this one. Therefore, she always took the last shift to watch the others sleeping. It gave her time to unpack all her thoughts before the next day truly started.

Katerina was doing well so far... though asking far less questions than she ought to be... meaning that she's thinking too much to herself. Dominik had been right to be anxious of her reaction to her place in this mess... and right to want to shelter her. At least she didn't shake as much as Maria had.

And Natasha... "Ugh, shut up," she mumbled into the empty air. Natasha twitched in her sleep, shaking a little more than the others, in bountiful episodes of silent spasms. In the first few nights of them sleeping in the same room, Anna had hardly slept, but Dominik forbade her to speak of it. Anna had no idea how Yelena, who slept in the same bed, seemed to ignore it.

The ring of the bell at the pharmacy door two floors down echoed throughout the house, and she immediately leapt out of bed to turn the lights on. Coincidentally, their alarm posted by the door exploded into action, making it harder for the others to ignore her suggestive words to get up. Ivan and Klaus cursed at her, Natasha flinched, and Yelena and Petyr were already awake as the sky was starting to light up. Anna could only laugh at the swearing while playfully making fun of their difficulty getting up every single morning.

"Anna?" came the small voice that was Katerina, standing in the doorway. She didn't look tired anymore, though she looked nervous as hell. Poor thing. "I don't have any clothes. I don't think I should wear Maria's."

She smiled and rubbed her hand along Katerina's arm, nodding and trying to be the comforting person Dominik ordered her to be. We are to be great friends after all. Anna rummaged through her bag and pulled out some clean clothes; the simple baggy pants and tight shirt that mimicked their uniform back home. When Katerina had changed, she noticed that the pants were a bit long on her shorter legs. Most women were significantly shorter than Anna. She didn't mind, but it was particularly funny how this girl approached the custom-made long clothes.

"Roll those up, shortcake.... then it's not so messy," she advised, pointing at the ends of the pants as they were being trampled under her boots.

Downstairs, Anna started preparing breakfast; a large array of porridges, oat pancakes, and fresh fruits, while Yelena brewed coffee and started organising everyone's vitamins and pills for the day.

Dominik appeared to be in a foul mood, with Katerina being ever so quiet. As they all sat down at breakfast, he didn't give his usual outline of the day's tasks. Instead, he looked blank and tired. HE was the first to get up, pointing at Petyr and Klaus to follow him upstairs. Katerina looked guilty and small, like a lost child. Not good enough.

Anna held her tongue, trying not to say a snippy comment that would likely result in Dominik yelling at her. So fragile.

"For the rest of you," Natasha said, standing with her empty breakfast plate in hand, awkward as ever, "Anna and Katerina, with me in the armoury this morning. Ivan, you're with Yelena in doing the rounds. In the afternoon, Anna, Ivan, and Katerina will scout the council halls, while Yelena and I will receive Dominik's return."

Katerina looked eager to do something, perhaps to be without Dominik, and Natasha looked proud to be the leader in something, even if it was only in Dominik's absence. Anna observed Yelena at the other end of the table, doing nothing. She tried to catch her eye so that Yelena could see her taunting smirk, but she kept her eyes on Natasha, the second in command.