Hope in the Holocaust was written for a writing challenge of Bade prompts back in 2013. The original plan was to have this be a one shot, but when I wrote this I was playing with the idea of a sequel where Jade and Beck were reunited. Plus I couldn't just leave this story hanging in the Holocaust.
This chapter has been rewritten. Most of it is the original, but I went back and corrected grammar and spelling issues and rewrote a sentence or two that would have created plot holes for the sequel.
When I originally wrote this I also had a different pen name, it was "Always a Sucker for Romance" I've changed it since then but I'm still the original author.
I've put a lot of time, effort and thought into this story and as always I hope that you enjoy 3
Chapter Word Count without the Author's Note: 3,656
Originally published: April 20, 2013
Date new edition published: March 28, 2019
Original Author's Note:
Hey, so this is for the final round of Bade prompts (S/he didn't tell you did they).
PROMPT: SWEETHEART BROOCH
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN VICTORIOUS. If I did the show wouldn't be over.
...
Poland 1940
Jade sighed contently in her boyfriend's embrace. "I wish that we could stay like this forever," the brunette released another sigh as she snuggled closer into his strong muscular arms, "This is so nice." Beck let a lazy smile cross his lips as his head fell on to the back of the couch. They both knew Jade was never this sentimental and under normal circumstances she would be utterly humiliated at showing her tender side, but these weren't normal circumstances.
'Tick, Tock. Tick, Tock,' The old clock on the mantel mocked them as if to say "Your time is running out."
Their country was at war. The streets that they grew up on now seemed like a war. Their lives were a never-ending fight for survival.
'Tick, Tock.'
The young couple of three years knew that she'd have to leave soon to get home before curfew. They couldn't risk breaking any rules, even ones as simple as being on time. Being caught doing the slightest wrong could have disastrous results. Deadly even.
'Tick, Tock.'
"Me too Babe. Me too," Beck sighed before rubbing his eyes and looking around the living room in his parents' house. Nowadays the only dates they could go on were dates spent at each other's houses. And even then it was getting harder and harder to see each other outside of school.
They weren't welcome anywhere else. All because of their religion.
'Tick, Tock. Go home, young lady. Go home. Tick, Tock.'
Jade opened her eyes immediately locking them to the time teller as if she heard what it was saying. She fleetingly thought about how the clock's hands made an obtuse angle. At least she was remembering her lessons from math, especially after all the homework she had to do that night.
'Tick-'
"It's getting late," Jade murmured.
"I'll walk you home," Beck offered. There was really no need. They both knew he'd walk her home. He always did.
After Jade bid farewell to the Olivers, as civil as possible with the mutual dislike for one another, Jade joined Beck by the front door. Being the gentleman he was, Beck helped Jade into her coat before grabbing her school books. With one arm full of books and the only full of their owner, Beck stepped into the bitter winter night.
It's almost dark.
As much as they'd like to leisurely stroll home, they both know they can't. It'd be too risky.
There's danger all around them. Monsters are lurking in the shadows.
Since they don't want to give them a reason to pounce, the duo pulls their coats closer around them and set off in a brisk walk.
A few minutes later they're standing on her front porch. The light from the lamp that her mother left on for her mixed with the golden glow from the sun's final rays.
"Thanks for walking me home," Jade said as she gently took back her school supplies while standing on her tiptoes to give him a chaste kiss. Both were savoring this moment.
"Babe," Beck started as they pulled away. He surveyed the beautiful sight before him. Pale skin that glowed in the even the mellow light. Big blue eyes that he loved to get lost in, they shined like gems as she looked up at him expectantly. Pink plump lips that were in a constant pout and always ready for a kiss. Long brown curls that tumbled down to the small of her back, the brown river going down her front covered the blaring yellow Star of David sewn onto her coat. God how he loved this girl, "I have something for you."
"What?" Jade couldn't stop the coy smile that played on her lips.
Beck pulled something small from his pocket. Jade couldn't see it right away since his large fist covered it, but once his fingers opened she gasped at what she saw.
In his palm was a silver brooch of two hearts merging. The hearts became one with the top left curve of the right heart overlapping the left heart's right curve. Each heart couldn't be larger than an American quarter and the silver flashed in the almost nonexistent light, quickly showing a glimpse of an engravement that danced between the two loving shapes. The simplicity of the brooch was breathtakingly beautiful.
"Beck, I... Ah... Wow," Jade breathed stunned. She hadn't expected something like this. With prices inflating, income decreasing, and the ever-present fact that they were still in high school, the duo had made a pact months ago to not buy each other gifts. Birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, all these events went giftless, so why now. "I can't accept this."
