OTMA: I'll Meet You On The Bridge

Chapter 9: Anastasia POV

10 YEARS LATER

Anya couldn't understand what was going on. She sat quietly on the train, peering at a book, pretending it was interesting. It was actually just the book that she had been studying from when she was back in St. Petersburg. But reading about the the first Romanov Tsar, Tsar Mikhail, wasn't exactly all that interesting. Vlad was next to her on the train, muttering something about Countess Lily. Anya felt like she remembered the name. Somehow, she felt like she remembered Vlad too. A man that her Nana had hated beyond all belief. "He's not a real Count." She would say.

No. She was making the memories up. She couldn't truly be Anastasia. She was only going along with this plot to get to Paris. She couldn't start believing things that weren't true.

"Hello there!" The excited voice of a little boy said. She turned around. A boy had turned and was sitting on his knees. He smiled at her.

"Hello there." Anya said. "How are you?"

"I'm awesome! I finally get to go to Paris! I've wanted to go there my whole life." He said. "I mean, I'm going to miss Russia and stuff. But now I get to go to Paris!" the little boy was practically dancing.

"I know. I'm sure Paris is beautiful. I'm excited to go there too. What's your name?" She asked.

"I'm Griggs." The little boy said. "My parents have been trying to get to Paris for years. Apparently they almost got there when I was only six months old, but then someone stopped them. I'm ten now."

"Well, it's good that you're getting out. I'm Anya." Griggs giggled. Suddenly, a woman reached out and pulled him back.

"I'm sorry if he's bothering you." She said. She started to whisper something to the boy. Anya turned back to her book. During her conversation, it had flipped towards the last page.

A photo of the entire Romanov family was pictured, along with information about the Tsar, Tsarina, Tsarevich, and each Grand Duchess. She looked at the blurb about Anastasia. Anastasia was a mischievous child. She enjoyed playing pranks, and would get in lots of trouble for sticking her tongue out behind rude people. While Anastasia was smart, she hated her studies. Like her sisters, she was fluent in Russian, English, and French. Also like her sisters, she loved her entire family. She shared a room with Maria. The two girls made up the little pair, and were extremely close.

She thought about it. She didn't know if she was ever close with Grand Duchess Maria. She had always tried to be polite, though she suspected she would have been less polite if she'd had the power. She'd never been formally educated. The only thing she could really confirm from the list was the language fluencies. She spoke Russian, of course, and had also spoken French with Vlad. So she could confirm two out of the three fluencies.

"Anya, how are you doing?" Dimitri was talking to her. She was surprised. Maybe he was finally trying to be polite. Vlad was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Vlad?" She asked.

"Oh, you know. Probably flirting with someone." Dimitri said. Anya giggled.

"I'm doing well. How are you?" She asked.

"I'm good." He said. "What are you reading?"

"The book that you and Vlad made me read in St. Petersburg." She showed him. "I thought that if I'm trying to remember and entire lifetime, I might as well try to learn a little more of my family history."

"That's a good idea." He pointed to the photo of Anastasia in the book. "Look, you really do look just like her. But with color." She looked at the photo. Aside from the fact that Anastasia had a hair fringe covering her forehead in the picture, they really did look alike.

"Do you think I really am her? Anastasia." Anya asked suddenly. She held her breath, waiting for the answer.

"I think that if I were the dowager empress, I'd want you to be her." Dimitri finally said.

"But do you think I'm her?" Anya said. It was then that Vlad came back down the aisle of the train and plopped down in between them.

"What did I miss?" He asked. Another man came down the aisle.

"Papers!" He called out. He reached Vlad. "Papers."

"Is there a problem, gentlemen?" Vlad asked. Anya stuffed her face back in her book and pretended not to be listening.

"We're looking for someone who is illegally leaving the country." Another man walked up on the other side of them.

"Didn't have the right papers, eh?" Vlad said. One of the men rudely interrupted him.

"He had the right papers. Wrong name. Count Ipolitev."

Then there was a gunshot. A gunshot, and she heard voices. Voices telling her to run.

"No!" She said, burying her face in Dimitri's shoulder. Her entire body was tense and she would have sprinted away if it weren't for the fact that she was on the train.

"I'm going to try to find out what's going on." Vlad stood up and started to walk away.

"We know what's going on." Dimitri said. Anya let out a sob. She could practically hear the heartbeat of her little dog, what was his name, Toby. Alexei was beside her. People. Guns.

"Calm her down." Vlad said. "Her tears will betray us." Dimitri pulled away.

"We'll be safe soon." Dimitri said to her. We'll be safe soon. She remembered those words. A false promise.

"That's what the soldiers said when they were pointing their guns at us." Anya whispered. "They said they were taking us somewhere safe. Toby's little heart was beating against mine. They're decent men, I told him. They won't hurt us."

"No one's pointing guns at you, you're taking this too far, Anya!" Dimitri cried.

"What if I am really her?" Anya said. Dimitri shushed her.

"We're almost out of Russia." Dimitri whispered. "Once we cross the border, we're safe."

"You put these ideas in my head, and I'm beginning to think they might be true." She said. It was easier to blame him for these thoughts than confront the truth: that she might actually be a grand duchess.

"We're in trouble! They just gave orders to arrest two men, and one young woman." Vlad suddenly ran up to them.

"That could be anyone!" Dimitri said.

"I don't think so." He opened the paper. There, printed plain as day, were their pictures.

"We're getting off!" Anya suddenly said. She surprised even herself. She grabbed the side of the train, pulling herself by the scaffolding. The rough material scraped her fingers. She was pretty sure she was bleeding. She hear Dimitri yelling at her. She kept going. She felt him shimmy up next to her, and then saw Vlad. The wind whipped in her hair. The train was traveling so fast. There was no way they could do this safely. She somehow managed to turn herself around, so that her back was to the cold metal and she held on with one hand. She grabbed Dimitri's hand with the other.

"Jump!" She screamed at the same time as Vlad and Dimitri. Together, the three wanted criminals lept off of the train and into the unknown.

HAHAHA RIP any chance of an upload schedule that I was trying to create. I've been trying to get back in the swing of school, so I'm sorry to anyone who cares. But I'm back, I didn't die, yay!