Part Six: Annika Muller The Girl
Section One: Tragic News From Afar
February 1992
It has been about a week and a half since Albert had gone away for his abrupt business trip. Before he turned Annika over to the care of the Vasnev's, he stated that he would call whenever he had a free moment to check and see how she was doing; it was the best he could offer since he wasn't psychically able to keep an eye on her. He also sent his subordinate to check up on her and the family every evening to make certain they were safe in their new community. So far everything was working out well for everyone.
Kazia still attended the last of her classes at Raccoon University while Dr. Vasnev still attended to his patient's in the Edonian immigrant community. While they resumed their everyday activities, they were escorted by members of Umbrella's private security team as requested by Wesker before he departed. Annika also had a one-person security detail, which was more than adequate considering she lived and worked in the safe confines of Bella Vista Pointe. While she was grateful that someone was watching over her, she felt a little uncomfortable with someone watching her every move.
Otherwise, Annika was slowly getting adjusted to her new life in Arklay County. Things were far quieter here than they were in Raccoon City and that included her new job. The flower shop that Annika worked in was busy preparing for Valentine's Day and the orders flooded in for the romantic holiday. Mrs. Morgan, Annika's new boss, was so patient and kind to Annika. In the two days she worked, Annika made a few minor mistakes, but Mrs. Morgan always corrected her with gentle words and encouragement, this made the transition for the both of them a lot easier.
It was the middle of the day and Annika was finishing up with a large order of carnations for a customer, when Mrs. Morgan came from the stock room in the back holding a very large bundle of roses.
"When you are finished Annika." Mrs. Morgan said. "Would you mind giving me a hand with these roses?"
"Yes Mrs. Morgan." Annika said handing the young man his bundle of flower.
When the transaction was over, Annika walked over to where Mrs. Morgan was and helped her sit down the roses onto the arrangement table. While they were prepping the flowers in walked an odd-looking man wearing a dark grey suit. Mrs. Morgan excused herself while Annika continued the work sorting the flowers.
"Good afternoon Sir." Mrs. Morgan said cheerfully. "How may I help you today?"
The man began to speak, but it was in a language Mrs. Morgan didn't understand. Annika looked up immediately, because she knew the dialect the man was speaking was Edonian. Annika stopped what she was doing and went over to her boss.
"Pardon me Mrs. Morgan." Annika said sweetly. "But he is speaking Edonian."
"He is?" She questioned. "Do you feel comfortable translating?"
"Yes Miss Morgan." Annika said cheerfully.
She turned away from her boss and looked at the man with a warm cheerful smile, "Welcome to our shop Sir. How may we help you today?"
The man looked at Annika strangely and smiled. There was something in his crooked grin that sent unsettling chills down Annika's spine, but she had to suppress the uncanny feeling and get through this transaction the best she could.
"I am looking for white and blue bellflower." The man said sternly. "Like they have in our homeland?"
"What is he asking for Annika?" Mrs. Morgan asked.
"Blue and white bellflowers." Annika answered strangely.
"I'm not sure what that is?" Mrs. Morgan said.
"They are Edonian funerary flowers." She answered. "But I don't think we stock them."
Annika turned away from her boss and looked at the man strangely. He seemed familiar to her, but she could not think of where she saw him before. Snapping out of her momentary silence, she then said, "I am sorry for your loss, but we do not stock bellflowers at this shop."
"The loss is not mine." The man said cryptically. "They are for you Miss Muller."
The color drained from Annika face and Mrs. Morgan recognized this and asked, "What's wrong Annika?"
"Why would I need funeral flowers?" Annika managed to ask the man, not responding to her boss's question.
"Are you not Annika Teresa Muller?" The man asked.
Annika hesitated to answer.
"Annika?" Mrs. Morgan whispered softly pulling her aside. "What is happening?"
"This man knows my name." She whispered back. "He says the flowers are for me?"
Mrs. Morgan, unsure of who this character was and given everything that Wesker had told her about her situation this encounter was extremely unsettling. Mrs. Morgan wasted no time in taking control of the situation.
"I want to know who you are!" Mrs. Morgan demanded. "And what you want Miss Muller?"
