Clarissa Root 4th Hour Creative Writing Short Story
Peace at last in my hell. Only for a little while before I am disturbed by the beast.
"Hans! Hans! Get up! Let's play!" she proclaimed.
"I'd rather not, Katz-lein." I muttered in my pillow.
"But you promised we'd play today! You had a new game for us!" she shook my shoulder with her soft, little hands.
My eyes opened, revealing a glimmering, little girl with short, blonde hair and big, blue eyes staring at me anxiously. My eyes opened and closed once more and I decide to take my orders.
I threw my covers back and rubbed my face wearily. When my eyes opened again I saw her sitting on the pile of covers before me. I smiled as tenderly as I could that early and picked her up in my arms. I swung her over my head and she hung onto my neck with all of her strength. I threw out my hand and the door swung open. Oh, how I enjoyed her giggling as I ran out the door at top speed, flied past the hallway, out the door, and into the yard.
I sat in the tall, rustling grass as I felt her climb off of my back. After I caught my breath again I turned to face her. She smiled widely, waiting for the game I had promised. I held out my hand flat, palm facing her, and I said, "Picture, if you will, princess, what you wish to do today. Picture what it is on my hand. Focus…"
I saw her eyes narrow and her pale forehead wrinkled in concentration. I saw in her eyes what she wanted and I obeyed her will.
"If that is what you wish, princess that is what will arise. What an imagination you have."
"What is it, Hans? What do you see?" she pondered out loud.
"A big," I fell to my hands and feet. "Ferocious," I crouched into an animal-like position. "Dragon!"
She giggled wildly and replied, "That's right!"
I roared in response and she found the nearest stick to use as a sword. She lunged and blocked as I had previously taught her and our battle went on and on. Finally she poked me square in my sternum and I fell on my back in play. She tossed down her stick in victory and jumped on my chest, giggling. I couldn't help but giggle myself.
"I got you, Drache!" she announced.
I nodded with a smile. These were the times I lived for- laughing and playing with my sister in the yard, tucking her in at night, making sure her life was blissful.
Soon I heard car tires beat against the gravel pathway and I stood up with Kat in my arms. A car had indeed arrived before us and an old gentleman came forth out of it. He handed me an envelope, entered back into the car, and drove off. I put Kat down in order to read the contents of the envelope.
"What is it, Hans?" Kat asked mournfully. She knew it wasn't good news by the expression on my face. I didn't want anything to do with them. I might not have a choice now.
I opened the envelope, which was stamped- "Orders from the Third Reich" and held my breath. It stated that I was to report to SS Headquarters in Berlin. They wanted me to join the Hitler Youth and later the SS to fight in the war. The Hitler Youth was a program for boys in Germany ages fourteen to eighteen to eventually progress them into the Schutz Staffel, or the SS. The SS were a murderous group who called themselves the protectors of the Nazi Party. They're job was to rid Germany of any who apposed the Nazi Party.
"It's nothing." I responded, stuffing the letter into my pocket hastily.
"It's not nice to lie, Hans. You know that." Kat reminded me.
I crouched down to her level and looked into her gleaming, blue eyes. "Kat, I'm afraid I can't take care of you anymore."
Her eyes began to tear up and her face was getting red. My eyes were to follow if I didn't turn away quickly from her face. "Hans, but why?"
"Kat, I have to take you to our aunt's. She'll be able to take care of you." I spoke with a false conviction. I wasn't entirely sure that our aunt could take care of her for long. I was almost for certain that she was a supporter of the Nazi Party and would hand over my sister to the SS in an instant to 'serve our FatherLand".
"But why, Hans? Did the letter tell you that you have to leave?" she asked sweetly. What a smart little girl she was for a six year old.
"Kat, you have to understand that my life is in danger. You see-" I circled towards her again and captured her image in my mind for safe-keeping. "The Nazis, the bad guys, want me to fight for them. I don't want to fight for the bad guys, but they won't like that. They'll want to kill me when they find out, which is why I have to take you to your aunt's…or at least somewhere safe." Maybe our aunt's wasn't the safest place for her.
