Chains

"Screw ya," I muttered under my breath, tugging on Astrid's arm. She followed clumsily, her feet dragging along with her as she continued to ramble nonsense in an undertone. It was the same, always the same: "Astrid a good girl, Astrid good, Astrid no hurt people, not hurt people!" Nights would end with her crying, and Mama crying, and Papa yelling, and me with my hands over my ears with the worlds swirling around me. I wasn't going to tell them about this one, that this time they'd caught us trying to get into the big, main record store when Astrid was retarded.

"Screw ya, screw ya, screw ya," Astrid repeated, and I rolled my eyes, clutching her arm in my hand and a thick stack of books to my chest. I wasn't used to this responsibility, lugging Astrid around with me everywhere I went, but now, now that we were in Hamburg and Mama had gotten sick and Papa had to work full-time, now she was slung upon me, something I wasn't accustomed to and something I never knew I would need to be. Sure, Astrid was my sister, and yes, I loved her, but I wasn't used to handling...someone like her.

Caught up in my thoughts, I smashed into a few young men passing by, scattering the books everywhere, and I released Astrid for a split-second to collect them all back up again, feeling my heart drop through my toes. Two horrible things were going to come out of this: one, they would be members of the stupid, vile HJ and condemn Astrid for her mental disability, and two, Astrid would lose the calm she bore when life was balanced, and she would have another of her fits.

Thankfully, neither of these happened immediately, and two of the boys stooped down beside me to hand me my books. I breathed heavily, panting due to my fears at what could have gone on, but didn't, thank the Lord, and praying that Astrid would just stay quiet and look down to her feet as always, and maybe the government would believe her almost normal; besides, it wasn't as though she was stupid, she was very good at math and sciences, but when you got her around people things were a train-wreck. The pair of them handed me the books, and two others behind them stood dutifully, one wearing spectacles and a hat and the other with blond hair and large eyes. The two were more handsome than their counterparts, though slightly less with the one with thicker eyebrows. I sighed out, hoping it would serve alright as thanks.

"No problem, doll...hey, haven't I seen you around?" the one with the eyebrows queried and I shrugged, looking down to my books and reaching back for Astrid, who loyally gripped my hand in hers. "Just started going to the Academy a few weeks ago, didn't you?" I nodded this time, holding my breath in, lest it anger one of them. The Nazis didn't care if you had friends or a family or dreams...if you looked one way, spoke one way, smelled one way, they would slaughter you, just slaughter you for what you were. They didn't care...

"You can talk, can't you?" the handsome one quipped, quirking his eyebrow at me. I nodded. "Well, go on."

"I'm very sorry I bumped into you, but really, my sister and I must go home–" I stammered, trying to brush past them once more, but the handsome one grabbed onto my arm. An odd feeling sparked in my stomach, arms, and legs, and I stopped in my tracks.

"Hey, hey, we're not gonna hurt you or anything. Here, I'll even tell you my name. See, I'm Thomas, Thomas Berger, king of the Castle Bismarck," he boasted, his chest expanding considerably, and I noticed the grey trousers he wore, with grey suspenders, a white shirt and a black tie, and one navy coat over it. "See, now it's your turn, little lady. What's your name?"

"Adelaide Schultz," I mumbled under my breath, "and this is my sister Astrid. Now I'm really very sorry, but we must go home."

"Well, Adelaide and Astrid, two young ladies such as yourselves shouldn't ever walk Hamburg's streets alone, even now during the daylight," Thomas interrupted once more, his eyes growing large with enthusiasm. "Perhaps it would be wiser for us to accompany you home?" The back two looked uneasy, but Thomas and his counterpart seemed comfortable. I did not want to be taken advantage of, so I shook my head.

"No, no, really, it's all fine. We'll be off now, thank you very much for your concern, but my sister and I shall be fine. Thank you, thank you," I said hurriedly, and pushed past them, clenching onto Astrid's hand so tightly she half-cried out. I released my grip on her a little bit. "I'm sorry, Astrid." Her eyes lost the pained look and went blank again.

"Sorry," she parroted. "Sorry, sorry, sorry." I blew out another sigh, and kept walking quickly as fast as I could, taking as many backroads as I knew to avoid those damned Hitler Jugen, or worse, the twice as damned, twice as God-forsaken Gestapo, those evil, vile, dictatorial devils. I half-skipped, dragging Astrid along by her inflated hand, and she followed along, until we reached home and we were safe for now.