Present Day (2013)
The alarm clock that went off every morning rang shrilly throughout the room. Two figures laid on the bed in the middle of the room, one stirring, almost fully awake now because of the loud noise that rang incessantly. As one figure started to move to turn it off, the other tightened his hold around the others waist.
"Darling, stay in bed with me," He said. His accented voice was husky from sleep.
"Today is the day that you're doing that presentation at the University. You- we, have to get up," The other one replied.
A sigh rang out among the noise of the alarm clock.
"Alexander, you know that those are very bad memories for me to relive," The first man said, almost in a pleading tone.
"Magnus, you'll do fine. I'll be with you the whole day," Alexander said and kissed his husband softly.
Magnus ran a wrinkled hand through Alexander's hair. Something that he knew his husband loved. Alec leaned into the touch and smiled. His blue eyes were as bright as they were all those years ago when they first met. Tears threatened to well up in Magnus' eyes. He still had nightmares about the ghettos and the concentration camps. He shuddered.
"Will you be alright, my love?" Alec asked softly, running his own wrinkled hands up and down Magnus' arms.
Magnus took a shuddering breath. "I will be as long as you're by my side."
Even after being together for so many years, Alec had a defined blush on his face. Magnus chuckled and kissed Alec's pale white cheeks. Even though he had aged quite a bit, Alec was still the most beautiful person that Magnus had ever seen.
"Come on, love. We have to start getting ready. We'll be doing presentations all day," Alec said as he got up from their bed and stretched.
Magnus, who had just turned eighty five, pouted. Alec shook his head at his husbands childishness. Magnus got up and wrapped his arms around Alec's slender waist. He nuzzled the side of Alec's neck and sighed heavily. In a way he was grateful that he got to meet Alec, but he hated the way that had to meet.
Magnus let go of Alec and went to start making breakfast for the two of them. It had always been the two of them. Since they grew up in the era where being homosexual was almost a crime they had never been able to adopt a child to start a family.
Magnus sighed again as he popped bread into the toaster.
"We're so thankful that you were able to come here today Mr. Lightwood ," The teacher that had organized this said excitedly.
Magnus smiled. "Please, call me Magnus."
The teacher nodded and lead him into a huge library. It was beautiful. It had two floors and it was stacked with books. Magnus had to smile at this. He knew that libraries were something of a second home to Alec.
As he entered the room a hundred eyes were all on him. Magnus felt his hold on Alec's hand tighten. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to do this without breaking down. He was truly terrified to relive these memories. He could even feel the tattoo on his arm throb. A reminder of what happened many years ago.
He was lead to a fancy seat at the head of the library. All the eyes were still on him, Alec's thumb caressed the palm of his hand. He calmed down a little bit, knowing that the love of his life was there to help him through this.
"Everyone, this is Magnus Lightwood. He has graciously took his time to come here today to talk to us about World War Two. I expect you guys to be courteous. I shouldn't have to tell you university students that," The teacher said. "Now, Magnus. You may begin."
Magnus felt his hands tremble. He was so nervous. He cleared his throat and looked out into the faces of the university students before him.
"When I was a young boy, I never thought that something so horrific could be done. Sadly, I was mistaken. I was very, very mistaken," Magnus started. "As all of you know, it had started in 1939 with the invasion of Poland. Poland was my home. I had lived there all my life, until I was sent to a ghetto and then sent off to Auschwitz," He took a staggering breath. He could hear the German commanding officers yelling in his ear to work harder or else he'd be sentenced to death.
"One night, we were all woken up by blaring noises and people yelling at us to leave our houses immediately. We were then herded onto a train and that was the start of the terror. We were shipped off to a ghetto, I can't remember the name of it. The conditions of living were so terrible. It was something that I had never seen before in my entire life. I grew up in a fairly wealthy family. I've never seen anything like this before until then," Magnus continued on. "The streets were so dirty, the people were dirty and it reeked because we had nowhere to relieve ourselves so we had to do it right where we were standing. But nothing, and I mean nothing could prepare me for the concentration camp."
Magnus paused for a moment and look over to Alec, a comforting expression was on his face. Magnus squeezed his hand and then turned back to the students in front of him.
"You are all familiar with Auschwitz, I assume?" Magnus asked. Most of the students nodded. "For those of you who don't know, it was the main concentration camp. Tens of thousands died there. Including my own family. I was the only one who had survived. For a while I hated myself for being the only one in my family to survive the war. But, in a way I was happy to have survived. I got to meet the love of my life, Alexander. But at the time we weren't in love. To me at the time, he was some dumb soldier who had help liberate the camp. It wasn't until much later we fell in love. Right, love?" Magnus said to Alec.
"Of course," Alec replied.
Magnus smiled. It was a small, broken smile. He also remembered the events that lead up to them falling in love.
"Anyway, while I was at Auschwitz I worked at the crematorium. I had to place the bodies of people I knew and people I didn't into the fire. I had to put my own mother's body in the fire. I still have nightmares to this day because of that. It's just not something that you're able to forget. Sometimes I can even feel my inmate tattoo throb," Tears started to well up in Magnus' gold-green eyes.
He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry. Reliving these memories is hard."
"Take your time, sir," The teacher replied.
"Yes, as I was saying, there are just some things that you can never forget. After I had gotten out of Auschwitz, I had no idea what to do with my life. I had no family, no home. I was so low in that period of my life, that I had almost taken it. I had found a gun lain on the ground outside of the camp, I had no idea if it was working but I had hoped it would. I put the barrel into my mouth and as I was about to pull the trigger, I heard shouting. And I opened my eyes when the gun was pulled out of my hand and arms wrapped around me. The man that stood in front of me was beautiful. The most beautiful human being I had ever seen," Magnus cracked a watery smile.
"After that chance meeting, Alexander took care of me. I had no idea why he would want to take care of me. But I was grateful. I was grateful for everything he did for me. We then started to fall in love. And let me tell you, it's a beautiful thing. When you have it, don't let it go. You'll regret it if you do," Magnus said.
For the rest of the day, Magnus talked about his life and answered any questions that the students had. It was a good day, besides the fact that he had to relive his worst memories. And soon it was time for him to go home. He was thankful for that.
His driver was waiting for him in the car lot and brought him home.
When he got home, he stepped through the threshold. He felt like something was off. He couldn't tell what it was. He wandered around his house. He came to the sudden realization. He walked quickly into his room and what he dreaded the most became reality.
Alec wasn't there this morning when he woke up, he wasn't there this afternoon when he was talking to the students. No, he couldn't have been there at all. Magnus felt his heart drop and shatter into a million little pieces.
It couldn't have been possible because Alec had died five years ago.
A/n: Alright. This little thing came to me while I was reading the novel, Night. Its really good! Anyway, I hope I didn't end it too abruptly! And I hope you liked it.
Chantelle xox