Her face quivered into a brave smile. "Well, I'll just have to come with you, Hans! I'll protect you from the bad guys!" she announced with assurance. I bit my lower lip in hopes of not tearing up. Her words were so innocent; I only wished I could protect her from the 'bad guys'.
I sighed heavily and breathed in again, attempting to give my brain more oxygen to think. I didn't want to separate us but I knew she wasn't safe with me.
I decided to leave it up to her. "Kat, what would make you happier?"
"I wanna stay with you, Brüder." she muttered, wiping tears from her eyes and folding her arms stiffly across her chest. I sighed heavily and stared at her deeply.
"Then let it be so, but I don't promise it'll be easy." I replied.
I quickly threw clothes, food, and some blankets into a satchel and we left. I knew the secret police, the Gestapo, would soon be after me, therefore we needed to get as far away from our home as possible.
Throughout our journey we constantly dodged Nazi guards and officers, sometimes only making our way out by a hair. One day we were hiking through the Black Forest and it was getting late and we had been tired from our journey. We made a fire, deciding to rest there for the night in a clearing among the trees.
"Hans." Kat started. "Can you teach me more words? I want to know what Aryan means."
I sighed heavily. I always had hoped that she wouldn't ask me questions like that. I laughed to conceal my worry and replied, "Where'd you learn a word like that?"
"A boy at the market said that I was Aryan."
I rubbed my forehead wearily. Children in this country were taught at a young age what I tried to veil from Kat's ears. "Aryan is the race the Nazis want everybody to be. They call it the 'Master Race'."
"What do Aryans look like?"
"They have blond hair and blue eyes preferably. Mostly the Nazis are concerned with blood- whether or not you're a pure blooded German."
"Just like us!"
"What?"
"We've got blond hair and blue eyes, Hans!"
I sighed. "Yes, Kat, we look the part, don't we? I blended in right at school, except for the magic I performed in class."
"I can't remember. Why did you drop out of high school? I thought high school was a good place."
I sighed. "So I could take care of you. When mom and dad died I had no other choice, but to drop out for you. Besides, high school didn't allow for any creativity. They never allowed me to freely work on my magic. Whenever I did a trick the teachers would scorn me and tell me that I shouldn't stand out."
"Hans, do some magic for me…I haven't seen some in so long." She yearned then gave a yawn.
I laughed as tenderly as I could. "Alright, Kat. What would you like?" I asked.
"Anything really. I just want to see something." She yawned again and curled up under her blanket.
I thought for a minute, then picked up a stone. "Watch closely." I held the stone in one hand, waved the other over it, and it disappeared. I opened the other and the stone lay in my palm. She clapped quietly under the blanket and I performed for her again. This time I threw the stone up into the air and it again disappeared. She clapped, this time softer; I could tell she was getting tired. I did one more- this time I picked up a larger stone and threw it in the air. When it came back down, it hit with a thud but I had disappeared.
"Where are you, Hans?" she muttered sleepily. There was no respond. "Hans!" she cried out. No response.
Seven intoxicated Nazi officers were wandering in the Black Forest that night who had soon found me after my disappearing act behind the bushes. I tried to call out to Kat but I was silenced by a kick to the head. They said that they had seen my magic tricks and wanted to see more. They beat me to the ground and tied my wrists together, then blindfolded me. All seven took turns kicking me with their heels and asking me to magically predict who had kicked me. As this was happened around me, I tried to call for Kat again and again. Every time I called out I was kicked again and asked who had kicked me. Finally the game had stopped when I heard one of them say, "Who's the girl?"
I instantly shouted, "Don't touch her! Keep your filthy hands off her!" but my shouts were futile and soon I was made speechless with a vigorous blow to the head. I don't remember what happened after that.
When I awoke I found myself bound to a metal chair in a small office with several officers against the walls surrounding me. Most wore tan uniforms with armbands barring Swastikas. The others had dark grey uniforms with tall, leather boots and black, leather gloves.
"Where's my sister?" I immediately demanded.
