2"Oh my God, where is she?" Tiffany moaned. "Julian Litchfield is gonna have my neck!"
"I don't know what happened, she just jumped off the sled and started running away," Calvin panted as they rushed through the woods. "I tried to catch her, but she was just too fast."
"Anastasia, Anastasia, come out, this isn't funny!" Tiffany shouted.
"Holy shit! You guys better get over here fast!" Andrew yelled.
Calvin and Tiffany rounded the corned to see Andrew diving into the icy pond.
"Oh my God, Anastasia!" Calvin exclaimed, heading toward the pond.
Tiffany grabbed him by the arm, "We don't need everyone getting hypothermia, besides Andrew is a better swimmer than you are."
Calvin looked unhappy, but he accepted this.
"I'll run and get some blankets from the car; you help them get out of the water." Tiffany instructed, taking control of the situation. She ran off to the car.
Calvin helped to pull them out of the water taking Anastasia in his arms. She was shivering. "What happened?" he cried.
"You didn't see him, did you?" Anastasia asked, not answering his question.
"We'd better get out of here," Andrew said, shuddering.
"It was real, I swear," Anastasia insisted foggily.
Calvin picked Anastasia up, took one last look at the place where she had fallen through the thin ice, and took her to the car.
Julian Litchfield sat at his desk in his study. He stared out into the darkened sky. The bare trees were silhouetted by the nearly full moon. It was so much like the night that she- No, he would not think about that.
Yet he could help but think about her, on a night like this. He was all alone in the world except for Anastasia. And how Anastasia was exactly like her, her manner was identical. The way she walked down the halls, acting as thought someone might be following her. The way she stood up for what she believed.
The Nix boy didn't seem like such a bad kid. But Julian couldn't be too careful, not after what happened to Penny.
Julian opened the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out a picture. He smiled at the pretty girl in the picture, stoking her dark red hair.
It was Michael, he was the problem. He was the culprit behind Penny's death. Julian knew that Michael had hurt her, why else would she have- Julian couldn't bring himself to even think the word. But try as he might, he couldn't help picturing the sword. It's jeweled and small, slender blade, just long enough to pierce her heart. If only she had come to him. Perhaps she wouldn't have felt that the only way out of her bad relationship with Michael was to cause her own untimely death.
And now, ten years later, he could see Penny had returned. Penny lived within Anastasia. Julian had actually grown fond of his niece. She was a lovely girl. But he felt if he got too close to her, he would lose her, just like he has lost everyone else. He had to be firm, and seemingly uncaring, so that he could hold onto her as long as he could.
She could sense his presence coming yet again. Anastasia pulled the covers over her head. She whispered a small prayer as she lied on her side facing the wall, her eyes scrunched shut. But she knew that putting the covers over head wouldn't protect her from the Master.
Outside the window howled. The branch of the old oak tree beside her window slammed against the window pane. Thump, thump, thump, it matched her heavily beating heart. Anastasia pulled the covers tighter around her as the temperature in the room seemed to quickly plummet. The door to her bedroom slowly creaked open.
"Hello my dear," the quiet voice of the Master cut through the pitch blackness of the night. "I've come to play my game with you."
Without warning the blankets were peeled away from Anastasia, and she was no longer in her bedroom, but in the dungeon of the Master. She stood before him, unbound. The Master sat upon a massive throne, adorned with bones and skulls. A giant black crow perched on the top of the chair looking down at her with evil yellow eyes.
The Master waved his hand lazily and in it appeared Anastasia's jeweled sword. Anastasia starred at him in amazement. He stretched out his hand toward her, and gave her the tiny sword.
Anastasia wanted to take the sword and stab him directly in his dark, evil heart, but she could not. The Master had not given her the sword for this purpose. Her desire was quelled by an even stronger unspoken need that had been with her ever since she had set eyes on the sword. She had fought it for so long, but she no longer had the strength to try. Her hands began to shake violently as she tried to resist, but it was in vain.
The Master laughed. So it had been him all along who had been putting the compulsion in her head. It had been him who had wanted this all along. "Go on my dear, you know you can't fight it forever."
Anastasia's whole body was rigid. Her mouth grew hot and dry. She drew the sword across her wrist, and then the other, and again, and again. She starred as the blood trickled down her fingers. A wave of nausea swept over. This was not what she wanted. She began to grow dizzy. The world around her spun as the Master laughed evilly. Then all went black.
Calvin waited nervously waited for Anastasia underneath her bedroom window. It was a chilly March day with small patches of snow on the ground. He blew on his fingers and stamped his feet on the frozen ground. Where was she?
He hoped that she hadn't been caught by her uncle. The thought of Julian Litchfield punishing her on his account was unbearable. Anastasia hadn't explained to him exactly why Julian didn't want them to see each other, but Calvin had pretty good idea. The fact that he didn't come from a wealthy family like Anastasia did was pretty obvious.
Calvin heard the window to Anastasia's room opening above him. "I'll be down in a minute, sweetie," she said in a rather loud, cheerful whisper.
Good, she was herself today, the Anastasia that he loved; the girl who loved life, and was easy to laugh. Lately, she hadn't been herself. She would go into long periods of melancholy, where she would refuse to speak to anyone. He knew something was bothering her, he could see in her eyes. In her silence, they carried a haunted look.
He tried desperately to find out what was bothering, but when she was quiet he couldn't get her to talk about it. When she was himself, he couldn't bear to bring it up for fear of upsetting her. He just wanted her to be happy.
Anastasia appeared, interrupting his thoughts. She kissed him warmly letting him know for sure that today was a good day. "Are you ready to go?" she asked playfully.
"Yeah, I've only been waiting down here for a half hour, waiting for you," Calvin taunted, and they embraced again.
"Well I wanted to look special for you," she giggled. "Come on! Let's go, the movie starts soon, and I want to get a good seat!"
The two went off, careful not to be seen by Julian, to have a wonderful carefree night.