Fear, shame, regret, and anger. Emotions Nastasiya had felt many times before. But right now, they pressed intensely upon her as she gazes down towards the bloody metallic platform beneath her. She felt fear for knowing she had no way out of the situation presented to her. All of her years of hard work had made her prideful, and a single moment brought her shamefully down on her knees. Body shivering violently from uncontrollable fits of emotions, Nastasiya covered her face with hands she no longer recognized. She was asked if she'd like to speak, but no words were able to form from her now contorted posture. Only wailing cries of regret were released. She had put her trust in those she thought deserved it. How could such evil come from something that once made her so happy? She knew that even if she looked up at the people she once loved and cared for, to plead to them, it would be useless. She hated them. Her wailing turned into bellowing screams of frustration as she realized they would never be punished for their betrayal.

She felt the pressure of the metal device around her as it began to pulsate. The count down had begun. They were cheering as Nastasiya screamed in horror. Her own vocals began to sound louder yet distant, as she thought she felt a sharp pain slice through her neck.

Nastasiya eyes shoot open, only to meet darkness. She began grasping violently at her throat. Air refused to escape her lungs, so she opted in for the next best thing. She screamed. She cried. She was dead. They had killed her. They had murdered her!

"Nastasiya Ruth Tally!", a woman comes bursting through the once pitch black room.

"It's the middle of the night! What-", she cuts off. She had turned on the lights and her face creases in worries. She takes in the state of the young woman in front of her and quickly approaches her bedside.

"Stasi, baby, what's wrong?", the woman makes room for herself in Nastasiya's bed and pulls her in close. She begins to softly stroke Nastasiya's back and braided head with her fingertips, as Nastasiya buries herself deep into this woman's embrace.

"Stasi?", the woman calls out her name with such affection that Nastasiya began to sob uncontrollably.

"Mommy!" She squeezed the woman she once lost tightly.

"Mommy!" It felt like the only word Nastasiya knew as she repeated it over and over again. Nastasiya's mother rocked her back and forth with soothing words of reassures until Nastasiya felt calm enough to close her eyes and sleep.

Nastasiya's sleep was short and restless but the sun had risen. She woke up desperately from her nightmares searching with frantic hands and eyes. There her mother sat on a chair she must have moved by Nastasiya's bedside. Nastasiya slowly reached out towards her mother but let her hand linger midway. Not daring to touch her because she didn't want her to disappear. Her arm and hand began to shake as new violent fits of sobs took over her body. Finally, she drops her limbs palms faced upward towards her.

Nastasiya went still as she stared into her own hands. Her mind began to explode with thoughts. Everything g felt real but is it a dream? Was it a dream? No, that was real. Her moment of stillness gone, she began to convulse with emotion.

"I was executed."

Nastasiya's mother stirred as soon as the words were spoken. She opened her eyes and slowly directed them towards her daughter. Nastasiya had raised her hands to cover her face. She wanted to blackout everything. None of this is real, she thought. Her mother continued to watch her daughter with her own thoughts swirling about. She had no idea what could be wrong with her daughter. Mrs. Carlisa Tally was lost and concerned. She reached out and wrapped Nastasiya tightly into her arms.

Nastasiya went still. This closeness with her mother felt real. But Nastasiya remembers. She remembers where she was, what had happened, and most importantly, how she had felt at that time. They day she walked into her old home and found her parents lifeless bodies. She remembers falling hard down to her knees and reaching out. Just like she had while Carlisa was asleep. She reached out and tried to pull her mother into her arms. Trying to force her to embrace her. To reassure her with soothing back rubs and head strokes like she use to.

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Nastasiya remembers that no matter what she did her mother refused to move. Her body was cold. She was gone. Nastasiya knows that was real too.

Carlisa had finally finished tumbling down the list of subjects that could be affecting her daughter. She decided it was time to direct these questions openly to her.

"Stasi, baby," Mrs. Tally began as cautiously as she could, " What's wrong? Is this about your sister? Or maybe the party next weekend?"

Nastasiya suddenly lifted her head up and shot her mother a terrifying gaze. Her face appeared to be on the verge of tears with something else underneath. Was it anger? Carlisa couldn't tell but she assumed this was the answer.