My chair was kicked forward by an officer standing behind me. My face was smashed onto the cold, grey tile which relieved the red, siring pain of my head, where I was struck several times before. My moment of relief was soon interrupted by a pull of my hair. My eyes traveled upwards to a pair of leather boots standing before me. My head swirled from the headache I had been given from my many head injuries.
"Is this our little magician?" asked the gruff voice hovering over me, to whom I supposed the boots had belonged.
"Yes, sir. We found him in the Schwarz Wald. We saw him perform magic." replied the officer, still holding my hair firmly.
"A fairy tale, indeed, Lieutenant. You can release him."
I can only guess his fairy tale comment was because in Germany all of our fairy tales take place in the Black forest or the Schwarz Wald.
The officer dropped my head onto the tile and I tried to pick up my head again but the officer drove it back down with his foot. The lieutenant who had held me by my hair untied me from the chair which had pinned me to the floor. He pulled it off and set it up behind me. I felt the release of the ropes which had dug into my skin and my handcuffs were removed as well, relieving a large extent of pain from my wrists. I continued to lay on the floor motionless and feeble.
"Up!" he commanded.
I struggled to push myself to my feet but eventually, through much trembling, I managed to stand. Some confidence returned to me from my new position but it soon fell, as did I, into the chair behind me. The officer addressed me as he paced around my chair.
"Hans Christian Falke, is it?"
"Yes, sir." I answered wiping some blood from my lip with my trembling hand.
"Born 7th of Oktober, 1926 to Siegfried and Magdelina Falke."
"Yes, sir."
"Your parents, both- dead?"
"Yes, sir. I guess the Gestapo really know-" I tried to say aggressively but another slap was unleashed across my face.
"You only answer questions, clear?"
"Yes, sir."
"Now, about your magik- is it destructive?"
"My magic?"
"You did some form of magik in the Schwarz Wald, did you not?" spitting his words in my face.
"Well, I've never tried any form of destructive magic." I responded, controlling my anger.
"We can fix that." He whispered to an officer and he brought him a wine glass.
He flung me out of my chair onto my knees and placed the glass before me.
"Macht!" he shouted.
'Do? Do what?' I thought. I stared at the glass and wondered if they really thought I could do magic or if they were only mocking me. I stared at it, in concentration, hoping that if I stared long enough and nothing would happen that they would release Kat and me.
"Macht jetzt!" he was getting impatient. He must have thought pushing me lower to the ground with his boot would help. "Perhaps your dear sister can help!"
"Kat!" I whispered harshly.
The glass abruptly shattered into several pieces as if 'Kat' was the magic word. The officer dragged me up by my collar and stared into my eyes. His mouth curled into a wicked grin.
"Excellent," he hissed. Spit landed on my cheek from his mouth and I felt disgusted from head to toe.
"I'll never help you!" making my words as fierce as possible.
He released my collar as he gave me a swift kick to the stomach. I slid against the tile and hit my head on the wall. I heard a crack and felt my head being crushed by immense pain, as well as my stomach. The wind was brutally knocked out of me and I tried to catch gasps of air one at a time and hold them in.
"You will help us, Mr. Falke. And I know just where to hit you so you will."
I looked up and felt a surge of vertigo overwhelm me. When everything went back into focus, I caught a good look at the officer who had said this. His hair was dark, messy, but not wild. It stood on his head like it hadn't grown from it. His eyes were black, narrow, and cold. His nose was sharp, like a raven's beck. His face tarnished by years but he was not elderly.
"There is no place you can hit me that will make me join your repulsive organization!" I screamed, followed by a series of my coughs.
"Would you like to test that theory, Mr. Falke?" he rushed at me with his gun drawn and held it under my chin. His face was inches from mine as he laughed hysterically. His breath smelled of pepper and cigarettes.
I think his laughing was due to the fact that I had flinched when he drew his gun and came at me. In his eyes I was a coward- something that, in Nazi eyes, was worse than death. He moved his gun down from my chin to my chest, right over my heart, which was pounding like a madman on a door. I eyed his finger as it moved to the trigger. I trembled and his smirk grew.
