Alright everyone, so I know I have been really lazy with posting chapters, but school is really important to me, and I have a lot of netball going on, plus my academic exams. So here is the chapter 8. I will not make any promises but I should be able to post twice tomorrow! xx Hope you enjoy this chapter, is Alexei finally going to get to tell Grace what he's been wanting to tell her for years? And will he be able to get past what has happened to him in his childhood and help out his friends? Enjoy :)
PS. Sorry this chapter is really short, but I feel like it makes it easier to read and more fun for me as the author to leave you all guessing, not that my endings are very suspenseful yet... but they will be!
Thanks for supporting me throughout writing this whole story, as it is my first one, I was very nervous. But thanks to everyone who reviews and PMs me. ON TO THE STORY 3
CHAPTER 8: I LOVE YOU
Grace opens her mouth and shakes her head. She runs towards me and grabs me by the shoulders. She shakes me slightly.
'If Jamie and Dominic are in Europe, then-' She says, but I cut her off before she gets too scared.
'Not your brother.' I tell her, and she sighs, relieved and falls into my body. She looks like she is about to cry. I peel her off me and Noah assumes my place. I walk over to the table where my backpack and duffel bag have been sitting and sigh. I unzip the backpack and shake out all the contents. Grace looks absolutely gobsmacked. Her mouth is open and her eyes are wide. But everyone else just looks super confused.
'I'm confused.' Rosie says, putting her hands on her hips. 'How is a bag full of junk going to help us?' But no one answers her. We are all watching Grace, as she takes a step forward and reaches out to touch the pile. She runs her finger along one of the glossy photographs and breathes in.
She turns to face us all as she says, 'It's my mother's junk. She kept it in a secret room beneath her shop.' Grace has Rosie's attention at secret room. She jumps over to where the pile is and opens her mouth.
'Heilige Großartigkeit' she mutters, her eyes wide.
'My mother collected all this. She collected it, and she kept it hidden.' Grace says.
'And you only hide the things that matter,' Megan says as she meets Grace's gaze.
Grace looks at all of us from afar as we go through the pile of her mother's stuff. But I can tell she's not really seeing anything. She is going off to the land inside her head, and she needs an express return ticket. I walk over to her and touch her arm. She is cold, like really cold. I look into her eyes.
'Gracie, are you okay?' I say, but she doesn't seem to hear me. She just shudders. Like she is seeing a ghost. I stand next to her while the rest of the group shuffles through Caroline's things, but it is only when Megan speaks that she acknowledges me.
'Grace,' Says Megan, and finally she stops staring into space.
'Grace, you need to look at this. Do you recognise it?' Megan asks, holding up a little book, covered in soft brown leather.
Grace looks over at it briefly and then looks down at her feet.
'It's a calendar,' She says, without really looking at it. Instead, she looks over Megan's shoulder and through the window of the train.
'Do you want to...?' Megan begins, but Grace just shakes her head.
'No. You do it.' She says, and Megan and I can both hear what she didn't say. It would be so difficult for her to read her mother's writing, and see what she had planned out for the weeks after she died. I would never want Gracie to have to go through that, so I guide her gently over to a booth and sit her down. Megan nods after a while, and starts to flick through the pages, reading really, really quickly.
I walk around the carriage and stand over next to Noah, and when he runs his fingers through his hair, I get a glimpse of his watch. 7:48pm, Thursday 11th May. May 11. Exactly 10yrs ago today, was the day my mother went missing. The day my mother left without saying goodbye.
'Excuse me,' I whisper to Noah, and he looks up from his conversation with Rosie, consisting of the question, "Is it football, or soccer?".
'Hey Alexei, you alright?' He chases after me as I speed walk down the aisle. I turn around to face him, and plaster on my best diplomatic smile.
'Yeah... I'm fine, I just need a minute.' I say, turning and sitting down in one of the booths, around 10m away from the rest of the group.
I can't believe it. Ten years has gone by since my mother disappeared. I have missed her so, so much. I can't believe my father was so emotionless and calm on the TV. But then again, that's my father for you. Just an arrogant, selfish prick. I can't believe he would just stand there, and act normally – for him at least.
On this day ten years ago, his wife went missing, and his only son was left changed forever. But still, he stands there, not showing any indication that he actually gives two shits. I know I shouldn't get so angry, after all, he is Russian.
I remember the day that my mother went missing as if it was yesterday. I woke up to the sound of Mikhail's voice.
