As soon as Lucinda had left, or more likely been taken away from him, Hans backed up against the wall and leaned against it, until he slowly let his body fall down to the cold stonefloor. His life was over, this was it.

He could still smell her on him, he could still feel her skin under his fingers, he could taste her on his tongue. The thought of never seeing Lucinda again made him feel so small and helpless. And he knew he was helpless, this time.

Hans tried to get back up on his feet, but his body felt heavy and immovable. The cold stonefloor made him freeze so he pulled his jacket closer to his body. The only thing he was waiting for now, was death.

A loud knock on the door interrupted Hans. He quickly noticed that he had doozed off and his neck hurted badly since he had slept with his head hanging down.

The door opened and Herr Goebbels himself entered the room along with two young SS-soldiers.

"Hans Landa. How are you feeling?" Goebbels laughed at the sight of the weak and helpless Hans.

Hans was disguted by Goebbels There was nothing he wanted more then just slit the man's throat, right here and right now.

"Quite well given the circumstances. What do you want, Goebbels?"

One of the two young soldiers grabbed one of the chairs at the nearby table and placed it at Goebbels side. Goebbels looked down at the chair and with a small gray handkerchief he gently dust off a small layer of dust from the chair seat, before he sat down.

"Now, Herr Landa, we have found ourselves in a bit of a trouble here. You see, you are the best of the best and it would be a rather unfortunate thing do to if we had you punished for you little mistake. So, after a small chat that I had with our beloved Fuhrer, we came up to the solution that we will let you live. But only because you're the best Jew finder there is. Do you understand me, Hans?"

"Ja. Ich verstehen." Hans knew he should be happy since he had just escaped death, yet he couldn't be happy enough. Why must he live when Lucinda had to die? He had promied her they would be together again soon.

Goebbels rises from the chair and straightens his jacket.

"Alles gut, Hans. I will make sure a driver will take you home. You look like you could need to take a bath and perhaps a Scotch."

With that said, Goebbels left the room with the two soldiers, this time the door stood wide open. Hans was free again, he could leave whenever he felt like it.

He tried to stand up and luckily he had gotten some of his energy back. So, with slow steps he walked towards the door. He was met by another young soldier which showed him outside where the driver was waiting. The black car couldn't look more inviting to him and he climbed into the back.

So many thoughts rushed thru his mind as the car drove him back to the safety of his own apartment. A mix of pain and pleasure, sadness and happiness. He couldn't decide wether to laugh or cry. He had gotten his life back but lost the woman he loved.

Suddenly, the car slowed down and Hans noticed how he was already outside his apartment. He thanked the driver and climbed out of the car. With heavy steps he walked up the stairs and thru the door. The silence felt intruding and almost frightening.

He continued up the stairs towards his bedroom. There, he sat down on the bed and without further thought, he lay down with Lucinda's pillow in his arms. He could still smell the vague scent of her perfume. So many memories suddenly came to him and it was all too much to bare. The tears came violently fast and a strong feeling of emptiness threatened to kill him then and there.

He tried to pull himself together so he released the soft pillow and tossed it aside. He knew he had to try to control himself since he never before had been a man that showed any feelings at all. But now, it seemed it all came to him, all at once, at the same time.

Hans walked out of the bedroom and straight into the bathroom. There, he started to undress, filled the bathtub with hot water and climbed in. The water surrounded his cold and tired body. He shut his eyes and wished the water could make all the bad go away.

He knew what he had to do. There was no other way out of this. The razorblade had never looked to inviting before. Hans smiled to himself as he let the blade carve into his soft wrist.

The sight of blood mixed with water was a pleasant sight. And before he knew it, he drift off into a heavy sleep which he never woke up from again.

Finally, he would be together with Lucinda again. Forever and ever.