The Red World

Chapter 3: Changed Life

"Sir Andrei! Where were you? We were so worried!" Said one of Andrei's butlers in a surprised and relieved tone, who rushed to meet Andrei at the front door of his mansion. "O-oh! I was, uhh... was staying in school to practice my ice skating for a bit, yeah, that's right!" Andrei said to not raise suspicion. "Ah. That's ok then, but we would appreciate it more if you had just informed us. You know how much we might get in trouble if Sir Pankratiy found out about your absence." The butler said, in a more relaxed voice but with a sort of disappointed look on her face. "Sorry about that. I'll try to contact you next time." Andrei replied. 

"Anyway, we have prepared two servings of buterbrod as your snack for this time. They are in the dining hall." The butler said to him. "Nice, thank you!" As he grabs his meal and runs up to his room to study, he begins to contemplate about what had happened earlier. "Is this really the union I was destined to rule one day? One that kills its own people for speaking out against it, or taxes its backbone for its own benefit?"

Andrei stops talking to himself when he realizes something. "It's nice they told me that, but I wish they would've told me when it's my academic break. Now I might not be able to take my studies seriously anymore." He gives himself a slight chuckle after saying all that. As the rest of his day continues to his sleep time, he realizes another thing. "I think I forgot something in that underground base. I'm gonna check tomorrow after school." He said as he continues to drift to sleep.

Because of the life-changing meeting yesterday, Andrei's usual life had turned different than usual. Formerly smiling, he starts to frown at the numerous propaganda art he had seen in his entire life, giving it glaring looks at the art. In school, he still tries to have an effort in listening to his studies, even though he knows the truth about the regime. He could've spoken out at his teachers' studies, but he had to stay quiet in order to not be labeled as a traitor.

Suddenly at lunchtime, Dmitriy, Andrei's best friend, walks up to him. "Hey, you aren't really reciting much in class, and I occasionally see you drift off. What's up?" Andrei was a bit surprised at his friend's approach. "O-oh, uh, I di-didn't really sleep well last night. Had a n-nightmare, yeah." Andrei replied to his question. "Oh, got it! Nightmares are just bad dreams anyway. Anyway, let's have lunch, they're serving Beef Stroganoff!" "O-okay!" The duo rushed off to the lunch hall after their conversation.

Andrei prepares to leave school, until he stops to get his phone. "Oh yeah, I gotta remind my butlers that I'll be home late soon so they won't suspect me again." He dials home, and it immediately is picked up. "Hello, you have reached the Nikitin Residence, to whom am I speaking to?" "Hey, it's Andrei Nikitin, I'll arrive a bit late today, I'm gonna pick up some food by the DIXY store that just opened nearby." "Oh, Sir Andrei, okay then, I shall note it just in case your grandfather asks where you are now. Thank you!" The phone hangs up, and Andrei gives a sigh of relief.

Andrei begins to go to his destination, the secret All-Russian Movement secret underground base. 10 minutes later, he finds the base, carefully hidden away in bushes and covered in grass. "Guess this is it, as they told me before." He puts in the password in the lock, and the metal door opens. He walks in the base to try and find his swimming goggles he accidentally dropped while he was preparing to leave the base yesterday. Suddenly, he meets a familiar face.

"Huh? Vikentiy? What are you doing here?" Andrei stops walking as he sees the familiar blonde hair in the distance. "Oh, Andrei, I didn't expect to see you here either. What are you also doing here, may I ask?" He says as he begins to walk towards Andrei's position. "Oh, I'm just looking for my swimming goggles I accidentally dropped on my way home after yesterday. What are you doing here?" Said Andrei as he tries to revert back to his original question. Vikentiy grabs a broom. "I'm just maintaining this place. We can't have our meeting on Friday with dust here and there." "Oh, got it, guess I'll help you, then." Andrei picks up a broom and dustpan, and proceeds to help Vikentiy clean the base. After a while, Andrei starts thinking of something.

"Say, Vikentiy, can I ask you something?" Asked Andrei while cleaning the ceiling of the room with a feather duster. "Sure, what's up?" Vikentiy responded. "How did you find out about Democracy being better than Communism? Western textbooks aren't allowed here, right?" Vikentiy stops cleaning to think about it. "Oh, that story, huh?" Vikentiy said, before returning to dusting the area.

"Well, when I was around 18, I managed to go on a trip to the United States. We were allowed to go to the USA at the time, because relations between them and the Soviets were practically safe enough that travel between those two can be achieved for a while." Andrei was amazed by what Vikentiy said. "You could travel to the USA before? Huh, never thought that could happen." "Anyway, I was amazed by what I saw there. You can criticize the government in any way, people are happy, and just living their lives, they were free to express themselves, and people practiced their own religion, it was amazing. If I recall correctly, they call it the American Dream." "Huh... I've never learned that in school before." Andrei said.

"The trip lasted for only a week, but then the day after I returned from that vacation in America, tensions began rising up, and then, y'know World War IV started. But, I was inspired by that trip in America that I wanted the same thing to happen in the USSR. That wasn't until I stumbled upon the All-Russian Movement, which practically had the same motives as I have. I joined them right after discovering them."

"Woah, that's cool. But, why are there only 4 of you? Isn't the movement a large group or something?" Andrei asked again. "The four of us are basically our own division of the movement. We are in charge of recruiting and doing operations directly in Moscow, they said it's because of our strong will-power or something like that." "Oh, gotcha."

The two returned to cleaning the base, chatting along the way. 15 minutes later, and the base was free of dust. "That should do it. Thanks for the help, Andrei." Vikentiy said to Andrei. "No problem at al-" Andrei stopped talking when he realized he found his swimming goggles. "Oh, there's my swimming goggles! I have swimming tomorrow and I would definitely get in trouble if my teacher found out!" The two share a chuckle. "Anyways, Andrei, remember to attend the meeting on Friday, it's gonna have some important missions for you." Vikentiy waved at him as Andrei begun to ascend the stairs to the base's entrance. "Yep, I know, see you soon!"

Soon enough, Andrei returns home, and is greeted by his butlers again. "Welcome home, Sir Andrei. But, if I may ask, where is the food you brought?" Andrei freaks out inside as he realizes that he said that he'll buy some food from DIXY. "O-oh, I- uh... I didn't really find anything that I wanted, so yeah..." "Oh, okay." The butler says as she continues to do her duties.

The rest of the week goes on as usual, until Friday finally rolls in.