Russian Flower [1] EDITING

1-Graduation

Wow... this story seriously sucked and I have no clue how anyone liked it. Anyway, I'm going to do some serious revising and editing as I'm kind of embarrassed of this story. I'll unpublish all the chapters so I can revise and not have serious plot-holes. There will be some serious changes because I was not happy with this story and how it compared to my more recent works. 

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Sixteen years. That's how long I've been here. I despised every single inch of it. From the rock like mattress to the ridiculous outfit they made me wear. All of it was stupid and could go to hell. It was not my fault I ended up here, more so just a string of bad circumstances that all lead to me ending up here. My name is Arina. Arina means "peace" but my life has been anything but peaceful. My downward spiral of events all began when I was just four years old.

It was just like any other day. My family and I had sat down to eat dinner as per usual. While it was never anything outstanding, it was always a luxury that there was something to eat, most families did not have that pleasure. I remember Papa asking Mama about her day at work and making some jokes with me and my siblings. That was when the roof started to shake. Dust began to fall from the ceiling. My brother grabbed my sister and took her into their room. Mama spoke some incoherent words to me, while Papa ushered me into their room and underneath their bed. The ground and ceiling shook as several loud noises boomed through the air. My ears began to ring as one happened right above me. I clenched my eyes shut as I braced for whatever was going on. I coughed as dust made its way into my lungs and try to suffocated me. Everything seemed to settle and the noises stopped.

I slowly opened my eyes to see nothing but darkness. I was still underneath Mama and Papa's bed, but there was stuff surrounding it. My small hands did their best to try to break me out form my trap of debris. Once I was out, I found that everything that meant anything to me had been reduced to nothing but dust and ash. Tears spilled down my cheeks as I took in my childhood home. I found my teddy bear that had miraculously survived and clutched it close to my chest as I left what was once my home.  

Nine months of living on the streets brought me to shivering in an alley way in the middle of December. I held my teddy bear tight to my chest as I shivered. I had no coat or blanket to keep me warm, so the tattered teddy bear would have to do. My nose was runny and my fingertips were beginning to turn blue. A warm hand came down on my shoulder. I glanced up to find a woman there with blonde hair and blue eyes. 

She smiled sweetly at me as she asked, "Are you cold, little one?"

I nodded slightly at her question.

"Would you like to come home with me so we can warm you up?" she reached her hand out to me.

Me being the innocent, naive little girl I was, I stood and took her hand and followed her. She took me to the train station, where she brought me into the heart of Russia. Where she claimed was home seemed like anything but to me. The floors were a pristine white marble and the interior was made of a dark wood. She brought me down a staircase and in front of me was a ballet studio. Several older girls turned as their instructor made snide comments on their movements. 

"We will take care of you here, little one. Welcome to your new home, the Red Room."

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That was sixteen years ago. Girl had came and gone throughout the Red Room. I never got attached to anyone. The only oddity that seemed to stay was a boy name Bryce. They never brought boys in here, but he was the exception. 

Currently, I stood in front of the woman who brought me here all those years ago, Madame B, and the dance instructor. I was in the line of girls that they were choosing who would graduate. My bun was tight to my head as I stood perfectly to attention. 

"Again," the instructor ordered. 

I stayed emotionless as I went through the dance routine once more. A girl stumbled to my left and fell to the ground. 

"Stop."

The instructor stood and waited for the girl to stand. She did and got in line with the rest of us. She stayed emotionless as did the rest of us. A harsh slap was sent to her face at her mistake. 

"Do better."

I could feels my toes bleeding from the hours upon hours we spent performing the same routine today. I saw the panel who was choosing the graduate sat high above us. A man came down from the panel and whispered something to Madame B. She snapped and the instructor came to stand by her side as the man began to walk in front of the girls. He came to a stop at me and I swallowed as I was afraid if he would deem me a failure or not. 

He smiled slightly and pointed at me.

"You," he smiled. "We will send her through the other tests and decide if she is the graduate or not."

Madame B stood proudly at his statement. 

"The rest of you are dismissed," Madame B ordered.

The other girls left quietly and wordlessly. I stayed silent as he made a circle around me to inspect me. He snapped and motioned for me to follow him. I took a deep breath as I followed him into another room. The floors were a dark red in this room, and I had never been in here before. Rumor was that this room was the reason why it was called the Red Room. A target stood across the room. A handgun was handed to me with the ammo laying on the table beside me. I quickly grabbed the ammo and loaded the gun and shot five shots with my right hand, before reloading and shooting five times with my left. The bullets all landed at their mark of the center of the head and the middle of the torso. 

"One final test," the man spoke in his thick Russian accent. 

The girl who had messed up earlier was brought in. They moved her in the spot of the target. A bag was placed over her head as her hands were tied behind her back by ropes. I knew her very well. Her name was Vera. My eyes were blank as they told me my next order.

"Get rid of the mistakes."

I reloaded the gun and aimed it at her head. My finger twitched over the trigger and pulled it and just like that Vera was on the floor with blood pooling out of her head.