Beck's smile faltered for a second, because although had been expecting some resistance, her refusal of his gift still hurt, "Yes you can."
"No, I can't Beck. That's real silver! It must have cost you a fortune! And where did you buy it anyway? All the jewelers who would sell to Jews are closing and... and... Why?"
Beck rubbed her shoulders to soothe her as she caught her breath, "The price is not something I want you to worry about. As for where I know a guy. And most importantly," Beck took a step closer to Jade so their foreheads touched, "I love you. With all my heart. I wanted to get you something that you'll see and think of me. Now be a good girl and take your gift."
"Don't tell me what to do," Jade reflexively said as she fought any and all tears from falling out of her eyes. It had been so long since she was given a present. Her long fingers slid up to take her new and only brooch. "Thank you." Her lips gave him a final kiss. "Now get home," Jade ordered when she saw it was basically dark. Curfew was close. So close. "And be safe," she added as quickly thrown in afterthought.
"Yes, ma'am," Beck watched as she went into her home before hurriedly making his way back to his. Thoughts filling his head. Dreadful thoughts. Thoughts that when spoken will have to power to crush her heart. And he was man enough to admit that it would kill him too.
The weight of the unspoken words was unbearable.
Once he was out of her site she backed away from the window and shut the porch light off.
... . . . .
The following day at school he pulls her into the custodian's closet.
"If you wanted to make out you could have just said so instead of dragging me in here," Jade smirked as she slipped her arms around his neck. Instead of breaking into the boyish grin she expected his face remained solemn.
Worried even.
It scared her.
"What's wrong?" A pale hand cupped his cheek.
"I'm not supposed to tell you this. I'm not supposed to tell anyone actually. If word gets out my family will be in great danger. Killed probably. You can't tell anyone. But please don't hate me. Don't-"
"Beck," Jade interrupted, "You're scaring me. Tell me what's going on." By now he was holding on to her the way a man lost at sea holds onto a Life Ring.
"My family's leaving," Beck blurted in a whispered voice.
Jade recoiled her hands and body as if he had burned her.
And maybe he had.
He immediately missed her touch, "Excuse me?"
She knew exactly what he said. Exactly what this meant.
"My family, we're leaving Poland. My father has an old friend who lives in Switzerland and he said that we can live with him and his wife for a while."
"How long have you known," Jade demanded as tears came to her eyes for the second time in twenty-four hours. Both rounds were caused by him.
Damn him.
"My parents have been discussing this for a few months now. I didn't say anything because I never imagined they were serious. Then suddenly all the rules got stricter, as you know, and they're not going to lighten up. Things are only going to get worse-"
"I know this Beck! I am very aware of the shit hole our lives are being turned into!"
"And it's that building pile of shit that made up my parents mind! And as much as we both know I don't want to leave you, I can't just separate from them!" Beck grasped her hands, "Two days ago my parents told me." Jade took a hand out of his.
'SLAP'
Both were stung. Her hand, his face, their hearts.
"Two days! You've known for two days and you didn't tell me!"
"I didn't know how!"
"And you figured this would be the best way? In a school closet!" Realization spread across her face, "That's why you gave me the brooch!" Her mind flashed to the piece of jewelry hidden inside her mattress at home. It was too risky to wear in public with the ever-present threat of having any form of jewelry literally ripped off of your person. And she didn't dare leave it in her jewelry box in fear of one of the police's notoriously random visits.
Everyone knew a police visit meant giving something up: jewelry, pots and pans, food, loved ones...
"It was the motivation, yes," Beck admitted, "But, I meant everything I said."
'SLAP'
"Would you stop that!"
"A sweetheart brooch. You gave me a goddamned sweetheart brooch. And you're not even going to war."
And yet, although neither were official soldiers wearing validated uniforms, they were both fighting a war. A war of survival. And neither knew that for one of them the battle was just beginning.
Looking into his pleading eyes she couldn't help but let her anger go. After all, how much time did she have left with him? So instead of screaming and shouting she engulfed him in her arms, both wishing never to separate.
... . . . .
He was gone by the end of the week.
Before leaving he had stopped by to say his final farewell. Between kisses and embraces, he secretly gave her his new address and spoken promises.
Kiss.
He promised to stay in touch.
Kiss.
He promised he loved her.
Kiss.
She promised this in return.
Kiss.
He promised he'd never forget her.
Kiss.
How could she NOT return this?
