"Oh God Ernst, Oh God Oh God Oh God. I've done something terrible.
"Anna?" Ernst's eyes flickered nervously towards the open panel and then back to her thin face. "What is it, what's wrong?"
"They know Ernst!" she stared up at him almost pleadingly, "The police know you're hiding here. God, I didn't mean to, I was only," she paused for breath, tripping over the words, "they said you'd left, but the last I'd heard was that you were in Berlin-"
"Oh God Anna," Ernst moved back against the wall, fleeting joy at seeing his friend again was now being sharply converted into fear. "We'll have to move again, we'll have to go into permanent hiding."
"I'm sorry-"
"I don't want to hear it!" Ernst burst out, Anna took his hand, it wasn't like him to get so, angry, "I can't leave, I don't want to leave this place, I was getting better!" Ernst fixed her with a stare, the light behind his eyes was starting to dim, Anna recognised that look, but there was something new in the intensity of his gaze. Something that almost shocked her, and made her want to look away.
"I was happy here, together, with him."
"I know, and I never meant to-" the tears had begun to stream down Anna's cheeks.
"Why are you here Anna?"
"I just wanted to see you."
Ernst felt his brain fuzz, the room was slipping out of focus. Something just out of his reach seemed to slide sideways; the sounds of bells rang in his ears.
"Well it's lovely to see you!" the dark haired boy beamed suddenly, "Would you like a cup of tea, I've never made one before but I'll have a go."
"Ernst," Anna began, but as a pair of ever-trusting eyes met hers she stopped, the lines had smoothed from Ernst's previously pale face. He wanted to see me. Ernst looked calmer and hummed softly as he busied himself with the teapot. What if ignorance really was bliss?
"Yes Anna?" Ernst turned and looked up at her expectantly, "What were you saying?" Anna held her breath, feeling the words rise in her throat.
"Nothing,"
Ernst blinked, and continued to extract the tea bags from their tin which lay in the corner.
"Let me help you with the hot water."
About half an hour later (Ernst had spilt the first two cups of tea, so that a large sanguine stain was now seeping across the dirty white mattress) they sat, sleeves pulled up over their hands to keep hold of the scalding hot liquid. Ernst toyed with the last few sugar cubes, now that the usual conversation of Hanschen, and painting, and was he having more good days now and did Dr Gabor come and visit ever and did she bring Melchior with her?
"I think I saw you earlier today," Anna smiled.
"You did?" Ernst puzzled, "then why didn't you come and say hello?" He took another small sip, "Hanschen's always telling me to be polite at the moment," Ernst smiled playfully, "except at night time." Anna felt herself blushing but Ernst continued unaware, "He said even if someone calls me names in the street or won't serve me in a shop I should just be polite and walk away and not say anything back." Ernst paused, "but not saying hello isn't very polite."
Anna shook her head, but remembering catching a glimpse of the two of them, talking heads close together in the corner of a backstreet café, a single slice of apple and cinnamon cake with two forks set between them, she was glad she hadn't interrupted their moment, even if a tiny part of her wanted to feel the moist crumbs of pudding slide down her throat. In the middle of winter, business had been scarce; there were fewer people on the streets at night. In the last week she had barely scraped together enough to feed the baby. She almost relished the scalding sensation of the tea on her tongue, too much time had passed for her to march straight in and start fixing them something to eat, as she had always done. She felt the boy beside her tense a little at the sound of a door opening downstairs.
"Ernst?"
Anna could hear a voice coming from the hallway.
"Yes?" Ernst called back.
She could hear Hanschen's feet pounding up the stairs.
"I've got a surprise for you." The tone of mischief in his voice was undeniable.
Ernst walked towards the shut panel, motioning for Anna to stay quiet, in all their years together, it seemed he'd picked up a few tricks from Hanschen. "Really?" he smiled playfully, "what is it?"
Hanschen was whispering now, his voice just the other side of the thin door. Anna set down her cup of tea and waited, amused.