'Lyosha,' He said. 'Lyosha, come quickly, your mother is missing.' I raced out of bed and ran into my father's office. He was having a smoke with the Prime Minister of that time.
'Sir, you do know that Karina's missing, don't you?' Mikhail asked him bravely.
'Yes, of course I do!' My father snapped. 'Do you think I wouldn't notice that my wife didn't wake up in her bed this morning? Do you?'
'Well, are you going to do anything about it, or just sit here and smoke like you don't care!?' I yelled. That was the first time I ever stuck up to my father. God, the look in his eyes was the most terrifying thing I have ever seen.
'Come on, Lyosha, let's go up to your room.' Mikhail said, as he led up to my bedroom. I instantly started to cry. After all, I was only 9 at the time. Mikhail comforted me, and told me it would all be okay, and that we would find her. He didn't however tell me the truth. My father ordered all of his staff not to bother finding her. That night, as I lay crying in bed, my father came up to my room, through the door open and yelled.
'Alexei! Firstly, you will not cry. You are a man, for god's sake you brat. GET UP!' I stood up slowly and tried to pretend like I hadn't been crying. 'Secondly, you will not tell anyone that your mother is missing, it is bad for publicity. And finally, if I ever hear that you have even so much as mentioned her name, you will be sent to Russia and raised by some other unfortunate people! Do I make myself clear?'
That was the most scared I have ever been in my life. I just nodded, and he left the room without another word. I had always known that my father was harsh, but that he could speak to his son with such hatred and malice, was unfathomable to me.
Exactly one month after that day, both my father and I received identical letters, from a place called Binevale. It read:
Для предъявления по месту требования: Мы пишем, чтобы сообщить вам, что у нас есть так называемая MRS. Карина Волков. Увидев, что у нее нет никаких признаков каких-либо психических расстройств, мы просим вас прийти и получить то, что принадлежит вам. С Уважением, Виктор Заводчикова
To Whom It May Concern:
We write to inform you that we are in possession of a so-called, MRS. Karina Volkov. Seeing as she has no known signs of any mental disorders, we request that you come and retrieve what is yours.
Regards,
Viktor Zavodchikova
My father ignored the request, and left her there, forbade me to ever tell anyone about the letters or Binevale, and shut himself away in his office for 4 years, only coming out when absolutely necessary.
I am brought back from my past by the sound of Megan's voice. Perhaps too ironically, I feel like she said Binevale. But I can't be sure. So, I stand up and make my way back down the aisle, unaware that I have been crying. I wipe my eyes and breathe in deeply.
'No,' Grace says, shaking her head and looking at Noah.
'I've never heard of it, and Adria's not that big.' He says, and I move into the booth adjacent to Grace's. Yep they're definitely talking about Binevale.
'Megan,' Noah starts again. 'Can you get online and see if you can find out where this town might be and what-'
'It's not a town.' I say, my voice emotionless and I'm surprised it doesn't crack. I turn to the window and press my hand against the window. I need to stop talking about this. I feel like the place is bugged and wired, and if I tell them anymore, my father will come barging in here with half of the Russian Special Forces and attempt to kill me. I will not tell them about that day, or the letters, but I will clarify Binevale for them.
'And...' I say, knowing deep down I really shouldn't. 'And it's not in Adria.'
...
When we first get to the train station – after around 8 and ½ hours of sitting on the train from Paris to Lutherland, and trying to stay awake and protect Grace, if need be – it is 5:50 in the morning. And because no one was really adjusted to the different time of sunset, which was around 9:20pm, everyone – apart from me - all fell asleep at like 11pm and didn't wake up until I shouted and shook them all.
Grace still hasn't woken up properly, so I sit in the backseat - of the really old German car that we just hired - with her, and stroke her hair. She rests her head on my shoulders and I can't help but whisper to her. Noah is behind the wheel, with Rosie, who called shotgun first, sitting next to him. Megan sits to Grace's right, still very tired and napping as well.
'I know you can't hear me Gracie, but I've been dying to do this for years. I love you, and care for you more than I do myself. I want to have a happy life together, and even though that's not looking like a likely possibility at the moment, I promise I will make sure it works. I love you Grace, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.' I whisper, and she rubs her nose with her cute little fingers. For a second I am scared shitless that she is actually awake, and that she heard everything I said. I mean, I would gladly tell her, if I had the balls. But when she nestles into me, I am positive she is still asleep.
I hug her close into my body and imagine what our future will be like. If we ever get there.
