"One ticket to Paris, please." Anya said to the porter once she arrived to the front of the train station.
"Exit papers." he said, glaring down at the woman.
"Exit papers? I don't have…" She gasped. That seemed steep for a train ticket.
"No exit papers? No ticket!" he snapped curtly, slamming the window shut. Anya and the older woman behind her gasped in shock. Anya sniffed, trying to hold back her tears; all her hard work and travelling all the way to St. Petersburg had gone to waste… how was she going to Paris now?
"Psst."
Anya turned around to see the older woman. She was wrapped in multiple shawls and her white hair shot out from her hood in thick tufts.
"See Dmitri. He can help…" she whispered, her eyes darting left and right. Anya leaned closer to her.
"Where can I find him?" Anya whispered, regaining her hopes that she could still go to Paris.
"At the Yusupov palace. But you never heard it from me." The woman responded, shaking her head.
"Oh." Anya said, turning back towards town as the older woman ushered her away with whispers of "Go", "Dmitri…"
She quickly said thank you to the older woman before running back to town.
Anya looked at the intimidating crowd in front of her, she had gotten herself lost and had no idea where to go or what to do. She had tried asking for directions but no one seemingly heard her, and she couldn't blame them with all the racket there was.
"Um, ex-excuse me?" Anya stammered to a man nearby. Fortunately, it was loud enough for the man to hear.
"Yes, how may I help you Madame?"
"Finally!" Anya thought to herself in exasperation after calling out to the villagers so many times. "I'm looking for the Yusupov palace."
"It's that way!" The man said "But no one lives here anymore so feel free to do whatever you want with it."
Anya thanked the man graciously as she made her way to the palace.
Anya looked up at the palace above. The palace was beautiful, although, somewhat dilapidated and neglected. She couldn't shake off a sense of familiarity as she wandered the outside, trying to find an entrance. She looked at the boarded up door and leaned against the wooden boards, peering inside before prying the boards away. A tough pull and they flew off, sending her to the ground and landing with a thump.
Soon after, Anya made her way inside and began exploring the castle. The rooms were mostly dark, very little light filtered in through the windows. Cobwebs and dust covered almost every surface. Tables, chairs, tapestries, along with many other objects, lay in disarray.
"Hello? Anybody home?" Anya called out into the emptiness, she looked up at the flight of stairs above her and slowly began to make her way up. The stairs led her down the hallway into a small parlour.
The room was covered in tapestries and large paintings, and hand-carved tables and chairs were scattered about. A long table was covered with silver mirrors. Everything was covered in a fine layer of dust and cobwebs. Anya picked up one of the small mirrors on the table and wiped the dust off with her hand. Once clean, she saw something else on the mirror- the black and white photograph of a royal family, however; one of the girls in the picture caught her attention. She shrugged and placed the mirror back on the table. She shook her head once or twice, trying to shake off the strange sense of belonging to the place. Surely she must be dreaming, but something about this place just felt impossibly familiar…
She slowly made her way towards the door, where a small vase stood in front of a mirror. It was painted with delicate swans, bears and twisting vines of flowers.
"This place… it's strange… it's almost like a memory from a dream…" Anya whispered to herself as she examined the complex details of the vase, tracing the gilded wings of the swans. Her gaze soon focused on the reflection in the mirror, her reflection was different; she was wearing a long, light pink dress that glittered and felt lighter than air. Shaking her head vigorously, she snapped out of her daydream. Soon after, she heard a loud crashing noise nearby, dashing to the room to investigate the source…
The dress' description was based on what Anya wore during the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade performance, I found it beautiful so I found a way to incorporate it into the story.
