We 7 Forever

Chapter 41: Anastasia

Above: Anastasia and her sister Maria

I zoomed back to the boarding house clutching the newspaper so hard my knuckles were white. I felt like i was going to throw up. It couldn't be true could it? I saw him die right in front of my eyes, I saw them drag out his body. His lifeless body out of that horrid room. I shudder thinking about that horrible night. I looked down at the picture on the front of the newspaper and felt utterly disgusted. If it really was him who was this woman? I can't believe that he would ever do that to me mama even if she isn't here anymore. I just can't. I stop running to catch my breath and sit down on a bench. It's late and dark i knew that things could go wrong. God know i know better then anyone else. I turn the crumpled newspaper pages in hopes to find the comics or a funny story hidden like a gem that will make me laugh. I don't want to think of everything that i have learned tonight. I want to laugh, Laugh as if the whole world was not a weight on my shoulders. I turned to the next page and gasped. TSAR MIKHAIL SAFE IN DENMARK WITH WIFE. Uncle Misha! He is alive as well! I study the picture of him and my aunt i was close with her but she always seemed to like Mashka better. She truly was a beautiful woman, I had always been a little jealous of her. I stared down at their smiling faces and couldn't help but smile myself. Their smiles were so radiant and happy it was like a glimpse into a better world. My old world. A man walked by the bench i was sitting on and i snapped to my senses. I couldn't be sitting here in the middle of the night. Unless i was cray which i probably was by now. I walked hurriedly back to the boarding house smiling and feeling as if i had a renewed lease on life. I was in particularly hurry to get back inside but i didn't want a repeat of the other night. Perhaps i will go to Denmark instead be with uncle Misha and his wife. I think hopefully to myself. But i know i can't i can't let this man who looked like papa go. What if it was him? I would never know because i wouldn't have tried. I get into my room and lock the door behind me. I get a pair of scissors of my desk and cut out the picture of my aunt and uncle and tack it to the wall over my bed. I smile at it hoping it will bring me happiness and strength. All of a sudden I hear the lock turning as if by magic. I snap to my senses and grab the Bible so I can hit my intruder with it. The door opens and I swing hitting the intruder. Hard.