Chapter 6
Pulling up the older stone and brick home, Marya parked haphazardly in the large driveway. She hurriedly opened the door of her car, and stepped out. Nearly running to the porch, she almost tripped on the assortment of potted plants in the small garden. She knocked on the door, and as quickly as she knocked it flew open.
“Mary! Where is she? Is she okay?” Marya peered over the small girl's shoulder, hoping she would see Natasha.
“She’s in the basement with my brother…” She moved out of the way to let Marya in.
“I’ve been checking up on her when Andrey would come upstairs. I don’t think he’s hurt her, she looked fine. Terribly drunk and sleepy.”
Mary directed her to the basement door, Marya opened it and hopped down the stairs.
“Natasha!” She ran over to her side. Mary stayed in the entrance way of the room.
“Are you a friend of hers?” A gravelly voice from the other side of the room said. Marya assumed it was Andrey.
“Yes, I'm here to take her home.” Marya turned her head to Andrey who was sipping on a beer. Marya looked back at Natasha. Only she would get herself in a situation like this…
“Oh, I don't know about that…” Andrey placed the beer on the coffee table, and stood up, walking towards Marya and an asleep Natasha.
“Excuse me?” Marya faced the muscular man, who was now dressed in sweats.
“Andrey, don’t be like this. Just let her go home.” Mary piped up. She looked visibly upset.
If this was how her brother acted drunk, Marya hated to see or hear the kind of things he said to Mary, his own sister...
Just then, the doorbell rang. Mary was hesitant to leave the room but Marya gave her a look, letting her know it was okay. She nodded in response, and made her way up the stairs.
“You're friends with Helene aren't you?” Andrey eyed Marya.
Taken aback by the question, Marya hesitated on her response.
“Wh-What does that have to do with anything?! I’m here for Natasha!”
Marya gestured towards the girl on the sprawled out on the couch.
Many footsteps came rushing down the stairs leading towards the basement.
Fedya ran into the room, and crouched by Natasha’s side. Anatole, Pierre, and Mary all stood by Marya.
“Oh you brought friends?” Andrey smirked.
“I - actually… yes I did.” Marya sputtered out.
Andrey turned his head from Marya and now faced Anatole.
“Saw your sister tonight… she wasn't too happy to see me.”
Anatole’s chest rose up and down the more he looked at Andrey.
“You’re an asshole Andrey.”
He said, through gritted teeth.
Glancing over at Fedya, Andrey began to walk over to him
“Is this your boyfrie -”
Before Andrey could even finish the sentence, Anatole jumped in front of Fedya.
“Don't hurt him.”
His voice was low and threatening.
Marya started to lightly shake Natasha, in hopes she would wake up. She wanted to get out of here, but more importantly, get Natasha out of here.
“Or what?” Andrey pushed Anatole, making him falter back a bit.
Suddenly, Anatole slung his fist to Andrey’s face. The noise of his fist connecting with Andrey’s cheek sounded like a gun firing.
In the midst of everything, Pierre draped Natasha over his shoulder.
“Lets go guys!” He carried her to the stairs, Fedya and Marya following after him.
Wiping the blood off his lip, Andrey simply walked back to the coffee table and picked up his beer.
“You’ll regret that Anatole.” He took a long sip from his can.
Anatole, still breathing heavily, marched out of the room with his eyes fixed on Andrey.
Mary suddenly burst into tears from the anxiety of what just occurred.
“Sorry for all the trouble…” is all he said to the quiet girl, as he walked up the stairs, following the group out of the house.
====
As Marya walked back into her quiet house, she noticed the kitchen light was turned on, which it hadn't been previously before she left. Then she noticed a very sleepy and semi awake, Helene Kuragina sitting upright on the sofa.
“Welcome back…” She mumbled glancing at Marya through tired eyes.
“Sorry I had to leave. Natasha needed me.” Marya threw her coat down on the chair across from Helene.
“Who’s Natasha?” Helene rubbed her eyes and layed back down on the couch, nuzzling into her blanket.
“A friend of mine. She...got into some trouble, and I needed to save her.”
Marya decided it was best to leave out the details of Andrey and the ball, considering those two things happened to be a sensitive subject for Helene, and she was terribly tired at the moment. She didn't want Helene to worry about this, not after all she had dealt with tonight.
“Mmmm.” Helene scooted over on the couch, making more space.
“Come lay with me?” Her eyes half open, and her speech slurred.
After a moment's consideration, Marya sat down by Helene’s feet. She looked over at the girl who seemed to be basking in the warmth of the blanket.
“Why is your house so empty?” Helene peered over the top of the blanket almost covering her eyes.
“It's not that empty. I have furniture, desks, and other knick knacks. Your house is the empty one! Boxes upon boxes upon other miscellaneous items.”
Marya gestured to the items around her kitchen and living room.
“No. That's not what I mean…” Helene sat upright again to face Marya.
“Where are your parents? Does no one else live here?”
Marya's eyes went down to the carpet.
“My mom is away on a business trip in Paris. She calls me sometimes, texts me here and there, but that's about it. She blames time zones, but even when she was home ...she was always so busy…”
Marya looked back up at Helene who looked intently back at her.
“Don’t you ever get lonely?”
Helene put a hand on Marya’s arm.
“I guess so...but it’s always been like this. It's nothing new.” Marya nervously looked back between Helene and her arm.
“Well you got me now…” Helene flashed a small smile before laying back down on the warm sofa and snoozing off to sleep.
Marya smiled back and layed down right next to Helene and she didn't stop smiling until she awoke in the morning.
