A Year At The Opera

Chapter 1: Think Of Happier(?) Times

A/N: Content Warning! There's depictions of child abuse in one of the POVs (Boris and Ivana's). Proceed at your own discretion. Also, this has been edited a little bit for consistency with things I changed in the later chapters.

Word count: 6000 words

Svetlana

Svetlana ran her hand across the mirror, wiping the condensation off. Her fuzzy reflection started to come into focus.

She grabbed her towel and wrapped it around her body. The steam in the room quickly condensed on the mirror again and Svetlana rubbed it off once more. She reached up to her hair, rolled up in curlers, and quickly snapped a few of them off, putting them beside the sink.

"Svetlana! Come on! Nu opozdaesh zhe!" Her mother, Anya, shouted from downstairs.

"I know, mama. I'm coming!" Svetlana shouted back. As if she didn't know she was gonna be late. Svetlana rarely lost track of the time, even without access to a clock.

It was the first day of school, in a new city, with new people. Svetlana was excited to make new friends. It was almost a talent. And a good talent, considering the extremely unpleasant alternative was being a loner and she didn't much like that, having been one for quite a while in elementary school. But, she was almost seventeen now. Ready to take on the world.

Or so she thought.

"Spuskaysya!" Anya's voice echoed through the house.

"I'm coming!" Svetlana quickly dried off and changed into a red miniskirt and a plain black t-shirt. She removed the rest of the curlers and flung them on the bed. She ran back into the bathroom to check how her hair looked. Her blond curls fell gracefully onto her shoulders and she pushed them back. She grabbed a few books off the nightstand and, pushing aside the still-packed boxes blocking her door, made her way downstairs.

"God, uvazhayemaya, eat your breakfast. Fast. You don't want to be late and make a bad impression on your first day." Anya announced as Svetlana entered the kitchen.

"I know, mom." Svetlana took a seat at the table, opposite Anya.

"But you have to get there early and get your schedule and find your classes. That takes time!" Anya slid a bowl of milk and a box of cereal in Svetlana's direction. The milk wobbled and spilled over but Svetlana grabbed the bowl.

"I know, mom." Svetlana smiled to herself as she poured in the cereal.

Her mother had cracked open the good kind of cereal today. Svetlana's favorite, Marshmallow Fairy Dust. It was the one of the first cereals she'd tried when she'd first come to America. And even today, after over thirteen years, it still gave her that thrill of exploring something new.

"Where's papa?" Svetlana asked, slurping the milk.

"Don't do that, devushka." Anya scolded. "He's already gone off to work." Anya got up, walked over to the sink and returned with a wet rag. She wiped off the milk from the tinted black glass and sat back down.

Svetlana quickly ate her breakfast as Anya read the newspaper.

"I'm leaving!" Svetlana announced, rising off her chair and grabbing her bag from the couch in the living room.

"Good." Anya said. "Don't forget your books!"

"I didn't!" Svetlana flung her bag on her shoulder and walked towards the front door. "Mama, where's the car keys?"

"Key hook!"

"Where's the key hook?" Svetlana looked around her.

Anya walked out of the kitchen. She grabbed Svetlana's car keys off the hook next to the kitchen entrance and threw them at her.