NO. 17 - I DID NOT SEE THAT COMINGDirty Secret, Wrongfully Accused
A girl breathlessly unclenched her hands, revealing a small roll of starchy bread. She faced the other girl opposite to her own bed and gave a small smile. This new girl — Natalia — smiled back. Everyone else slept soundly, not daring to make a sound like Natalia and Anastasia during the middle of a dark winter night. Especially since the numbers had significantly decreased into ten from the starting number of twenty-eight.
Splitting the bread into two, Anastasia offered her friend the other piece. Natalia gratefully took it and started to silently nibble on the corner. They were both relatively young, being just preteens, albeit smaller ones due to a constant pang of hunger gnawing at their guts.
When she was finished with the bread, Natalia mouthed, Thank you.
Anastasia nodded and wiped the smile off of her face. It became blank as she reached besides her pillow and grabbed a fading silver key. Taking her wrist, Anastasia locked her handcuffs back onto the metal bed frame. She passed the key to Natalia and watched her do the same, hearing a small click as it locked tight enough to leave an angry red scar. Natalia then lifted the corner of her thin mattress and felt around for a gap between the material. When she finally found it, she placed the key inside and lowered the mattress.
The darkness in the shared bedroom of all the girls covered Natalia and Anastasia's tracks perfectly. No one else had access to the key, and even if they did — it was extremely risky.
Morning came quickly. A lazy sunrise slowly stretched over the horizon and lit up the room through the holes in the window's shutters. Every morning, the routine usually went like this:
Madame B walking in and moving towards the closest bed. She'd use her key and uncuff the first girl, repeating the same process until everyone was free and had started changing from their thin nightgowns into their school outfits. They'd meet Madame B outside the room and follow her down the hall. If the girls were lucky enough, breakfast would be served. Otherwise, they would go straight to the classroom and practice a foreign language with its culture. Then it was training time.
Today, however, Madame B made no move for anyone's bed. She looked at each one of them with a tight line knitted as her mouth.
"This—" she held up the key she always used— "is an untouchable item. You touch, you die. Simple."
Madame B started to walk up and down the aisle of beds. Each girl's expression remained a stoic mask, too tightly woven to give away any details about how any of them were actually feeling. Feelings were for the weak. Natalia was not weak, but instead a solid piece of marble.
Madame B continued, "One of the keys has been reported missing by the Winter Soldier."
Natalia mentally shivered at the name. He was cold and very good at what he did. She knew from experience of being pit against Soldat how fights with him usually went. Natalia also instinctively flickered her gaze to Anastasia, but her friend's face was unreadable as if she were calculating how long they could last before a fatal punishment when caught. It wasn't a matter of if, but when.
"One of you has our key — a vor. You will be punished severely, and I suggest you step forward now to spare yourself the wait."
There was a moment of long silence.
Then someone said, "Natalia. You heard her." It was Anastasia.
Natalia felt a lump rise up in her throat. Her friend was turning her in! She narrowed her eyes at Anastasia, but the other girl's eyes were only filled pools of determination. Part of Natalia wanted to scream and do something other than sit there, attached to a stupid bed frame as she was betrayed. Of course, the other part wanted out of everything. She could meet Death right now and end the suffering and all the torture endured over years of Red Room methods. She would go out with a streak of rebellion to be remembered by — not as a nightmare plaguing another girl's dreams at night, or a face of one of their victims that they couldn't remember.
Natalia hated feeling this detached. Making her own choices had never been something a Red Room recruit did.
"Is this true, Natalia?" Madame B asked, voice sharp. But Natalia heard something off about it... Almost like it was a test? She pushed it back and blamed it on her own vulnerability.
Natalia swallowed thickly. "Yes, I admit it. I won't resist punishment, Madame B."
Madame B stopped at the head of Natalia's bed and undid her handcuffs. The girl sat up, not even bothering to run her sore wrists with knowing there wasn't a purpose anymore. But then, Anastasia's handcuffs got unlocked, too, and Madame B announced:
"I did not see that coming... Natalia, with me. Anastasia, in front."
The girls shared a look with each other, both reading something along the lines of, We're both so dead. Thanks a lot, and nice knowing you!
They eventually arrived at the training room. Soldat stood readily with a handgun in his hands, already aimed as he examined the target he'd just been shooting at. He nodded to Madame B and handed over the weapon. She then put it in Natalia's too small hands.
"The Red Room program doesn't accept liars, Anastasia," Madame B told her. "Natalia will have to take care of you now."
Anastasia's eyes widened slightly.
Several minutes later, a new stain of blood had joined the others upon the training room's hardwood floor. The only sound that had come from the room where it happened was a single muffled gunshot. Natalia was seen later in the classroom, but Anastasia was nowhere to be seen... Meaning she was dead.