Kiss.
Most importantly he promised they'd meet again someday. Be together again someday. Be Bade again someday.
... . . . . .
In the weeks that followed the Olivers' disappearance, it seemed everybody in the community were asking the same questions.
"Where are they?"
"How could a family just vanish overnight?"
"Jade do you know where they are?"
"We've spoken to his friends and his brother's friends. They didn't know the Olivers were leaving. Did you?"
Her parents looked at her with pity filled eyes. Beck's final appearance now made sense in their heads. He was saying goodbye, goodbye for good. And if they suspected that she knew anything about the infamous vanishing act, they sure didn't let on.
... . . . . .
Poland 1941
Just as predicted, things got worse. Much worse.
After the Olivers left more and more families disappeared. Jade could just picture Mrs. Oliver smiling pleased with her self for being a trendsetter.
Some families moved to other countries.
Some went into hiding.
And some were led out of their homes by men in uniforms.
But not the Wests. Nope, Mr. West was a man filled with too much pride and stubbornness for his own good. That's why his family was present when they discovered every Jew in their neighborhood was being relocated. To a place where they can be with their people. Away from the dangers of the outside world.
A place called the ghetto.
Jade hated it there. It immediately went to the top of her hate list, next to the Nazi and Hitler.
She wasn't alone. Everyone hated it there. The apartments were cramped and small. The streets were dirty, the food was scarce, and space was limited.
Her little brother and his new friends whined over their loss of comic books and toys that lay abandoned in their old houses. The women worried over the lack of nourishment and hygienics available to their children. And the men were focused on trying to keep their families safe.
Jade was just heartbroken. She and Beck had sent a few letters back and forth before it became too dangerous to do so. Hell, it was a miracle that they were able to correspond for even the limited time they had.
She hasn't heard from him in a month.
But when she's lonely and missing him terribly, she'll trace her sweetheart brooch through the fabric of her dresses. She always wears it now but keeps it pinned to the inside of her dress so no one will see it. So no one will take it. So her parents won't sell it.
One night, a night resembling the wonderful night that now seems years ago, Jade sat in her cramped living room rereading a book she had brought with her. She missed going to the library and going to school. Jade always loved learning. Suddenly a loud pounding knock erupted on their door. When her father opened it Jade could hear her new neighbors yelling and harsh orders being given.
In her doorway stood a Devil's servant.
A soldier.
A Nazi.
"Pack your bags."
... . . . . .
Brooklyn, America 1944
Beck whistled a friendly tune as he walked out of his parents' bathroom.
After the Olivers made it to Switzerland they stayed there for less than a year before making the great migration to America. The parents took their two sons and settled down into an apartment in Brooklyn. Their block was filled with families like them and the Olivers eased right into their new community. Mr. Oliver opened a meat market, not unlike the one he owned in his home country, and it turned out to be successful. Beck's older brother had shown interest in taking over the family business, so while Seth had become their father's apprentice and Beck worked there part-time he was left with his future wide open.
So after Beck obtained his high school diploma, he immediately got a job working at a mechanic shop. He'd always been good with cars, and since the GI Bill paid for his college any extra money he made went toward his future.
He wants to be an accountant.
He had always been good at math.
She had taught him how to be good. At a lot of things.
And accountants make a good living.
Enough to support himself, her and any addition they might create.
Beck shook his head of any and all thought of blue eyes and plump lips. He's a twenty-one-year-old man now.
She's twenty.
Beck ran a hand through his hair as he thought about his first love. He thought about her a least once a day, and sure he went out on dates with the pretty girl, but they were never her. They'd never measure up.
They weren't Jade.
Beck made his way down the apartment's hallway before sitting down at his parent's dinner table for his mother's Saturday dinner.
It was after they had started eating that his father addressed him, "Beck you seem to be doing much better then I thought you would be. You seem fine even."
"Why wouldn't I be fine?" Beck asked a confused expression clouding his face.
"Because your mother," one look at Ania staring at her plate and Boguslaw knew she hadn't said anything. Looking back at her son's expectant face Boguslaw said shocked "She didn't tell you, did she?"
"Tell me what Dad? Dad!" Beck pressed.
"Dad what's going on?" Seth questioned confused.
"Honey, I thought that this was something we should tell him together," Ania defended herself.
"DAD! What's going on dammit!" Beck demanded shouting. The Olivers were all talking over themselves, but no one was giving him an answer.