"Stasi, I know Nati can be a immature but you have to try to understand her." Carlisa rolled her eyes as her daughter let out a scoff. Nastasiya's remembers this conversation. She never understood why she had to understand someone like her sister. Especially after what she had done to her. Wait.

"Mom, how old am I right now?" Carlisa was now very confused by this question.

"You're about to turn 15." She answered because she had a point to make. "Old enough and a lot more mature enough to ignore your childish sister." Mrs. Tally shook her head at the thought of her oldest child.

"She's going through enough as it is."

At this remark Nastasiya was finally able to raise her voice in disbelief.

"She's going through what?", Nastasiya's brain began to spiral as she began to list off her burdens. " I, the youngest sister, had to grow up faster because you all expected great things from me. I had to give up the things I cared about to satisfy Natalia because you all were afraid to hurt her feelings!"

Nastasiya scoots herself to opposite side of her bed away from her mother but made she to direct all of her grievances to her.

"No matter how much I gave up, it was never enough for her! I agreed to it all because that was my big sister and I loved her though it all!" The tears started again. "Do you know what she wanted the most?!" Her voice cracked. "For me to disappear no matter the cost!"

The memories were back. Nastasiya had thought that death would bring peace but she remembers. How her sister had dealings with the wrong people. How those people went after her family. Natalia begging to be saved. Nastasiya did save her. But her big sister used it all against her. Betrayed her. Murdered her. The tears refused to stop.

Carlisa has become distressed at her youngest daughter's breakdown. She rushes to her side, an attempt to keep Nastasiya on her feet. She failed. Nastasiya's fell to her knees as she kept remembering. This is real. She can feel her mother's presence smothering her. But she shouldn't be here. She died. They all died. The smell of that room still lingers in her memory. How could her mind conjure up such a memory? She needed to think of something else. Something real. Carlisa's voice drowned in background of Nastasiya's thoughts.

Nastasiya realized she was holding her breath. She couldn't breathe. She had forgotten. No, that wasn't it. This was something else. This was painful. She turned to her mother who saw the look of terror on her baby girl's face. Carlisa called out to someone. Nastasiya couldn't hear but she knows it was to her father. Someone else who shouldn't be here. As everything around her began to blur and darken, she realized how real this situation felt.

As Nastasiya head clumsily falls to the ground, her father rushes in. He's carrying a device that took Nastasiya some time to realize it was her ventilator. An asthma attack! She had forgotten. Or she wanted to forget. Even though she had them often before her death. Her tormentors would often let her suffer before coming to help her.

Nastasiya's father quickly placed the mask attached to the little machine over her mouth and nose. Nastasiya's breathing slowly became steady and the pain was dulling. She was extremely tired and her eyes became heavy. But before her eyes gave way, behind her mother and father, at the doorway, she saw a site that both broke her heart and angered her.

Standing there was her little brother, asking questions Nastasiya assumed were about her wellbeing. Behind him stood the last person she wanted to see. Natalia stood there. She had been staring at the scene in front her emotionless. But Nastasiya knew the moment any attention directed at Natalia would start the act. The type of performance that would leave anyone, born from the same parents, to believe she was a loving sister.

But somehow, Nastasiya caught it. She was not sure if it was because of the mask or the simple fact that her eyes were slightly closed. But through all the years that her and her sister have spent together, she was never ever able to see through the act. But there Natalia stood, behind everyone who oblivious, with her mask off. She had a smile playing on the side of her lips but she rolled her eyes when her father finally responded to their brothers questions about your health. Her slightly amused smile turned into disappointment.

Once again, tears forced their way down Nastasiya's face as she lay there. She was right. Her sister has always hated her and was always looking forward to her disappearing. Natalia has always wanted to harm her. And she succeeded on multiple levels.

Nastasiya took a quick glance around the room at her parents and little brother. Please be real, she thought. Because if they were real and if they were alive... she can save them. Nastasiya prayed that this wasn't a nightmare used to show her what she refused to see. She promised that if she wakes up from this, she will make sure to grant both her and Natalia's wish. For them to disappear from each other's lives. Finally, unable to stay awake, Nastasiya sleeps.