Ernst stood up a little straighter and pressed his ear to the wall, the fog seemed to clear from his brain.
"I saw Eduardo today," Hanschen continued, drawing out each word, letting each vowel roll around his tongue like a delicious cream cake, "and you'll never guess what he managed to get hold of."
Anna froze, she watched as Ernst's eyes slid shut, a small smile playing upon his face.
"Tell me."
"100% pure," she could hear Hanschen reaching for the catch that opened the panel, "and when I get in there, I'm going to melt it and then lick it off your-"
The panel swung open, Hanschen froze, dropping a canvas bag by his feet, "Anna!"
Ernst burst out laughing; Anna stormed across the room grabbing the bag from behind Hanschen,
"I don't believe you two!" she scalded, she emptied the contents of the bag onto the mattress and found,
"Chocolate?!" she exclaimed, "I thought you were-"
"What? Drugs?" Ernst smiled sweetly, "Anna our parents would be horrified,"
"Stop it!" Anna chucked the nearest pillow at Hanschen's head, "You and your bloody fetishes, your worse than half of the men in town back home! And judging by that previous conversation you two have been doing quite enough things that would horrify your parents!'
Ernst giggled, "May they rest in peace."
Hanschen placed an arm around the younger man's shoulder and the two of them leant back against the room's one bare white wall, "Eduardo is an old acquaintance of Ernst's, a cocoa millionaire, he's filthy rich.
Ernst smiled, resting his head on Hanschen's shoulder "he owed me a few favours from art school."
"Blimey," Anna took another sip of tea, tucking her feet underneath her.
"Anyway, chocolate aside, it's wonderful to see you," Hanschen smiled.
"Yes," Ernst nodded fiercely, "how's Hansi? Are you keeping yourself alright?" he paused, "how's everything with Ilse?"
"Fine, fine, Hansi's staying with his mother for a bit, she's not to happy about it but there you go, " Anna breezed, "how are you enjoying her old house?"
Ernst and Hanschen looked at each other, sensing she'd said the wrong thing Anna quickly made for a change of subject, "why don't we listen to a record?" She smiled at Ernst, "you used to love that, remember?"
Ernst's brain fuzzed, he knew there was something he was supposed to remember, something Anna had told him, he'd been angry at her. But why?
"Anna," Hanschen interrupted her, glancing bitterly at the closed panel, "It's after seven. I only just made it back before the curfew and the officials think we've left the city anyway. We can't let them find us. We can't draw attention to ourselves."
"Oh," Anna looked at the floor, a world that she knew little about and that had seemed to know little of her was starting to take its toll, "I'm sorry I didn't know."
Hanschen started to say something but a noise, a remote and yet almost painfully close sound seemed to stop him. Someone was knocking at the door.
Ernst seemed to suddenly remember something, snatches of conversation flitted through his mind, he turned, wide eyed.
"A-Anna," he began,
"Nobody's supposed to be living here anymore; we put signs on the door, 'abandoned', 'danger', 'do not enter!'" Hanschen shook his head in disbelief.
Anna took a deep breath, "I'm sorry Hanschen," she whispered, "I really didn't mean to tell them."
Hanschen turned on her, the blue of his eyes blazing, his mouth open in shock and anger. "Why didn't you tell me this before?" he growled.
"I just wanted to, I just need to see-" Anna began, the words sticking in her throat.
"Get out," Hanschen hissed, "Get out there and tell them this is your house. Tell them you're the only person living here. Tell them to stay away."
Anna nodded fearfully, she wrenched open the panel and fled down the stairs, hearing Hanschen pull the door of the opening vehemently back into place. Smoothing down her thin skirt and tidying her hair she scrubbed her eyes ineffectively with her hands in an attempt to remove the worst of the smudged eye make-up that now dirtied her cheeks.
Checking that everything was silent above, she pulled open the door.
A/N: Reviews make me smile :D
