Anastasia

Part 1

As a young girl, Anas parents were given the opportunity to spend their 10 year anniversary aboard the Titanic which was a huge deal for everyone around. Her grandparents who insisted at the time to not take her along due to the fact that "Ana couldn't swim yet and she would have a chance to go on it later in life without that risk." Her grandmother had been persistent with the idea that they should have fun together without the worry of taking care of Ana. Of course, they insisted that Ana stays with them while they enjoyed their time away.

A few days later, and with little persuading, her grandmother had her mother and father drop Ana off at their house before leaving for the trip. Her mother had carried in 2 large bags filled with Ana's miscellaneous things and dropped them off in the spare room. A tall man with the same dark hair as Ana and visible laugh lines, to whom was Ana's father walked in the door with a small bag and sat it on the counter in the kitchen. He leaned down and whispered in Anas ear; "Ana, you take care of your grandparents for us okay? Your mamma and I will be back here in a few weeks to pick you up, but you have to be good while we're gone, okay?" Ana gave a nod and a squeaked "okay". She wrapped her arms around him tight and let him pick her up so she was level with the adults in the room. He twirled her around before setting her down and placing a kiss on her forehead before walking out the door. Her mother stayed back, talking to her grandmother a while longer in hushed tones about something that Ana couldn't quite hear from the doorway. While the adults were talking Ana had been taught to mind her business so she climbed up onto the chair in the dining room and grabbed herself one of the cookies her grandmother had offered her when they had arrived. As the conversation between her mother and grandmother came to a close she wiggled herself off the chair and meet her mother in the doorway.

"Now Anastasia, you listen to your grandparents for me, okay?" Ana gave a nod and hugged her mother around the middle squeezing as tightly as she could. "I love you, sweetie, but I do have to get going, you know the boat won't be waiting for us." she said to Ana as she released her arms from around her daughter. Then a little louder and away from Anas face she thanked her parents and gave each a kiss on the cheek before heading out the door.

"There you are Alice, I was beginning to think we would have to swim to the boat if we didn't get going" her father said as Ana's mother exited the front door. She gracefully started towards the taxi cab which was parked just a few yards away, turning back to see Ana watching her through the window, she turned around and walked the rest of the way backwards waving at Ana. She watched as her mother reached the car and sat herself in the back seat beside her father.

Ana was well aware that her grandmothers reasoning about her not being able to swim was not the main purpose for her being left at her grandparents house that day. Though it didn't seem to matter when four days later word let out that the boat had been sunk, and she realized swimming would have been a necessary skill for anyone who boarded the Titanic that day. It was said that 700 people had been rescued in time or had made it to a lifeboat, but her parents hadn't been so lucky as to have been in the few.

Her grandparents had wept for days, as did young Ana. She didn't quite understand what had happened, but she knew enough to the point that her parents were never coming to pick her up. She was to stay at her grandparents house, and they made sure she wasn't sent into the foster system. All of her possessions were moved to their house and some of her parents' as well; while others went into storage. The guest room had been permanently changed into Anas, her bed was switched with the one from her old house along with her dressers and decorations. The bags that held her few things that were meant for the time she was originally going to be spending at her grandparents house, had been emptied and restocked into her wardrobes. When night fell those first few months, Ana didn't like sleeping alone, so her grandmother would sit with her and read to her until she fell asleep.