Reunited After 25 Years 3: Nightmare

Andrea went to sleep that night thinking of something Anton had told her. My grandfather was a Bolshevik. What's a Bolshevik? Andrea wondered as she drifted to sleep.

Andrea watched the group of men park the truck and leave the motor running as they disappeared within the house. She thought that since they had left the motor running that they must be planning to return right away but soon discovered that she was wrong. Within minutes she heard the unmistable sound of gunshots from somewhere deep within the house, and shortly afterwards, the bodies of the victims were brought outside and carelessly dumped onto the ground. Half a dozen or so adults. Several teenage girls. A young boy, bleeding very copiously. One of the girls moved slightly. Andrea gasped in horror as one of the men viciously attacked her with a bayonet. She tried to scream at him to stop but found that she couldn't make a sound.

"You'll never take bread from the mouth of another peasant, Nikolasha," said another man as he kicked one of the dead men. Andrea saw that one of the women and the teenage girls were being stripped and wondered what the men were planning to do to them. She soon saw that jewels had been sewn into their clothing and that the men were taking the jewels before loading all the bodies onto the back of the truck and driving far into the forest.

In a clearing the bodies were unloaded one by one and Andrea looked into the dead faces of the teenagers with profound sorrow. They never even got to live out their lives...

Out of the corner of her eye Andrea saw that one of the men had picked up an axe. Oh dear God, please no... Yet she was unable to tear her eyes away from the macabre scene as the man chopped first the body of the boy, then that of one of the teenage girls, into tiny pieces and began to burn them.

"There's no time for that, Comrade!" Andrea turned to see who had shouted and saw that it was the same man who had kicked the dead Nickolasha.

Anton's grandfather. She didn't know how she knew that. She just did.

"The Whites will be here soon! They'll have us surrounded in no time!" Anton's grandfather continued. The men worked at a frenzied pace as they collected the remaining bodies and hurriedly shoved them down a conveniently located mine shaft, pouring a generous quantity of acid over them to disfigure them. Then Anton's grandfather and the others disappeared, leaving lingering smoke fumes as the only evidence of their dastardly deed.

Andrea awoke sobbing her heart out. She knew that it must have really happened. Although she couldn't remember all the details, she was sure that she must have read about it in a book, or seen it in a movie, and that what Anton had told her about his grandfather must have somehow affected her subconscious and caused the nightmare.

After work that day, Andrea visited the jewelry department of the local department store. She found a necklace with a heart pendant and had Darya's name inscribed on the pendant. On her way home she stopped at Anton's motel room to give the necklace to the girl.

Darya's eyes widened with surprise and delight when she saw it. "Oh, Andrea, it's beautiful! Thank you so much!" She threw her arms around Andrea's neck enthusiastically and kissed Andrea's cheek.

"I'm glad you like it," Andrea said, feeling a big shy. She saw Anton looking at her and knew that he wanted to speak to her alone.

"That was a very kind thing you did for my daughter, and I appreciate it very much," he told her after Darya had gone to her room. "She still feels a little bit homesick and you made her feel welcome here."

"Well, she gave me the dolls, and I wanted to do something nice for her as well," Andrea explained.

Anton smiled. "You are a wonderful person, Andrea. I'm so glad we're friends."

"So am I." Andrea blushed, feeling a lump in her throat. She felt Anton's fingers softly brush the side of her face and looked up at him. She closed her eyes and kissed his lips just as she had on the beach all those years ago. Time seemed to slowly turn backwards until they were once again two young people in love with their whole lives before them.

Andrea forgot all about asking Anton what had eventually happened to his grandfather as she had planned to do. Suddenly it no longer seemed to matter.