Ana by S. E. Gutierrez (red white and royal blue hardcover TXT) 📕

carcked his eyes open. "How's it going? They're taking care of you right? I'm sorry, Len, I should've gotten home earlier. How long you been here?"

"He's been here long enough." said a man.

I turned around to find a guy dressed all business-y sitting in a chair in a corner. "You will need to check out immediately. The bank will only pay so much, considereing you're street filth." the man sneered.

Oh, this was so not gonna fly with me. I walked straight up to the man, showing none of the anger I had, and slapped him square across the jaw. "That," I started. "Was for calling Lennie and I 'street filth' and this, dear sir, is for kicking all of us out." I slapped across the other side of his face.

The man looked nothing but shocked, then anger slowly came over hiw features. "Try that again, little girl, and the bank won't cover this hospital visit at all."

I merely glared at him, then turned toward my brother. "Len, I'm sorry baby, but we have to leave. No one will pay for the bill if you stay any longer." I told him, quietley.

"'Kay, Annie, but where will we go? The shelter is gone, and Mommy and Daddy are living in heaven now, what are we supposed to do?" he asked, his little-kid voice filled with worry.

I pulled him close and enveloped him in a hug, careful of his injury. "I don't know baby, maybe a nice adoption agency will take you and, and you'll find a nice family. We'll be okay baby, we'll be okay."

"Annie, you haven't called me 'baby' since Mommy and Daddy went to heaven." he said.

I just smiled. I had no idea what would happen.


AN hour or so later, Lennie and I had been handed a weeks worth of heavy duty bandages, checked out of the hospital, and were yet again on the streets. All the possesions we had in the shelter had been donated, and all we had were the clothes on our back and the forty bucks in my wallet. All the clothes Florence and I had managed to get a hold of, the money I had saved up for an operation on Lennie, Dad's photograph and Mom's locket were all gone..

"Lennie," I said. "You wanna walk around a little bit and see if we can find any of our old stuff?"

He smiled and nodded his head excitedly.

"Okay, let's try the Goodwill right there."

Chapter II: Anastasia

When we were captured by the Bolsheviks, my mother had made me promise to keep Alexei safe. Now that it was only my little brother and I, I didn't know what to do. With out my sisters and mother to tell me what to do, I was so unsure.

"Nastya, what are we gonna do?" Alexei asked me.

"Well, we are going to find a quiet place to stay. Somewhere the bad people can't find us." I answered.

"But Nastya, where is that?" he asked, his thirteen-year-old eyes scared

"I don't know, Alexei." I said solemnly.

Chapter III: Ana

Lennie and I dug through the Goodwill and found Mom's locket and the photograph of Daddy. We went up to the register, prepared to spend all of our money on these two items.

"How can I help you two?" The lady asked, cheerily.

"We'd like to purchase these two items." I relies stiffly.

The woman took the locket and opened it, taking out the old picture of my parents.

"Don't!" I exclaimed just as she was about to toss it in the trash.

"Honey it's just some old picture. It's not really worth anything." She said, a little freaked.

"That's a picture of my parents before they passed." I said, gingerly taking the photo from her fingers.

Her mouth formed an "O" of surprise, then she looked at the picture of my dad. "Is this your father deary?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

She smiled and handed it to me. "Don't worry about paying sugar, I got it covered."

I smiled and thanked her as tears filled my eyes. Lennie and left, wandering the streets, not sure what to do, or where to go. We walked into a gas station and bought one of those disposable cell phones and called Stace.

"Hey Stacey-Lacey, it's me."

"Annie-cakes, what's wrong?" she asked.

"The shelter closed, can Lennie and I crash at your place tonight?" I begged.

"Annie-cakes, my dad made me and Shane go with him and Helena to the cabin. We're not home. Oh, I wish I was. Let me ask Dad if you can stay in the guest house when we get back on Wednesday." she said.

"Thanks Stace, love you girly. Can your dad call me in sick for tomorrow and Wednesday?"

"Sure thing, Annie. We'll be back soon! Try and find a good place till we get home. Tell Lennie I said hi." she said and we hung up.

"Are we gonna stay at Auntie Stace's house?" Lennie asked.

"Not till Wednesday, Len, we gotta go find a place to sleep."

He nodded, and we walked in the direction of the school. I wish I had gotten Danny's number so I could call him. After a while, Lennie and I found the park, and slept in the little tube things. I was up before the sun, and crept over to Lennie. He groaned and flopped on his back. I stifled a laugh as I picked him up and carried him. He was seven, and still just small enough to carry. I was worried that he would be a bit on the short and scrawny side, but right now, it was a blessing in disguise. I walked around for a little bit as the sun rose, then decided to take a break. Lennie had woken up, and was sitting on the grass when a car horn scared the living day-lights out of me.

"You guys need a lift anywhere?" Danny asked us as we headed to his car.

I smiled, greatly relieved that he was here. "A ride to my friend's house would be marvelous."

Imprint

Publication Date: 01-05-2012

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
For my best friends.