The Romanov Diary

Chapter thirteen

January 9, 1918

New year. 1918.

Russia has switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian, so everything is a bit of a mess. The dates are confusing and their old traditions now fall in on new days. The Romanov family didn't get much of a New Year's celebration, and none of the servants or soldiers got a day off to go home for the celebrations. The workers in the Governor's House are starting to feel like prisoners as well, more for each passing day. But they have all grown to care for the family, and they would never hurt them intentionally. The tension in the house has grown more comfortable and it's starting to feel less like a prison, even if they are behind bars.

Maria and Anastasia are standing by one of the windows in their room, looking out at the people passing by. Ironically, this is the most they have seen of the ordinary life in Russia. Watching the world go by has become their favorite thing to do since they got here. Their freedom and creativity is so limited that something as simple as sitting by the windows gives them more joy than anything else. This is the only contact with the outside world that they are allowed, so they use the opportunity.

"Look at that woman over there!" Maria points to a woman walking past the house with her three children.

"She's pretty." Anastasia's mind wanders off.

It's almost as if they feel the girl's eyes on them, because the woman stops and looks up to the window on the second floor. Anastasia, the mischief, looks around the room before opening the window. They are very much allowed to look through them, but opening the windows is strictly forbidden since they might call for help. But the teenage girl loves the feeling of adrenaline, so she opens it and starts to wave to the woman down below.

"Anastasia, we shouldn't..." Maria whispers before her sister interrupts her.

"What are they going to do about it? Shoot us?" She jokes and continues to wave.

Her joke seems completely harmless right now, but she wouldn't dare to say the same words a few months later. Anastasia pokes her head out through the window and waves to the woman on the street. The sun is blinding her eyes, but her children can see the girl by the window clearly.

"Mother, who's that?" The woman's son of 5 years askes.

"I don't know sweetheart, but it almost looks like... one of the grand duchesses."

Anastasia continous to smile and wave while Maria stands next to her, also very tempted to talk to the woman. But she controls her impulses.

"HEY!" Back off." A man shouts from the door leading to the room.

The girls quickly turn around and face Theo. He runs up to the window, closes it and pulls down the curtains.

"Are you crazy? You know it's forbidden to open the windows!"

"I'm sorry, but you have to understand-"

"Anastasia I do understand, trust me. You're alone and isolated, so am I. But my job is to protect you and I don't want anything to happen to you. None of you."

As Theo speaks the last sentence, his gaze is drawn towards Maria. Instead of feeling ashamed or even remotely scared, she's tempted to do it all over again just to see Theo's overprotecting again.

"You should go out and get some fresh air." He suggests and leaves the room.

Ella has finally gotten rid of her terrible fever and has returned to work. She stayed in bed for more than a month and Dr. Botkin visited her every other day to do his best with her health. He doesn't know where the fever came from, but the most important thing is that she's okay now.