"Bring her in." he called to his men, as he continued staring deep into my eyes. I knew what he had meant now.
He moved aside as I saw two officers walk in the door with their hands on the shoulders of my Little Princess.
"Kat!" I yelled as I pounced up to embrace her but he had stepped between us and held his gun to my heart again.
"I know just the spot," he whispered as he tapped his gun on my chest.
My eyes began to tear but I did my best to hold it back. 'Not my sister, not my Kat.' I kept thinking.
"Would you like to tell your dear sister who your new commander is?" he asked devilishly.
I tilted my head to get a glance at her but the officer pressed the side of his gun to my cheek, forcing my eyes to stare back into his.
"Lieutenant Commander Dieter Schulmann." He said gradually but prominently.
"Holl wartet für dich!" I shouted out of rage. Hell waits for him.
He shoved me to the ground and yelled, "That's sich to you, Lt. Falke!"
I couldn't believe he wasn't offended by my comment but rather, offended that I had said it with the informal you.
"Let me see my sister, sir!" I emphasized.
He stood aside and I swiftly crawled over and embraced Kat. I heard her sniffle and felt her tears fall upon my shoulders. I pulled her away, with my hands on her shoulders, and stared into her watery, blue eyes.
"Don't cry, Princess." I whispered.
"Brüder, Ich habe Angst…" she muttered with fear.
"I know. It's okay. We'll be together soon." I promised. I gave her another hug, soon interrupted by Commander Schulmann's hard, sharp voice.
"Are you for certain about that?"
I released Kat and stood firmly, facing him. "If I join you who will care for my sister? I need to know that she'll be safe."
"You'll care for me, Hans! Don't let them-" Kat was silenced by a nearby officer who had struck her. My expression turned cold and ominous. I glared at Lieutenant Commander Dieter Schulmann and he smiled wickedly back.
"She will be looked after here at headquarters. You will be allowed to see her everyday as long as you cooperate."
The word 'cooperate' rang in my head over and over. I was going to cooperate with a group of murderers. I pictured myself in a tan, Nazi uniform with a red Swastika band around my arm. I hated this image but it would have to do in order to save my sister.
"Commander Schulmann." I saluted. "I accept."
He saluted back and I heard Kat cry and scream out, "No, Hans! No!"
I bit my lower lip, still holding my salute, fighting back my tears. Schulmann smiled and dropped his salute. My arm dropped slowly to my side and they carried my sister away kicking and crying. It tore at my heart as I continued to hear my name being screamed down the hall until it grew faint and faded away.
"She'll be taken care of." Schulmann whispered in my ear. I shuddered and he threw a uniform into my arms. "Get dressed."
I put on the uniform quickly, like removing a bandage. I felt ashamed and disgusted wearing the Nazi uniform. Schulmann picked up my other clothes and threw them in a nearby trash bin.
"You won't ever need another set of clothes."
I glared at him but he only grinned, like he had told a joke. "Let's begin." he stated as I followed him out the door and down the long, white hallway outside the room. As we went down the hall I couldn't help but picture in the windows of the doors the future, innocent victims that I would be accounted for on Judgment Day.
Through the hall I had the chance to glance out of a window over the Berlin's horizon. The sun was beginning to rise over the darkened buildings of the city. The sky was illuminated with soft, warm colors which peaked through the thin, silky clouds. I breathed in the sight and exhaled my negative thoughts. For the first time, I had felt as if I was doing the right thing.
Eventually we headed out the doors and into a military jeep. We traveled for several miles as Commander Schulmann gave me instructions.
"I have a special job for you when we get there. You'll be in charge of extermination at Sachsenhausen. We've used guns, gas chambers, and so on in the past but now I think we can do it more efficiently with your help."