The head of the family placed his eating utensils down and made eye contact with his youngest son, "Beck, I received news last night. News from Poland. Apparently... Well, you see... You are aware that Jade and her family were placed in the ghettos correct?" Beck slowly nodded "Yes, well," Mr. Oliver wet his lips.
Procrastinating. Boguslaw Oliver was man enough to admit that's what he was doing.
"Everyone in her ghetto was taken to a camp."
Stunned silence filled the room.
"Your lying," Beck growled out. His mother was by his side instantly trying to comfort him.
"Your father and I would never lie about this," Ania said soothingly. Beck ripped himself away from his mother and backed away from the table.
"NO!"
"Beck, come on-"
"SHUT UP SETH!"
"Beck son-" Mr. Oliver was cut off.
"When."
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me. When was she taken."
Boguslaw hesitated for only a moment, "Three years ago."
That did it. Beck leaned over started dry heaving. Immediately all his family members were by his side. "Maybe," he inhaled deeply and shakily released it. "Maybe the camps are like the ones in those propaganda commercials shown back home. You know? You saw how nice they were. People were playing and going to school and... and"
"Son," Mr. Oliver put a hand on his youngest's shoulder, "No good ever EVER comes from the Third Reich."
... . . . . .
Auschwitz, Poland 1945
Jade laid in her hard bunk. She was cold but didn't dare move closer to her bunkmate for warmth. It wouldn't have helped since she heard the girl next to her stop breathing hours ago.
Jade just didn't have the energy to push the girl out of her bunk.
Her entire body was sore from the never-ending backbreaking energy that she did day in and day out.
This was the third camp she had been in and over her journey Jade had learned to be one of the best workers they had, and hopefully, you'd be spared.
But she quickly learned that Auschwitz wasn't like any other camp. This place unforgivable. There was no chance of being transferred, if you were leaving this place it was in the form of ash.
Surviving Auschwitz was a full-time job.
One that took everything Jade had.
But tonight as she laid in the dark wooden bunk, lice crawling over her, next to a cold corpse, she smiled. Because in her hand was a familiar object. It was of two merging hearts.
When she was first taken to the camps she and her family were placed in a small train cart that was meant to carry a no more than two dozen cattle.
Instead, it held over a hundred people. Just one train cart in a long procession.
After they exited the train she was looked up and down by soldiers who were really just leering man excited at seeing a pretty girl. They told her to stand on one line while her family was sent to another. As the lines started to go in separate directions, Jade's went straight, the rest of the Wests went to the right, her mother gave her a pained look and blew her a kiss.
That was the last time she ever saw her family.
Everyone going right was immediately shot and killed. The screams of that day would live with Jade forever.
Jade's next hurdle was getting her brooch past the guards. They had taken everything from her. Her family, her home, Beck.
They were not taking her brooch.
As the guards forced them to strip, Jade quickly and cautiously unpinned the back before securely putting the needle back in place and hid the brooch in her person. Not on, but in. She wasn't proud of it was it was the only thing she could think off, especially since they would probably be checking mouths.
Jade kept her legs tightly together as they shaved her hair, took away any dignity she had left and gave her a new identity in the form of a uniform and tattoo.
After all this time Jade kept the pin on the inside of her uniform where no one could see. During the day in times of pain and need she'd lightly trace the hearts and on some nights, when she was sure her bunkmate was asleep she'd take it out and admire it. With the brooch in her hand, she would dream awake.
Dream of the past.
Of her family.
Being loved.
Of soft kisses.
Tender touches.
Sweet words.
She'd dream about him.
And now on this cold January night, Jade imagined a different life. One where she and he were still together. Perhaps they'd have gone to college together. They'd definitely have gotten married surrounded by loved ones. By now they should be in a house with a baby on the way. And on weekends they'd have both of their families over for barbecues. Beck by her side in each of her visions.
She tried to imagine what he would look like today she let out a bitter laugh. He'd never recognize her now. What was left of her once long hair was matted, her curves gone and replaced with sharp bones and sunken eyes thanks to malnutrition. Bugs were always crawling on her.
On the inside though, she's still the same. Strong spirited and a will like a lioness.
A will to survive.
And on nights when she thinks about just giving up, she'll look at her brooch, her sweetheart brooch, and she'll find the most dangerous thing of all: Hope.
That shred of hope that comes from a small piece of jewelry gives her the will and power to carry on.
The will to keep on fighting.
To survive this living Hell and all its monsters.
To get herself out of there.
And to find her way back to Beck.
Auschwitz was liberated the next day.
With the brooch clutched in her hand through the thin fabric, Jade lived to see it.