And here is another chapter, we now only have two more chapters left and then this story is completed! I hope to have the final two chapters posted soon.

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That's My Story

Chapter 13-Somewhere Between Heaven And Hell

Louisa and her family are ambushed and end up singing at the festival after all before they begin a daring escape that will forever change their lives.


The air was cold and the lights when they flashed in front of her face made her squeeze them shut groping around in the darkness until she wrapped her hand around another hand. Liesl. Liesl who had straightened her spine somewhat and was staring at the light had her eyes slightly narrowed. Their mother had one hand firmly on Gretl's shoulder and then firmly on Kurt's back. Friedrich gave a little hiss and their father who was stood next to him reached out and touched him on the sleeve. Louisa watched all of this and then the man standing in the headlights came forwards and she could see what her brother had seen.

It was Herr Zeller. His gun was in his hand though it wasn't pointed at anyone (not that, that made any difference) though she knew that all he had to do was to twirl his finger or raise his hand and his own gun not to mention the ten other guns that the men surrounding him no doubt had in their possession. They were all wearing that hideous yellow and brown shirt and trousers combination that made Louisa want to shy backwards without saying a word. There was a pause where she stood there watching and then Herr Zeller moved forwards and when he spoke the words were enough to make her blood curdle, even before she analysed the tone and the way that he was smiling.

They wanted her father. The Nazi's and that was why they were fleeing. Suddenly the pieces all went together, the jigsaw was coming together, the reason that they were fleeing their homes and their country in the middle of the night like common criminals. She had known that they had wanted his support, they had wanted him to work for them—and yet her brain had not made the connection between wanting their father to work for them and him actually commanding a German ship into a war that was surely going to come if not today then one day soon.

All of a sudden Louisa felt sick. The thought of a war was beyond anything she had ever imagined. She could understand why their father had always gotten upset when they had played war games as children now. Now she knew it was no game. It was something far more dangerous and deadly.

And it had her here. Standing here in this bloody cold air watching as men with guns came to take her father away and him coldly stare them down even as his mouth twitched.

Suddenly it didn't matter. What had happened before, what had gone on between them, her private thoughts and feelings towards him. It didn't matter. None of it mattered. All that mattered was that she could forgive him for events that had previously taken place. Now that she was confronted with the thought of losing her father she knew that she could forgive him anything. Louisa opened her mouth to tell him that—or to say something, anything, that might help but with that sixth sense that her oldest sister had developed all she got was an elbow in the ribs for her trouble.

By the time that she had managed to stand up straighter rubbing her side (because damn Liesl had sharp pointy elbows) they were being pushed towards the car. Louisa twisted a little to see what was going on and saw a look pass between their parents, it was half love, half a determination to see this underway and Louisa understood that despite the fact that all hope seemed lost and that they were hopelessly outgunned, outnumbered and on their own they were still going to try to escape.

Drawing from within some sort of strength that stopped her from turning into an hysterical mess at the thought of all these men with guns surrounding them. She curled her hands under her backside to stop them shaking and she looked out at the familiar landscape. It was no longer a question of when or even if she would see it again. It was now a question of whether or not they would survive the night.

That terrified her beyond all recognition. It made her whimper and then snap her teeth down on her bottom lip to stop the whimpering. She was not going to start crying hysterically here. She forced down the shudder that involuntarily rocked her body and opened the window a fraction so the cold air could blow on her face. She wasn't sure if she could stand at this point never mind sing.

Louisa wondered briefly if she was the only one who had realised that escape was now a pipe dream and that the best case scenario was that they lose their father (and probably their home to boot) and that the worse case scenario was that they were all shot.

She turned to see Liesl staring ahead her arms wrapped around Marta and Brigitta and her jaw so tight it looked like it could cut glass. Wordlessly their eyes met and she knew that she was seeing the same look in her eyes that she was seeing in her sister's. Louisa had to look away least she become completely hysterical and fall apart. She felt someone bang her knee and she saw Fredrich smile at her his blue eyes clouded with fear one arm around Brigitta who was leaning her head against his shoulder her eyes closed and her hands buried in the folds of her travelling cloak.

Louisa looked away and shook her head feeling the cold air hit her and trying to breath.


Of what she was thinking off during that time—the drive that seemed to take ages but didn't take long enough—even when she thought back on it she really couldn't say what she had been thinking about.


They were given some sense of privacy due to their Uncle claiming that this was a music festival, then that it was still Austria and then that he would not allow young soldiers in a room with young girls. That made Herr Zeller after a good deal of pandering go to his seat in the front row. Louisa finally swallowed her hands shaking. Friedrich stepped up once he seemed to realise that Liesl who had sunk to the floor her knees under her couldn't speak.

"So what now?" he asked his chin jutting outwards.