I bit my lower lip and rocked my body ever-so-slightly as to not be seen. I had heard rumors about what happens in concentration camps like Sachsenhausen. They were basically used to efficiently exterminate everyone who the Nazi thought were impure. Just talking about killing innocent people with efficiency made me want to jump out of the jeep and hope that another one would run me over. I hated the thought of what I was about to do. I wasn't a murderer. I'm only a magician. I didn't destroy that wine glass back at headquarters; that wasn't me. I didn't want to destroy anything; it just happened. And now I had to destroy people. I struggled to fight back my tears as my thoughts grew deeper and deeper into what I was about to do. The rest of the trip was as silent as the grave.
When we arrived at Sachsenhausen I felt a certain spirit there. It wasn't peace but it wasn't fear or sorrow. I felt something much deeper when I saw the faces of hundreds of Jews- praying, starving, dying. The Nazis wanted me to help further that along. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? How?
Commander Schulmann held his hand on my back, making me take in several short, hard breaths, as he led me into a vast room. This room was full of several dozen helpless, innocent people all in rags and tattered clothing. They all looked into my eyes with sorrow and despair, the knowledge that they were going to die.
Then, the order, "Kill them. Kill them all."
My mind tore itself apart. All these people were going to die in the stead of my sister. There is no word that can describe how distraught and tormented I was about this. My mind tried and tortured itself to focus on the command but it just wouldn't budge. Then, when Commander Schulmann grabbed a fist full of my hair and whispered, "Kat will die," my mind stopped and shifted into a different state. I had a sudden, divinely inspired idea; it was brilliant.
"Commander Schulmann, there's only one way I can kill all these people at once- you have to leave the room. With my magic everyone around me will die. That means you as well. It's too dangerous to stay here."
"Do you consider me a stupid man, Lieutenant Falke? You destroyed a single wine glass back at headquarters!" he bellowed.
"I have no control over my magic and no experience with destructive magic. Give me five minutes at most and I can exterminate all of these people." I explained. Then I had another idea. "You can even have your radio with you so if I try anything funny, you can call headquarters to…well…"
"You do realize if you try anything funny I will have no trouble to call them for your sister's-" he began.
"I know!" I interrupted before he could say it. I didn't want to think about my sister that way- only alive will do for me. "Five minutes, I promise."
He stared at me deeply but then gave in and left the room. There was a small window outside the room where I saw him observe my every move.
I gave quick instructions to the group that they needed to follow exactly. If they went where I told them to go they'd be safe and all escape to their homes. I borrowed a blanket from one of the young ones and pulled it in front of the window. After a few seconds I pulled it down and the room was empty to Schulmann's view. He slammed open the door and found the room as he had seen it- empty. He smiled in adoration and led me back into the jeep. We drove back to headquarters where I slept peacefully that night.
The next morning I was curtly awoken by several Nazi guards. They drug me out of my bed, down the hall, and into the first room I had been in when I first came there. Schulmann was standing in the room, smoking a cigar when they threw me in and left. He paced around me and stopped directly in front of me. I stared up at him from the ground, expecting something grand. It didn't have to be in order to get a grasp of his point. He gave me a quick boot to the stomach and I fell over, trying to regain my breath in my lungs again.
"You thought that was funny, didn't you, lieutenant?" he shouted.
"Ich habe keine Idee was du ubersprechen." I lied. I have no idea what you're talking about.
"You have no idea? Really? You think letting a group of forty-two prisoners go is funny? A cruel joke to play on us? Now we must find and capture them again. They will only suffer a worse fate now because of YOU!"
"Nein." I said. "Du werdst ein schlimmer Schicksal in Holl bezahlen, Herr Schulmann!" No, he will pay a worse fate in Hell.
"A worse fate in Hell? I'm doing this country a favor! We're ridding our Father Land of the trash and garbage that fills our streets! All the Jewish people take away our jobs, our money, and our opportunities. Hitler wants us to have a strong society full of pure Germans! And you want to take that away from your homeland?"
"Du machst mich kronk!" as I had said this Schulmann started to breath heavily. You make me sick. My words became bullets. My magic had more power than his mind-set ever could.
