BANG. BANG. BANG.
I spring up in bed as someone bangs on my bedroom door. I fling my covers off as I reach for my robe. I secure it about me as I stride to the door. I jerk the door open to see Dr. Eugene Botkin, the family physician, standing on the other side.
“I am sorry for the intrusion, My Lady, but I suggest you get dressed and follow me.” he announces.

“Why? What is happening?” I inquire.

“I am to escort the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaerna to the carriage that will take you and your family to a safe house.” he responds, “Please, get dressed and allow me to escort you to where your family await you.”

I nod and shut the door. I walk dazedly to my wardrobe and select my light blue dress.

Once I am dressed and my hair is passably decent, I walk to the door and pull it open to see the doctor still standing there, but now he is accompanied by two guards- one of whom is Yakov Yurovsky. Dr. Eugene Botkin held out his arm with a little bow. I place my hand on top of it, an uneasy feeling dances through me.

They lead me to the Rose Parlor rooms, where I see my family is waiting for me. My family arises when we walk into the room. My father, Nicholas II the Tsar (the king); my mother, Alexandra Feodorovna the Tsarina (the queen) ; my older sisters, the Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana and Marie; and my little brother, Alexei the Tsarevich (crown prince). I rush over to them and hug my mother, the uneasy feeling is still present.

The sound of a throat clearing makes look to the door, where Dr. Eugene Botkin is fidgeting. “I am sorry but we can not stay in this room, we have to relocate you to a safer section of the palace.” He looks around at us and leaves the room. My father strides after him, Alexei follows him, my mother follows next -with me still under her arm- my sisters taking up the rear.

We trudge through the never-ending hallways until we come to the cellar stairs. Dr. Eugene Botkin waves us down first and says that he will be down shortly. My father turns to Yurovsky and asks for two chairs. We go down the stairs into a little room that has no furniture, save the two chairs the soldiers just brought in. My father and mother sit in the chairs and Alexei sits on my father’s lap.

A few minutes later we hear footsteps running down the stairs.We all jump up and my father turns to us and says, “I’ll bet the carriage is here, that’s what the commotion is about.” Just then the busts open and Yurovsky is standing there gun in hand with several othe guards.

“Nikolai Aleksandrovich, in view of the fact that your relatives are continuing their attack on Soviet Russia, the Ural Executive Committee has decided to execute you and your family.” Yurovsky declares.

My father turns to them astonished, “What?”

Yurovsky repeats his declaration and the soldiers raise their weapons. There is a second of silence before they fire their weapons. I feel something ram into my chest and I scramble backwards before I fall over. I stare at the ceiling while I gasp, trying to catch my breath. I hear my sisters and mother gasping and screaming, before another deafening shot is sounded off.

I feel another bullet hit my chest and start gasping all over again. My sisters and mother aren’t screaming anymore, they don’t have enough breath for that. I hear the soldiers start swearing before I see the barrel of a gun pointed at my head.

I hear another roar of the gun before everything fades into darkness.

I open my eyes to see a misty darkness all around me. I sit up seeing the same thing all around me- a misty darkness, no matter which way I look. I stand up and start to walk in the direction to my right.

“Anastasia!” I hear my name whispered in the opposite direction. The voice sounded familiar, almost as like....

“Tatiana!” I yell in the direction my name was called.

“Anastasia!” I hear again. I start running towards the voice calling: “Tatiana!”

I see a figure in the distance and start running faster, picking up my skirts so I won’t trip over them. I slow down once I realize that I don’t know the person in front of me. I hesitate for only a moment before I continue towards the person. When I see them clearly I almost gasp.

The person before me is a man. He has huge muscles covering him, he is wearing a warrior’s clothing and has a sword stationed before him- the tip to the ground, with his hands wrapped around the hilt. His face is exquisite. He has black hair, ocean-blue eyes, a straight nose and full lips.

“Who are you?” I ask.

“I am the Archangel Gabriel.” He replies, his voice is strong but gentle.

“Where am I?”

“You are in Limbo. A world between worlds, a place for the souls who have unfinished business back on Earth.”

“You mean, I have unfinished business?”

“Yes, those who have not finished what they are supposed to accomplish are sent back into different bodies, to try again. It is called reincarnation.”

“I am to be reincarnated?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“Now.”

“Right now?” I gulp.

“Yes, now. No sense in procrastinating the inevitable.” He turns to a gate that I did not notice was behind him. He pushes it open and reveals a white light. He motions for me to walk through.

I step forward and hesitate. “How long has it been?” I ask.

“It has been exactly 77 years since your death.” I gaze at him a moment longer before I step through the gate. “I wish you luck, Anastasia Romanov.” he says before shutting the gate behind me.

I turn towards the light and step up to it. I glance back to see Gabriel wave goodbye, before I step through the light.

I have a sense of floating before everything goes dark once more.

I wake up screaming in a tiny voice. Someone wraps me in a blanket and hands me to another person. I open my eyes to see beautiful brown eyes gazing down at me. She takes my hand in hers and I see that my hand is barely the size of her finger. I feel her arm as it holds me up. She leans forward and kisses my forehead. I close my eyes as a wave of exhaustion comes over me. She still has my hand in hers and the comfort of being loved comes over me. The last thought that runs through my mind is... Mother.

The End.

NOTE: This story is purely fictional! I am NOT the reincarnate of Anastasia Romanov. I picked the Archangel Gabriel because he is my favorite archangel.

HISTORICAL FACTS: Dr. Eugene Botkin was the Romanov’s physician and he was the one to wake them up that night. Yurovsky was one of the executioners. The reason the girls didn’t die by the chest shots was because they had sown jewels into their corsets and they acted as a bullet proof vest (I bet it still hurt-a lot). The Romanov family and their four house guests died July 18, 1918. I was born July 17, 1995. They found the bones of Nicholas, Alexandra, Olga, Tatiana, Marie, and the four house guests in 1991. They found the bones of Anastasia, and Alexei in 2007. Rasputin (the evil guy in the cartoon) did in fact exist, but he was not evil.