From Russia With Love

It was late in the afternoon and Dominika was lying across her new bed, leafing through brochures she’d been given from the ballet company. She was wearing slightly more stylish clothing since Donna had lent her some pieces to tide her over till they went shopping to bulk out her wardrobe. Everything she had ever owned had been left behind in Russia, save for the few personal toiletry and clothing items she’d been given back at the American base. In a way she was glad to have a fresh start, nothing to remind her of the traumas she’d suffered before fleeing her homeland, but a large part of her pined for familiarity. She closed her eyes for a moment and imagined she was in her bedroom at home on the royal estate, spread out on her bed with the window thrown wide open, tempting in the breeze that blew across the fields from the woods. In her mind she could almost hear the chatter of her family floating up the stairs and she smiled, remembering her older brothers’ constant bickering.

Her brothers, Alik and Vadem were twins, and had been the oldest of the family. Being almost the exact same age as Gerard, their parents had originally hoped the three boys would play together, but their interests had been too different and they never really became close, Gerard tending to gravitate towards Dominika instead. Alik and Vadem enjoyed their box cars and soccer games, and Gerard preferred writing, drawing and reading. That was until he’d gained a real interest in joining the Military. The irony was that the boys would end up training alongside each other by the time they were teenagers, her brothers in the Russian forces and Gerard in the American.

She was completely wrapped up in the imaginary scene when knocking came at her door and Donna stuck her head into the room.

“Oh good! You’re awake, I thought you might be sleeping. John is here to meet you, will you come downstairs?”

Dominika slid off the bed and followed Donna out of the room, downstairs and into the formal sitting room. A man dressed in a dark suit with salt-and-pepper hair sat on one of the green lounges, staring off into space. He stood quickly as they entered the room and nodded first to Donna, then her.

“John, I’d like you to meet the lovely Dominika, fresh off the plane from Russia just this morning” Donna said, putting her hand on Dominika’s shoulder. Jonathon extended his hand and shook hers firmly. He smiled and it seemed to reach his eyes, bright blue and framed in creases. Dominika would have put his age somewhere between late forties and early fifties.

“Dominika, pleased to meet you. I’m Johnathon, or just John. I’m going to be the one keeping you out of trouble”

She looked back at Donna for a moment with a questioning look. Donna laughed and waved her hand.

“He’s only kidding Domi, you’ll get used to his terrible American humor”

The corners of her lips twitched into a smile as she spoke in a quiet voice.

“Pleased to meet you, too”

John stayed at the house for the rest of the afternoon and past dinner time, entertaining Dominika with stories of his days as a bodyguard for famous pop stars in the 1980’s. He was a sweet and endearing man with a sense of humor and endless tales to tell. It turned out John had been the head of security for the Way family before they’d moved to Russia, and had even spent time there when Dominika was a child, helping train the Russians to the do the same job. These days he mostly did casual work but remained in contact with the family as a close personal friend. She felt safe knowing they’d chosen someone close to them to be her escort.

“Well, I better be going, or I’ll talk your ear off all night” John said, heaving himself off the couch. Donna stood too.

“Thank you so much for coming John” she said, walking him back to the foyer “what time on Wednesday?”

“What time does she need to be there?”

“They want her in by eight I believe, it shouldn’t be a long day, though”

“I’ll pick you up at seven-thirty on Wednesday, Dominika” he called to her. She waved back, smiling.

“Thank you, John, it was nice to meet you”

“And you, Princess, goodnight”

After he left, Dominika headed back to her room to shower and sleep for the night. The time zones had completely thrown her off, and while she wouldn’t normally be heading to bed for another ten or so hours back home, she was so exhausted from the change and everything that had happened in the last few days that she knew she’d be asleep before her head even hit the pillow. She said goodnight to Donna before climbing the stairs and noted that Donald hadn’t arrived home yet. Working late, she assumed.

She stood in the shower, letting the hot water stream over her body as she considered this new life in America. The second she allowed herself to feel any excitement, the guilt began to creep in. Here she was, thinking about all the new things she would enjoy, while her people were suffering back in her homeland. Regardless of whether or not her life had depended on it, she still felt as though she had abandoned them. A horrible wave of dread washed over her as she wondered how she would be received when she went back. Would they ever accept her as their princess again when she had left them to the Americans to protect? What would her parents have done if they had survived? The thought of them brought on another round of desperate sadness, so she shut off the water and wrapped herself in the plush towel hanging over the glass shower stall.

Dominika changed into her night clothes with the lights off in her bedroom, trying to push the dark thoughts out of the front of her mind. The moon was bright outside, casting the room in just enough silver light that she could clearly make out her surroundings as she got into bed. She pushed her face into her pillow and hummed, trying to distract herself, but all she could picture was the hills of Russia on fire, burning as the people fled their homes.

A mixture of sad and angry tears burned her eyes as she threw the covers back suddenly and pulled her duvet over to the bay window, stretching out amongst the cushions and arranging it over her on the seat.

From here, she had an uninterrupted view of the moon, perfectly round and large in the dark night sky, surrounded by stars. Dominika sighed deeply, and her anxiety eased knowing she was looking at the exact same moon she’d looked at every night of her life in Russia.

Notes

Sorry guys, I know these "filler" chapters to piece the parts of the story together might be a little boring to read after all the excitement of the first parts, but I promise we are building back into more excitement :) Stick with me! Thanks for reading x