Мишка ✦ 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐨𝐰

𒊹𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐰𝐨𒊹

2008

The child was barely six years old. She didn't even flinch when there was a loud bang on the door of the room that was so familiar to her. The door flew open and several people walked in. Madame B had that stoic expression on her face that gave nothing away. A girl at least ten years older that the child followed closely behind, along with two guards who stood by the door. Natalia stood up from the chair which she had been sat on and turned to her daughter. That innocent, unsuspecting look in the child's face. She had no idea how much harder her life was about to become. Just as Natalia reached out towards her child a hand gripped her arm. The pair of guards pulled Natalia back harshly and just as the small girl moved to help her mother she herself was caught in a grip too strong for her to break free from. Her Mama stood in front of her fighting the two guards that were holding her by the arms. They both screamed and cried for each other as the two guards dragged Natalia out of the room away from her daughter. She kicked her feet against the floor trying desperately to stop them from taking her away. She knew it would be the last time she saw her and she didn't want to let go. Not yet. The child sobbed helplessly as she watched her mother's distraught eyes staring at her, tear filled. She tried everything to free herself, fighting a loosing battle. Neither of them could do anything but watch in distress as they tore her Mama away from her. They didn't need telling, she knew she wouldn't see her mother again.

Meanwhile Madam B stood in the corner smiling smugly. It was that expression that made the girl's blood boil. She hated that woman so much after that day.

As the tiny girl's Mama was dragged into the hallway she began to stop fighting against the guards. Her expression changed. Her desperate and angry screaming and erratic moving stopped and instead she cried her name sadly. "Taliya YA tebya lyublyu" she cried out as she was pulled further and further away from her little girl. The frail girl tried to run forwards towards her Mama but she wasn't strong enough to break free from the older girl's grip. Taliya I love you.

As Madam B walked into the hallway after her Mama and the guards the girl's energy began to fade and she too started to loose hope of being able to break free and reach her Mama. The door slammed shut and with the click of the lock she was released from grip.

She ran to the door crying. The girl could barely see out of the small window at the top of the door. Her Mama banged her fists against the window shouting and crying. "Taliya! Taliya!" She cried out. The girl cried and shouted too as she stood on her tiptoes to reach the window. "Mama!" She sobbed as she looked up at her Mama through the window. Her tearful green eyes and red hair looking at her daughter through the glass.

Her face slipped away from the window and once her hand left the glass she knew she was gone. After that she never saw her again. She had already lost her Papa and now her Mama was gone.

Everything inside her broke. Tears streamed down her face. She cried for hours until she couldn't cry anymore. Even in her sleep she cried. For the first time Nataliya slept alone knowing her Mama wouldn't return. Madam B had cracked the girl's marble finally. She wasn't finished there though.

Nataliya was left in the room on her own for days. She refused to touch the food they gave her. She didn't want anything but her mother.

That room was one of the few places Nataliya knew. Since she could remember she'd lived in that room. It's scratched wooden floor and creaky metal bed. There was a strange homeliness to the large window and shutters and the fireplace were the only source of heat came from.

"Vstavay rebenok" Madame B instructed as she entered the room. Nataliya rose to her feet solemnly and looked at the white haired woman with her reddened eyes. "Davay, tebe pora poznakomitʹsya s drugimi devushkami" Taliya followed Madame B through the corridors and down the stairs. Get up child. Come on it's time you meet the other girls.

When Madame B pushed her into the room it was very different to her old room. For starters there were more beds. Much more beds. The walls were bare and it felt cold. The other girls stared at her as she stood in the middle of the room. No one said anything. Not until Madame B left the room.

Nataliya sat on her new bed and looked at the pile of clothes at the end of the bed. A new set of uniform : white shirt, bright red tie, black tights, black skirt, v-neck wool jumper and her laced leather shoes were already on her feet. There was also a pair of fur lined black boots, grey Ushanka hat, black double breasted fur lined military coat for outside along with a nightgown, leotard and pink tights for ballet.

"Ty dolzhno bytʹ novenʹkaya, ya Dzhordzhina" a voice caught Taliya's attention, was she talking to her? Nataliya looked up at the girl who was stood next to her bed. Her long black hair hung over her shoulders in plaits and her deep brown eyes that radiated warmth in the cold environment. "Da, ya Natalʹya" Nataliya watched as a small smile formed on the girl's face. They didn't know it at the time but a unbreakable friendship was going to form between the two of them, one which neither of them would forget. You must be new, I'm Georgina. Yes, I'm Nataliya.

That night Nataliya couldn't sleep. It was the first time she'd slept in a different room to the one she shared upstairs with her mother and she didn't like it. The handcuff rubbed her wrist as she tossed and turned in her bed. She missed her Mama so much it hurt.

The following morning the girls were getting dressed. Nataliya watched as the other girls plaited each other's hair. Her hand subconsciously ran through her own head of wavy red hair as she watched them. Her Mama used to plait her hair but she wasn't here to do it anymore. A tear threatened to slip from her eye as she continued to get ready. "Ty skuchayeshʹ po svoyey semʹye?" Georgina asked as Nataliya stood silently staring blankly as the girls waited to be collected for their lesson. She nodded a silent response to Georgina "stanet legche, obeshchayu" Georgina gave Nataliya a weak smile. As much as Georgina promised it would get easier it never did you just became more numb to the feeling of homesickness and sadness. It didn't become easier it just became harder to remember them. You miss your family? It gets easier I promise

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Author's Note

This is the first chapter that actually has any substance to it so I hope you like it. For those wondering about Nataliya's face claim: the girl in the gif I cannot find a name for unfortunately but Nataliya's official face claim which is on the book cover, at the top of chapter one and the person I imagined her as when I wrote this is actually Scarlett Johansson when she was little with the addition of red hair using photoshop.

FYI I speak not one word of Russian so if it is completely wrong blame google translate. Also to make it easier to read when the characters are speaking Russian I wrote the words phonetically instead of grammatically because if you don't read Russia trying to understand how to say the words is very hard.