"Du und dein Vaterland" I screamed as I stood to my feet. You and your Fatherland. His breathing became hyperventilated and soon he struggled for more and more air. I pulled off the swastika arm band that felt like a dog collar and threw it on the ground. I stepped on it with my boot and crushed it into the ground as hard as I could. I had found strength that I had never felt before as I stood before him while he struggled for air. "The Germans should be strong enough to unite with other foreigners! Nieder mit Hitler, you Nazi pig!" My heart raced as I felt this extreme force of power came over me.
It almost seemed in slow motion as my hand came down upon Commander Schulmann's head. As my hand made contact he fell down, not breathing. A burden was lifted off my shoulders as I ran out into the room where they had kept my sister. Many guards stood in front of the cell where she sat in the corner. The guards pulled out their pistols and shot several bullets but all fell to the ground before they reached me. They dropped their guns, like cowards, and ran for their lives.
Kat
looked up at me with her big, beautiful eyes and shouted jubilantly,
"Hans!"
My eyes poured out fountains of tears as I threw out
my hand towards the cell door. It burst open and my sister ran at me
at full speed. We embraced triumphantly and I picked her up in my
arms.
"I knew your magic would save me, Hans! I just knew it!" she cried into my shoulder. I gave her a big squeeze and carried her out of the door. Outside I met Schulmann, still barely alive with his gun drawn, aimed at me. I set down my sister at my side and approached him ceremoniously.
"Get away from me!" he cautioned, brandishing his gun.
"Put the gun down, Dieter." I whispered tactfully.
"No. No." he muttered under his breath as his hands shook relentlessly. He placed his quaking finger on the trigger and held it there.
"You're not a commander, Dieter, you're only a child." I calmly murmured.
"No, you're wrong. I'm a…I'm-"
"A child, Dieter. And every child needs magic. I think the same goes for you… and all of us." I reached for the gun gradually as I grew closer and closer to Schulmann. We were about an arm-length apart when he thrust his gun into my chest. It hurt but I held my stance, not moving an inch. The end of the barrel remained on my chest for a straight minute of silence.
"Don't do this." I pleaded.
"I have to." He replied.
My next memory was of Kat screaming my name. I had not heard him press the trigger. I did, however, hear repetitive clicking after that. He continued to pull the trigger again and again but the magazine was empty. I reached for the gunas he dropped it suddenly. It fell in my hands and I threw it down behind me. Somehow I knew there were no more bullets left in the gun. He fell to his knees and stared at Kat perplexed. I knelt beside him and said, "Go home, Dieter. The Nazis hold nothing useful for you. Go home."
That day I went back to my tattered and broken home. The bombs that had been dropped on Germany had destroyed everything- everything but my sister and me. My entire home town was in ruin. Among the rubble I found the dead bodies of our friends and neighbors; the necropolises were all full. Their rotting faces resembled masks that would have been a part of a masquerade in Hell. The rest of what we found I would not prefer to describe for they cause me nightmares still. We built a home after the war ended and to this day I still speak to the Jews whom I had used in one of the greatest magic tricks I had ever performed.
All the men, women, and children around me were dead. All the bodies fell to the ground like buildings in an earthquake. It was the most abysmal thing I've seen in my entire life. I couldn't breathe. I started to hyperventilate as I barely heard Commander Schulmann laugh uncontrollably.
My eyes bore continuous tears of pain as I continued to hear the laugh of that Devil's comrade- Schulmann. I eventually fell to my knees as I wept uncontrollably still. Then- a miracle arose. I never knew that miracles existed until I had actually performed one. As my tears fell to the ground, one by one, bodies rose from the floor and looked at me with astonishment. And as the bodies raised so did I. They all appeared divine and inspired. I glanced around the room at every single face; none had a look of sadness. Then my eyes glanced at Schulmann- the only face that wasn't divine. His face resembled what I had always pictured the Devil's would look like when Jesus performed a miracle.
"Why?" he simply muttered. "Why?"
"Death has no power here. And neither do you." I stated intrepidly.
Schulmann pulled out his gun and radio from his belt. He pointed his gun at my face and called on his radio to headquarters.
"Shoot her." He stated.
My eyes widened and my heart rate accelerated to double the normal rate. "Not my Kat." I pleaded.