Refinement: A War of Europe

Chapter Twenty-Five: East: Flashbacks of Lecyna

 Anya~ East (Russia)                        

I shot up in my bed, holding my bed covers to my mouth to muffle my scream. I wiped my forearm across my eyes to get rid of my tears. I felt cold, alone, desperate. I had woken up from a nightmare, but it wasn't an abnormal one where once you wake up you know it couldn't be real because of how strange it was, because mine was real. I thought I would forget it with time- the moments-, and with all the stress of Refinement. That apparently wasn't so. Not for my terrible luck and myself. I laid back down and stared up at the ceiling re-living the dreams. I told myself that it's better to face a fear than to run from it, for one day you won't have the strength to keep running, and it will catch up with you.

---

One day Lecyna and I were walking around the city together and visiting. Lecyna in a worn light-pink dress and me in an extra large grey shirt and holey jean shorts.

Lecyna smiled. Her smile was beautiful and contagious. "So. Your brother. You shouldn't worry. I'm sure he is doing great."

"I don't worry..." I muttered.

"Don't lie to me Anya. I know you better than you know yourself," she said pride-fully.

I laughed to myself. "That's probably true."

She put her arm over my shoulder and lifted her other one to point out something. "See them?"

I blushed as I saw a young couple kissing beside what used to be a bank. "Yes, Lecyna. Your point?"

She raised an eyebrow at me and then laughed. "I just think it's lovely, beautiful. How people in this world can still love, care, and be... humane. After all that has happened. Wouldn't you love the feeling? I'd love a minute of not worrying about all the bad things in the world. To be able to focus on something good for a change. Something more important than just getting a decent meal." Her thin lips slightly parted. Her desire obvious.

I bit down on my lower lip. "I-I don't know... I just can't see that. I don't see how I could let my guard down enough to let in that."

Lecyna dropped her arm and moved it to her hip. "One day you will, and I'm going to be around to rub it in your face." She laughed happily.

"Fine, but Lecyna. You do realize he would have to be the most incredible guy in the world?" I said.

"Yes. You'll be a fairytale worthy story I'm sure," she replied.

---

My next flashback was a stormy day. The sky made us suspicious of a tornado. With the ecosystem getting worse, the once rare tornadoes started showing up rapidly.

Lecyna pointed at me, and then did a thumbs up. "Shut the curtains Anya! It won't help much, but maybe keep glass from cutting us up if these windows break. I'm going to run upstairs to find something to keep our weak ole front door from flying off! Maybe you should get the back one too, just do what we do when we leave the building... I'll be right back."

"Alright! Be careful though, the winds will be stronger up there. We don't have curtains up there and the ceiling has been getting weaker from all the rain we've been having!" I yelled. The bad thing about this place previously being a dress shop is that there were lots of windows for displaying merchandise. It wasn't the most sturdy either. It was a very old building. In a few spots throughout the store you could see a faint light blue paint on the walls.

I ran up to the windows and shut the aged curtains; tied them to hooks on the wall. Once I finished I ran into the small back room and locked the backdoor, shoving metal picture frames underneath it to give some friction to the wind.