====
Marya awoke to the sounds of sizzling bacon and birds chirping outside her window. The smell of breakfast wafted into the living room. She was so enraptured by the smell, she didn't even notice the empty space next to her.
She turned her head towards the stove to see Helene, frying up some bacon and whisking eggs.
“Oh you're awake! I'm just getting breakfast together.” She said, pouring the eggs into the other pan.
“How...how are you so awake right now? Shouldn't you be hung over from last night?” Marya wiped her eyes, and sat up. Her messy hair all over the place. She tried to fluff it out with her hands, which only made it worse.
“Oh, I am hung over, but if I go back home and Vassily sees me like that, it won’t be a good morning for me.”
She fetched a spatula from the drying rack and swished around the eggs.
Marya glanced over at the coffee table where the glass of water and a small tablet were still sitting.
“You didn't take the medicine to help with your hangover?”
She got up from the sofa to check her phone.
“I don’t need it. But thank you though.” Helene said from the kitchen.
Marya read the many notifications that were displayed on her screen.
Fedya: Marya, just texting you to make sure you made it home safely? Pierre drove Natasha to her and Sonya’s house so she’s alright.
Sent twenty two minutes ago
Unknown: Hi Marya. I just wanted to apologize for last night...Even though Natasha was safe and all that, I just wanted to apologize for being a burden on your night. I apologize on behalf of my brother as well. Could you please send me the blonde boy’s number? I want to apologize to him too.
Sent an hour ago
Unknown: Marya? Fedya gave me your number. Is Helene with you? She wasn’t at our house when we all left, and she's not back yet.. She hasn't texted me and I'm starting to get worried...this is Anatole btw
Sent two hours ago
Sonya: Thank you <3 Pierre Bezukhov just dropped Natasha off. I'm letting her sleep now. She's most likely gonna receive an earful from our aunt in the morning...
Sent six hours ago.
“Hey Helene? Did you text your brother yet? He’s worried about you.”
Marya walked over to the kitchen, phone in hand to show Helene the text message.
“Yeah I texted him about five minutes ago. I don't know if he responded back yet. Also, what happened last night? Pierre Bezukhov texted me asking if I was okay, and I haven't spoken to him in like four-ish years…Did something happen while I was sleep?”
She set the bacon down on a tray and began to carry it over to the table.
“Uh, yeah… well y'know how you said Andrey Bolkonsky went home with some girl last night?”
Marya got out two plates and silverware from her cabinet and set them down on the table.
“I said that? When?”
“When we were outside. You were very drunk and very sad...so I brought you back to my house. Remember?”
She took a strip of bacon and placed it down on her plate. Helene brought over the eggs and poured some on Marya’s plate.
“Kind of… but continue. What happened last night?”
Helene scooped some eggs onto her own plate.
Marya recounted the previous night's events. She told her everything. Natasha being taken by Andrey, Andrey mentioning Helene, Anatole punching Andrey…
“Anatole punched him?! Serves him right, after what he did to him.”
Helene sipped her water.
“What did he do?”
Marya picked up some eggs onto her fork.
“He outed him before he was ready…It was this big school rumor. Anatole just kept on denying it, but then Fedya helped him accept himself and eventually he came out. We were gonna have a party for him and everything. Balloons, friends, cake, but then…. mom got diagnosed so the party was kind of put on the back burner. He doesn't like to talk about it.”
“Oh.. I guess all that anger just kind of rose up once he saw Andrey.”
“Yeah…” Helene took a small bite of her bacon.
“But what about Natasha? Is she safe?”
“Oh yeah, she’s okay now. Pierre took her home.”
“Speaking of home, I should be getting back soon.”
She glanced at the clock on the wall to read the time.
“Vassily’s gonna be pissed, but I'll be alright.”
“Gone so soon?”
Marya chuckled to herself, remembering the words Helene said to her when she was escaping the ball.
“Unfortunately… hey maybe when we get the chance we can go to the mall? Not today though, I don’t know if Vassily will ever let me out of the house, or should I say prison...”
“Well at least finish your breakfast first. I'll take care of the dishes.” Marya smiled at Helene, as she smiled right back at her.
Suddenly Helene extended her arm and placed a hand on Marya’s free hand.
“Thank you for taking care of me last night Marya… I really appreciate your kindness, even though I’ve only known you for about three days. You’re a really special person.”
Marya’s heart began to flutter. She gazed into Helene’s eyes with a small smile on her face. Surely, Helene must like her back to be making all these moves on her?! Right? Or was it just Marya’s heart and mind teasing her? Whatever it was, Marya just hoped she liked her back.
“You’re welcome Helene. You're always welcome to stay here whenever you like. You don't even have to call, just come on over.”
They stayed silent looking at each other for a few moments when Helene broke the tension in the air.
“Uh, well I know you said how I should finish my food but I think I should be going now.”
Helene stood up, taking her plate to the trash can.
“Oh, okay. Do you want me to walk you?”
‘It's just next door Marya, why would she need you to walk her over there?’
“Oh no I'm okay, thank you though.”
Marya walked over to the front door and opened it for Helene.
“Anytime Helene. I'll see you at school on Monday?”
“Yes, If I don’t see you before then.”
Helene smiled, and with that she walked out the door.
“Bye!” She waved back at Marya.
“Bye Helene.”
Marya watched as Helene walked over to her front door step, and rang the bell.
The door opened, and she could hear a few murmurs from her father.
She trudged through the entrance way and with that the door slammed closed.
Marya hoped Helene wasn’t in too much trouble. She knew Helene wouldn't blame her for it though.
She slumped on the couch where Helene and her slept, and pulled the blanket back over her.
Before she knew it, she was asleep again.