The Golden Gate Project

Chapter Two

Hannah

I wait on the porch of a small house where I'll be staying for the next few months.

I try to ignore the shaking in my hands as I grip my one suitcase and wait for Dmytrov to answer the door.

My attention snaps up as the door opens.

"Hannah, welcome!" A young man with a bright face welcomes me in, "Let me take your bag up to your room." He smiles as he reaches for my suitcase.

"No, that's okay. Thank you, I got it." I say awkwardly.

He smiles and closes the door behind me.

"Let me give you the tour." He says and leads me into the living room where a young girl and woman are seated.

"Thank you so much for letting me stay here. This means a lot."

"It is an honor for us to be able to help you in your research." He smiles, "I would like you to meet my sister, Alina, and my mother, Maria." They both stand and the mother gives me a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you for coming. Everything is open to you here." She says warmly.

"Your home is beautiful. Thank you for letting me stay here." I say.

"It is our pleasure." She smiles.

"Alright mother, let's let Hannah get to her room. You must be exhausted from your drive." Dmytro says.

I nod in agreement.

He walk around the corner to a quaint looking kitchen, then shows me up the steep and narrow staircase to a small upstairs hallway.

"These are our rooms, yours is at the end of the hall. I hope it will make you comfortable." He says as he opens the door.

"Anything beats sleeping in my car." We laugh.

"Goodnight." He says as he leaves. I nod and close the door.

Taking a deep breath, I look around my room, then start to set up my station at the small desk.

I open my suitcase and take out my laptop and charger, then my notebook and recorder, and set them all evenly on the desk.

I play some quiet music and check on my blog, opening a new post.

Here at the Ukranian-Russian border, tensions are high, but the people's spirits are high as well. A humble family agrees to let me stay with them in my search for answers during this hard time.

A knock on my door snaps me out of it.

"Hannah? You have a guest." Dmytrov says from the other side.

I don't know any people in this country except this family. Who the hell wants to see me?

I pause my music and stride to the door, opening up to see my older sister Kaylee standing slightly behind Dmytrov in the hall.

"Kaylee? What are you doing here?" I ask. I let her into the room and nod to Dmytrov as he walks away, closing the door behind him.

"Long time no see." Kaylee smiles, "You are a hard person to find let me tell ya."

I give her a huge hug and we hold it for a moment.

"I thought you were in Venezuela doing that documentary." I say, still trying to figure out why she's here.

"I had to put it on hold." She seems a bit stressed. I get the feeling she's not here just to hang.

"So the Russian-Ukranian conflict, huh? It's funny how we ended up doing almost the same thing." She is avoiding something, but I can't figure out what it is.

"Journalism is way cooler than filmmaking." I joke, sitting at my laptop.

She sits awkwardly at the end of my bed.

"Kaylee, why are you here?" I ask, "Obviously it's good to see you, but how?"

"It wasn't easy finding you, but I had to... You deserve to know." She gets serious.

"Know what?" She's making me nervous.

"Well... Phew this is harder than I thought it would be... Mom would have told you, but obviously she had no idea how to find you..."

"Kaylee what is it? How does this have to do with mom?" I prod. I hate when she doesn't get to the point.

"It's Sebastian..." She starts to tear up. This is not good.

"What about Sebastian?"

She takes a deep breath in and looks at me.

"Something happened. At school. I guess he was in an accident...whatever he was working on... Hannah... He..."

Please tell me this isn't going where I think it is. My heart is racing.

"He's dead." Her voice cracks.

Everything slows to a stop. I can't speak. I can't move.

My brother is dead. He's gone. I'm never going to see him again. This can't be real.

All the times I gave him shit. All the fights we got into. He was still my brother. It was still Sebastian.

How did this happen. How is this possible. This is so out of left field. He was fine. He was doing well. How did he end up dead?

"Hannah?" My eyes snap up to a worried Kaylee, "Are you going to be okay?"

I nod, "Do you know how it happened?"

"Mom didn't tell me much, she just said it was an accident. I think whatever he was working on went wrong." She says through the tears.

This is so much to take in. My brain won't function.

"How is mom?" She must be a wreck in all this.

"As well as can be expected I guess. She needs us though. She wants us to come back for the funeral."

I don't know what to say. I can't just pick up my life and leave. I just got here. But it's my brother. And Kaylee did it. Shit.

"Um, yeah. I guess we should go back." I say half to myself.

Kaylee stares at me. I know she wants to ask if I'm okay, but we both know neither of us is okay.

"Um, I guess we should probably go then." I say.

"Yeah..." Kaylee says, wiping away her tears.

I still can't believe this. This can't be real.

I start to repack as I try to wrap my mind around everything.

"Do you want a hug?" Kaylee asks as I finish packing.

I know she's really asking because she needs one, but I kinda do too.

I nod and she wraps her arms around me. Oh now the tears come. Great.

"Don't ever go anywhere, okay?" Kaylee sniffles into my shoulder.

I know what she means

"You either." I return.

She lets go and I take one last look at my room as we leave.

Everything.