The man looked down at Mrs. Morgan with disdain and then said in gruff English, "I have been sent from Miss Muller's hometown in Edonia to inform her of the passing of her father, Misha Radovan Muller."
Annika gasped to hear her father had passed away.
"Do you have some sort of official documentation?" Mrs. Morgan questioned suspiciously. "Something stating he has passed as well as something stating who you are?"
The man grumbled something under his breath while digging into the pockets of his dark gray coat. After a moment or two, he found what he was looking for and produced an Menlick-Silavo Civil Servant card as well as the death certificate for Annika's father. Mrs. Morgan took the documents and glanced at them, but did not scrutinize them as much as she would have liked, because she couldn't understand the Edonian alphabet, so she handed the documents to Annika. Annika looked at the identification badge closely for a moment. There was something a little odd about it. She wracked her brain to remember how civil servant identification looked in her hometown.
The limited times that town officials and civil servants stayed at the inn Annika's father showed her their ID so she could get accustomed to how they looked, since there were a few instances of id cards being falsified. Traditionally, their ID's had between two and four gold, silver, or bronze stars underneath the pictures, depending on their rank in the town government. This man's id only had bronze two stars on it. Annika then took a quick glance at the name on the badge, Sergei Pavlovič. Try as she may to recall any Pavlovič family members in her hometown, Annika only drew a blank.
Annika looked at the death certificate and her heart sank. According to the death certificate her father had passed from a sudden heart attack three days ago. It was strange to think that she would never see her father again. Even despite all the terrible things he had done to her, he was still her father and it was heartbreaking to know he was gone now. The last time she saw her father was the night she left for the capital.
The entire day she spent being more cautious than usual when she was around her father. He must have picked on how guarded she was, because on that day he wasn't as cruel towards her as he normally was. She remembered that night before she feigned going to bed, her father actually praised her for all the hard work she had done that day, which was extremely uncharacteristic of him. She also recalled feeling racked with guilt about leaving him all alone after having such a good day with him, but everything about her escape had been planned and she could not back out.
When she escaped the inn on that dark bitterly cold night, she prayed that her father may someday find it in his heart to forgive her for abandoning him and maybe, if she returned, he would welcome her with open arms. But now with him having passed, she would never be able to reconcile with him. It made her heart sink to know he went to his grave never knowing what happened to her or that she was doing well. Annika was forced to sort out all of the conflicted and unresolved emotions she had about him alone.
"Has my Uncle Alexei been informed?" Annika asked the man with her voice trembling a bit.
The man did not answer.
"Does my Uncle Alexei Muller know about my father's death?" Annika asked again.
"He is in the Capital for the meeting of Holy Order." The man answered. "Someone has been dispatched to inform him."
Annika knew her uncle was indeed in the capital. Following the celebration of the birth of Annika's cousin, Father Muller told Annika that he would be remaining in Edonia for the Feast of Saint Christos. When the holiday was over, he would be heading to the Capital for the meeting of the Holy Order. More than likely he would be unreachable due to the meeting of the Holy Order. This gathering was a convening of the clergy of the Edonian Orthodoxy and lasted nine days. Since her uncle was the Bishop the Raccoon City Edonian Orthodox, Alexei would no doubt be nearly impossible to reach during the nine-day assembling.
"I understand." Annika said softly. "Do you need me to sign my father's death certificate?"
"Your grandmother has taken care of that." The man said gruffly switching back to speaking in Edonian dialect. "I am here to inform you of the passing of Misha Radovan Muller and escort you back to Edonia."
"What is he saying to you Annika?" Mrs. Morgan asked sounding concerned.
"He says I am to go back to Edonia with him." Annika answered.
"It is your duty Miss Muller." The man said speaking bluntly in English. "You are your father's only child, it is your responsibility to pay respects to the man who brought you into the world, as well as reconcile his estate."
"But I am a girl." Annika answered. "I am unable to inherit the inn since I am unmarried. I assume the inn will fall to my Uncle Alexei or one of my other uncles."
"There are other matters you are responsible for Miss Muller." The man said with the same bitter angry tone. "You are obligated to return to Menlick-Silavo immediately."
