Anti-Academy

Unexpected

Sang POV

Alla leads me down four hallways, up three sets of stairs, before coming to a stop in front of a huge wooden door. She looks at me, scrutinizing every inch of me, straightens the too big shirt to sit on my shoulders at a better angle before turning back to the door. She lays her hand on the door but makes no move to open it. Alla stands there staring at the enormous door like it holds dangerous secrets, something she doesn't want to open yet but knows it's inevitable.

Watching her nervous hesitation makes my chest tighten and my hands sweat. My stomach feels full of bats, flying around and scratching every surface inside my belly. The sharp pains are nothing compared to the pain I've felt before but it's strange, scary and new. 

"Sang, dear I ask you to listen. My son, he is not always clear, not often letting emotions show, he does not like to be weak." Her voice is little more than a whisper making it difficult to hear her so I move forward slowly, silently, as she continues, "His father, God rest his soul taught him...taught all my boys that emotions are not be be shown. He has gotten better but it is not always so. Please know that he does mean his best. That he loves his family...just listen with heart...not head. Seeing you...bring memories." The longer Alla speaks the heavier her accent becomes and the more broken her speech. She turns her head towards me slowly the profound look of grief on her face strikes my heart with ice.

I don't know exactly how to respond. What do you say to someone who is asking something of you but also warning you? It's not as if I have a choice. I'm stuck in a new, strange place, with strange people, who keep doing strange things and the only thing I want is to hide. To go back to the hospital and pretend like this hasn't happened. To hold on to the same belief I naïvely held this morning. That my life is going to be better. That everything has changed for the best. That I'm free.

I should've known better.

Alla begins to speak in Russian quickly pulling me back to reality. "Teper' on delayet to, chto znayet. On tak pokhozh na svoyego ottsa, chto bol'she, chem yego brat'ya. V tu noch' ... razrushil yego. On izmenil yego." He does what he knows now. He is so much like his father, more so than his brothers. That night...ruined him. It changed him.

She pauses like she's stuck in her memory before continuing on in English, "We lost eight of our family that night...or so we thought. We learned things because of that accident. My son, he will tell you all of what happened that night. Just know Sang, I could never be happier that we have found you." 

I can't help but look at her puzzled.

Why does everyone here seem to think I am someone else? Who do they think I am? Maybe I should just tell them they have me mistaken. That I am not who they want me to be. But who do they think I am?

Without waiting another moment Alla turns the knob and walks us through the thickest wooden doors I've ever seen. We enter in to this large study that looks more like a library with a desk in the middle than an actual office. The side walls are covered in floor to ceiling bookshelves with not one empty space. The back of the office behind the intricately carved desk is a floor to ceiling window with two doors that lead into a beautiful garden patio. The scene is gorgeous. I walk slightly behind Alla taking in the beauty of the room, scanning the bookshelves and wishing I could get my hands on any of those books.

I notice in the far left corner of the room is three comfortable looking sofas arranged around an ornately carved table to match the desk and bookshelves.

This room must have taken ages. Carving all of that wood with the same designs would have been painstakingly hard work. The time and patience... the effort it would have taken.

I finally move my gaze over to the older man behind the desk after taking in the intricately designed space. I'm amazed. Even more so after studying the man behind the desk. He has a chiseled face that prevents his years of wrinkles to belittle his strength. His graying black hair is slicked back away from his face. His eyes seem frozen in a permanent scowl. The fact that he hasn't looked up once since we've walked in tells me all I need to know about how important he sees us.

Alla, tired of waiting, carefully makes her way over to his desk and promptly slams his laptop closed even though he was typing. His faces tightens in anger before he begins to shout. His eyes are cold, his face looks even more terrifying in his anger. This is man who is used to being obeyed. A man who likely punishes those in his way that seem incompetent. A man who is yelling so loudly at a woman who so far has been treated delicately and respectfully since I met her some 15 minutes ago. 

My entire being freezes under his assault. His yelling makes my insides cringe and prepare for the hit that is sure to follow. I can feel myself physically reacting to his tone regardless of the shield I have erected around myself.

"Mama! U menya net vremeni, chtoby spravit'sya s etim pryamo seychas. Vy imeyete delo s devushkoy, poka Konstantin ne mozhet dobrat'sya syuda!" Mother! I don't have time to deal with this right now. You deal with the girl until Konstantin can get here! The older man exclaims standing abruptly. He looks at me briefly and I recognize him as the man who greeted me. He seemed nice before.

He eyes me, from my bare feet to the mismatched too big clothes to my unkept hair. His judging cold eyes tear apart the courage I had when I first walked through the doors. I feel slightly ashamed now to be standing in front of him looking such a mess. Everyone in this house has been so well dressed and looks so sophisticated. I couldn't dare compare to this family. Everyone I have met has looked movie star beautiful and has an old money attitude.

His look of distain reminds me of my Mother. Of her punishments. Of how I was never good enough for her. Of how distasteful she always found me.

Remembering her reminds me that I didn't ask to be here. I didn't want to be taken. It puts some fire into my soul as he questions Alla again, "Ne mogli by vy nayti odezhdu, podkhodyashchuyu dlya bednoy devushki. Ona proshla dostatochno. Ona dazhe znayet, pochemu ona zdes'? Kto my k ney?" Could you not have found clothes that fit the poor girl. She has been through enough. Does she even know why she is here? Who we are to her?

Alla cuts her eyes to me. She sees that my fear and reservations have fallen away and nods at me with pride. My mind doesn't fully understand why she is nodding at me. My body however takes over. My spine straightens, my head raising to look him in the eye and my mouth begins speaking uncontrollably.

"Mozhet byt', vy dolzhny sprosit' cheloveka, prezhde chem prosto vzyat' ikh! Togda ya, vozmozhno, skhvatil by odezhdu, kotoruyu vy sochtete podkhodyashchey dlya menya. Vmesto etogo menya zabirayut u vsekh i obo vsem, chto ya znayu, i ostavlyayu v odnoy komnate, ne podozrevaya, chto proiskhodit. Vse, s kem ya vstrechayus', kazhetsya, chto ya kto-to drugoy. Kto-to vazhnyy ili chto-to !! YA prosto ya. YA Sang Sorenson, i ya khochu domoy. U menya yest' lyudi ... brat i sestra, kotoryye budut iskat' menya." Maybe, you people should ask a person before just taking them! Then I may would have grabbed the clothes you deem appropriate for me. Instead I am taken away from everyone and everything I know and left in a room alone with no idea what is happening. Everyone I meet seems to think I am someone else. Someone important or something!! I am just me. I am Sang Sorenson and I want to go home. I have people...a brother and a sister that will look for me.

Immediately after my rant I look up to find both Alla and her son looking at me. Alla is looking at me with smug affection, with pride. Her son is looking at me as if I am an unexpected gift before his eyes are clouded over with grief. He looks at Alla once again ignoring my existence.

"Roman, Sang here can speak our language quite well." They stare at each other briefly before she begins to back out of the room. "I believe you two have quite a lot to discuss, and as language should not be an issue... I will see both of you for dinner in an hour and a half."

She's leaving me...alone...with him!?!

What the hell am I supposed to do now!?!