Anastasia

15- tight knit family

Annya couldn't breathe. After all they had been through. After all they had lost, he was willing to take out the last of his family, and for what? This couldn't have been his idea. Alex must have been pushed into doing this against his will. She looked at the clock, seeing that she still had an hour until her brother came back, and she decided it was time to start cleaning up after herself. She needed to have as much time to think through everything enough to be able to control her facial expressions when her Alex came back.

As soon as she was satisfied with how things were replaced, she went back to the flight website, breathing out a sigh of relief, seeing that it had started it's trip home. He made it out. She leaned back in the chair, thinking about what she had just discovered. She stood up, walking to the balcony in search of fresh air, hoping it would clear her mind enough for her to think clearly. She rested her arms on the railing, intertwining her fingers together, as she started laying all the facts out in her mind, to get a better look of the situation.

"Anya, what are you doing? You'll be seen" Genevieve came up, lightly resting her hand on Annya's shoulder.

"I'll be okay" she responded absentmindedly. "He made it out, Anya. he's safe, now" Annya looked at her friend.

"I know" was all she said, as they looked back out into the white mountains beyond their room. "Maybe you can go back and visit once all this is over." Gen was always an optimist, but never really thought things through.

"He won't want to see me. I lied to him. I fed him empty promises and used him. I'm the last person he will ever want to see." Annya looked down at her hands in shame before another hand covered them in comfort.

"He's smart, Annya. he will understand," Gen tried, but Annya only nodded, still looking down.

"Remember what we talked about?"Gen asked. Annya nodded again, hope starting to tug at her heart before Gen's eyes lit up in irritation. "Hopefully inside where we don't catch hypothermia. Anya, it's cold, let's go." Annya rolled her eyes and snorted as she turned around, walking back in.

"I'm going to my room, if that's okay. I need some time alone" Annya mumbled. Before Gen could say anything, Annya was out the door with her files in hand.

She knew seeing the room across the hall would be difficult, but there was no amount of preparation that could lighten the blow of the sight in front of her.

The whole hotel room was spotless. All her clothes that were everywhere were neatly folded on the couch. Upon closer inspection she saw that it wasn't just the clothes that were lying around. They were all the clothes she had in the room. He was helping her pack. Looking over at the coffee table, she saw a plate of something wrapped in tin foil. She thought she couldn't take it any more when she saw a paper plane that said open me by the plate with writing so neat, she couldn't help but read it, bringing on the memory of the first now he had sent her along with a fresh stream of tears.

Remember, the flight is at 10:00 AM. - he had emphisized the AM by underlining it three times, knowing how she is in the mornings.- please becareful and don't do anything stupid until then. I'll see you on the plane. And at the end of the letter as a heart immaculately drawn.

She didn't know what to do. She just stood there, drowning in emotions she didn't want. Part of her wanted to run. A big part told her to steal a flight back to America and find her way to the only person she could trust, but that wasn't how she was raised. She was a fighter. She would fight before she could run. She was smarter than anyone in her class in every school she joined. She could figure this out.

With one deep breath, she went to erase anything that reminded her of him. The last thing she needed was a distraction. She took the folded clothes and food and threw them away along with the plate, but she couldn't bring herself to throw away his note. She shoved it in her back pocket, and closed and locked every entrance in the room.