Mrs. Morgan looked at Annika nervously while Annika stood there silent. After a moment, Mrs. Morgan pulled her away into the stock room, so the strange man would not be privy to their conversation.
"You don't have to go anywhere you don't want to Annika." Mrs. Morgan said.
"I know." Annika said timidly. "But he is correct, I do have an obligation to attend my father's funeral and be there for my grandmother."
"Do you trust this man Annika?" Mrs. Morgan asked cautiously.
Annika thought for a moment. She didn't trust this strange man. Something seemed really odd about everything he was saying. She was certain that if anything had happened to her father, Uncle Alexei would be one of the first people to be notified. He not only was he second born son, but also the family clergyman and he would certainly tell Annika regardless of what was going on with the church. However, when she thought about it, it was not uncommon for messengers to be dispatched to inform family members about the passing of other family members, but that was in Edonia. As far as she knew, this practice didn't travel to the US. And speaking of that, how did anyone know where she was? The last time her family tried to locate her was when she was in the Capital. How could they possibly know she was here? It was really unsettling.
"I don't know?" Annika said cautiously. "But if I don't go back to Edonia to deal with my father's passing, it would be considered extremely disrespectful. If I go back and pay my respects and reconcile his affairs, I will be looked upon favorably by my family."
"If you believe going back to Edonia is the right thing to do, then I wish you a safe journey." Mrs. Morgan conceded reluctantly. "How long do you think you will be in Edonia?"
"No more than a week." Annika answered.
"Would you like me to go with you to the airport?" Mrs. Morgan asked.
"I don't want to be a burden to you Mrs. Morgan." Annika said.
"It's no trouble at all dear." She said kindly. "Besides, there's something about this guy I don't completely trust and I think I should accompany you to the airport. Do you also want to tell your bodyguard?"
"Oh yes." Annika said suddenly remembering that she had someone watching over her while Albert was away. "We should tell him too."
"We'll both accompany you to the airport to make sure this man doesn't try anything." Mrs. Morgan said sternly.
"Thank you so very much Mrs. Morgan." Annika said kindly.
Mrs. Morgan patted Annika on the shoulder and they both went out to face the man who was waiting by the counter with a bitter scowl plastered across his face.
"Miss Muller, her bodyguard, and I will be accompanying her to the airport with you." Mrs. Morgan spoke sternly.
The man said nothing, he just stood there brooding. He was unaccustomed to having a woman speaking to him so coarsely or dictating how a situation would play out.
"When do I need to leave Mr. Pavlovič?" Annika asked.
"There is a flight leaving at seven tomorrow morning from Raccoon City to Hungry." He said angrily. "From Hungry we have to take another flight to Edonia. We should be there before his funeral which is set for Sunday according to your grandmother."
Mrs. Morgan looked at Annika, who seemed like she was deeply entrenched in thought. Mrs. Morgan gently touched her shoulder and smiled reassuringly.
"You don't have to go with him if you don't feel comfortable." She said.
"It's for the best that I return to Edonia." Annika conceded with a sigh.
"Ok then." Mrs. Morgan said.
"You have made a wise choice Miss Muller." The man said with a curious tone to his tenor voice. "Tell me your address and I will retrieve you first thing in the morning."
"You will meet Miss Muller here at 4 in the morning!" Mrs. Morgan stated emphatically.
Mr. Pavlovič sneered at Mrs. Morgan, but she would not be dissuaded.
"Very well." He spat. "I will be here tomorrow at 4 AM."
With that Mr. Mr. Pavlovič turned and walked out of the flower shop. When he was gone, Mrs. Morgan beckoned Rodger Fitzgerald, Annika's bodyguard, who was parked across the street conducting surveillance. When he came into the shop, they told him all about this peculiar man and the strange situation. It didn't take long for Mr. Fitzgerald to call into the office to start an investigation into Mr. Mr. Pavlovič, but information about him wouldn't be available until shortly before Annika had to depart with him. In the meanwhile, word was sent to Wesker about this new development, but due to his being indisposed with his current assignment, he had no further instruction for the team.