When I awaken from my sleep, I am plagued with the smells of the sewers and the sound of humanity. My vision is blinded by the light of midday. My first thoughts are of my brothers, but my second thoughts are of myself. How am I to get out of here?
Then it hits me. The smell of sewage and shit, and then I get it. It's impossible to walk around up here wearing the Star of David, but below ground, in the absolute depths of excrement and garbage is where no human being would dare to travel. Then it won't matter anymore. I can escape.
After looking around anxiously, I begin to remove the manhole cover that sits in the abandoned alleyway. I began to slid it off, when a feminine voice rang out from above.
"Jew boy!" She said, then tossed me a loaf of bread, a candle, and a cigarette lighter. She waved, and I never will forget that sympathetic smile she wore. "Good luck!"
I smiled back, waving back at her. I didn't know who she was, but any help I could get was help I wouldn't forget.
I climbed into the sewers and pulled the manhole back over the entrance, descending into the darkness. It took me a couple moments to light the candle, and when I did, the room was lit up. There were two directions: right or left. I took the left.
As I trudged on, sludge filled my shoes and human excrement stained the cuffs of my pants. The brick walls looked unstable, as if they would collapse at any given moment, and the smells of shit suffocated me. I was forced to squeeze through bars, and even bend the rusty mess with my hands when I had too. A long gash appeared on my leg as I got careless and dragged my leg over a blockade of broken, rusty iron bars. From then on, I limped more cautiously through the sewers.
I don't know how long I was underground, whether it was hours or days hiking through the shit. The bread had been discarded a long time ago, when it had been covered in crap, but the candles continued to be useful. I tore off part of my brothers big coat to hold the melting wax. The flame flickered throughout the halls, and I smiled in glee when I saw a light at the other end of the tunnel.
The happiness that filled my head was so overbearing that I began to run toward the light. It shined bright, and the light burned my eyes as I fell into the gunky water that the sewers fed out to. It was disgusting, but I was filled with so much relief that I couldn't bring myself to care. I swam to the shore and climbed out of the murky water. The clothes I wore were covered in shit, and my face was the same. But as I fell onto the shore, my lungs heaved a sigh and my hands grasped my chest in jubilation. I wasn't free yet, I knew, but I had escaped the city without intervention, or questioning.
Without a thought, I ripped the yellow Star of David from my shirt, and tossed it into the water. It's not that I am denouncing my faith, God, don't believe that! I could die with that thing on me. I love my religion, but I'm not about to die because of a Star sewn to a piece of my clothing.
The skyline of Warsaw is behind me, and I turned to wish it goodbye.
Goodbye Warsaw. Someday, I will come back.
That night, I slept in a nearby meadow, and the tall grass hid me away from the eyes of the citizens. The cold wind pierced through my brother's coat, but I managed. I was awoken by trucks the next morning. There's no doubt in my mind that the trucks are carrying more of my people, but I just tremble in the field, watching and waiting until they pass. My feet hurt when I stand, but I must move. I have to get away from the Nazis at all costs. I am in the countryside now, stumbling across fields and climbing over fences. My feet are bruised and scraped, my mind is hazy with hunger, and my eyelids keep fluttering, trying to tell me that I can't do this, that I need rest. No, I tell myself, I can, and I must not sleep, not yet, just a bit farther...
There's a well up on the hill, and I climb to wash myself. I really am starting to stink. I begin with my face. Oh, it feels so good to be clean, it's so nice and refreshing, to feel the grime of the city wash away. It's gone, the sewers are gone, the mark of poverty is gone, everything is gone when I splash the cold water over my face.
But that is as far as I got before I was noticed by one of the farmers in the area. It was a woman with icy eyes and long brown hair that was pulled back into a braid. I froze. Surely, she wouldn't turn me in. T-There'd be no point, no reward. I looked at her, as she stormed toward me, viciously grabbing my arm and began heading toward the house.
"Krzysztof! I've been looking for you everywhere!" She shouted angrily, dragging me into her house. "What have I told you about playing in the mud?!" I stared at her for a moment after she slammed the door behind her, and she sighed. "Your welcome." I was silent.
"... Wait, what?" I asked her, confused. She hummed slightly, looking for something in one of her cabinet drawers.
"The Nazis have been watching you for a while now," she answered, standing to hand me a small knife still in it's cover. "So, I'm going to assume that you are a person of interest."
I took the knife from her hands and admired it with care. It was fairly short, made for quick but shallow stabs. It was sharp too, and I cut myself along the edge. My confusion was cleared when my brain finally realised what was happening.
"I am a partisan." The woman said, stepping a bit closer to me. "You owe me, so you will join my forces, okay?" I nodded with excitement and a newfound purpose in life. To avenge my people.
The woman, Irena, fed me simple oatmeal to stave off my hunger, and gave me water and milk to quench my thirst. She explained attack plans, and taught me the proper way to load a pistol, stab a man, and how to camouflage oneself. It was dark when her lectures stopped, and we both heard the doorknob fumbling.
I hid beneath the table, and Irena went to greet the newcomers. There's three of them, all dressed in Nazi uniform. Irena turns to me, smiling softly.
"It's alright, Raivis, these are friends." Two of them look at my huddled frame while the third lights up a smoke. They sat down around the table, sharing the single cigarette and watching me with eerie eyes. Irena stood above them, looking at each of them with different emotions.
After a couple minutes of smoking and silence, one of them, with dark hair and violet eyes, began to speak to me. His hand extended and I came up to meet it in a solid handshake. "My name is Roderich." He said. "I am an Austrian who was in the German army until I defected." He took his glasses off and began to clean them with his shirt. "I was so appalled at their ideals. I could not stand them, so I left." He nodded to a blond-haired man who was inhaling the smoke with greed. "That's Konrád." The man choked and bit and begin coughing, glaring at Roderich.
"I-I can introduce m-myself!" He wheezed through the smoke, then he turned to me. "I'm Konrád, I'm from Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia, and my story is practically the same as old Roddy's here!" He draped his arm over Roderich's shoulder, which the brunet just pushed off as he rolled his eyes. Konrád pouted, but pointedly looked at the third member, who was silent, keeping his bangs covering his eyes. His introduction was muttered, almost impossible to hear.
"I'm Addam, the Jew," he said, and Irena followed up with an explanation.
"He's from Czechoslovakia as well." She explained. "And I believe he's cheated death a couple times, right?" Roderich and Konrád nodded, but Addam just made an affirmative answer, staring solemnly into a canteen he had pulled out earlier. "Well boys, this is our new recruit, Raivis!" She grinned.
"Where ya from?" Konrád asked me, looking interested.
"L-Latvia, my mother lives in Riga, but my brothers and I lived in Warsaw. But my oldest brother got taken by Nazis, and I'm not sure 'bout Eduard." For the first time since I left, I could feel tears stinging my eyes. "I'm really worried about them.." Konrád stared at me, leaning over the table to give me a solid hug.
"I'm sorry, boy," he muttered into my ear. "I know it's hard, but pull through, stay strong. Prove to those Nazi bastards that they can't break you."
A/N: Well, sorry this is a bit late, but the AP tests got to me again! But my absense greets you with a nice thick chapter of absolutely nothing! Isn't that great?! I think next chapter will include Alfred and Arthur though! So, uh, stay strong and patient until then, 'cause I don't have any idea when I'm going to update next... Reviews are loved!