"We sing our songs, I know Max has had you all practising so you can sing, and then when we get to the final song which will be 'So Long, Farewell' you will all begin to make your way back to the car quietly. First to go will be Kurt and Marta, then Liesl and Friedrich, then Louisa and Brigitta, someone will meet Gretl as she gets off the stage and then we will join you"

"And if you don't?" it was Brigitta who asked that question and their father seemed to realise that that was the one thing that his children were worried about. He smiled at them and there was a moment where Louisa thought that he was almost flattered. He didn't look like a man who was going to serve his worst enemy. He looked like a man who was utterly confident that he and his family were going to get out of the country tonight.

Louisa wondered what he knew that they didn't.

"We will" he said his voice so utterly confident that Louisa couldn't help but feel it spread around the room like a warm fire making them all feel a bit better. She wasn't sure how much of it was bravado—a childish desire to believe that he was going to make it all better. Or how much of it was her belief that it would happen.

Either way it got her to her feet, it got Liesl to her feet. Their father looked relieved at that either way.

"Now" he said in a calm voice. "Let's wash our faces and prepare ourselves, if we have to sing in public" he gritted his teeth which told Louisa that he really didn't approve of this whatsoever (she exchanged a small fleeting smile with Liesl who was now back to looking amused rather than terrified) and she reached for the cool water that had been provided.

Her hands were still shaking.

Singing in front of a big crowd was very different to singing in front of the Austrian aristocrats. Austrian aristocrats were there because of her father and they had the respect of him that these people didn't happen. Also there had been no guards blocking all the entrance ways and Louisa had not been in a travelling dress feeling her hands shake so much she had to clasp them behind her back and wrap them around each other so that it wasn't noticeable.

They got through the songs easily enough because they had known them. The shock came when her father reached for the well worn instrument that he had only played on once and with one song.

"He's not going to sing is he?" Kurt hissed looking floored. Louisa shrugged. Their mother was beaming as if she had seen this sequence of events come to pass, their father coming full circle. There was a pause where she stood there listening to his voice, at the brokenness as he confessed he was leaving and that this would be the last time he stood in his own country with his own countrymen.

Suddenly she was crying, tears in her eyes and running down her cheeks. She wiped her fingers under her eyes to hide them but she couldn't help but feel her heart heave with love for the man who had treated her like she was shit for so long. Like she was an afterthought, the man that she couldn't help but forgive despite the fact that she had sworn she never would forgive him.

The next time they were in the country she had grown up in, that she had been raised in, that she had been a proud citizen of (and that was if they ever came back here) it would change. The lake, the house she had grown up in, the people that they were surrounded by might be dead or destroyed. And it wasn't just that, it was the world that they had grown up in. When they left tonight they were leaving this world behind, this generation that they had grown up in. The safety and security that they had taken for granted.

There was something so evil on the horizon that they were escaping and she wanted nothing more to do than to hide from it but time would not slow down because Louisa Von Trapp wanted it too. She had learnt that the hard way.

She wondered if this was what it felt like to become an adult. She had once wanted to be a grown woman with all that she had. Now she found that she wanted nothing more to do than to go back to being as small as Gretl who thought that this was a holiday and not the running away that it was. She wrapped one arm around her mother and hugged her the emotion hitting her from all sides just as their father seemed to stop. It was the first time Louisa had seen him clouded with emotion. He had been cold after their mother had died. She had never seen him cry. And now he looked as if his heart was being ripped out of his chest.

Their mother went to him first, Brigitta followed, Liesl and then her, the boys were on either side of them and the little ones singing together saying goodbye even thought some of them didn't know that who or what they were saying goodbye too.

But Louisa did.

Louisa did.

She wrapped one hand around her waist and lent her head on his shoulder. She was trying to say it without saying the words—she had never really been good with them. He looked down at her for a second and their eyes met and his hand tightened on the small of her back before they broke apart to sing the next song.

It didn't matter that nothing was said. Louisa knew that he knew.

She trusted (for the first time in her life) her feelings in this.

Marta and Kurt, Friedrich and Liesl were already gone, their suitcases and bags were in the car. They had a clear shot to it because their father had parked near the facilities and nobody would make a noise out of children using the bathroom. Herr Zeller was still in his seat, the front door guarded, but not all the side doors, Louisa understood—he had not brought enough men.

Underestimating Georg Von Trapp.

"Well" she said to Brigitta as they scrambled down to the stage and grabbed their coats from the side.

"You did always say the Nazi's were idiots"

Brigitta laughed.

"Go" Louisa said pointing to the door. "Someone's got to wait for Gretl and it looks less obvious if two of us go. Go Brigitta,"

Brigitta shot her one look with her dark eyes and was gone in a swish of dark hair.

Louisa waited until her little sister was off the stage and then told her where to run, she was waiting. She felt like she had to wait.

Her father joined her ten seconds later, his face grim. Her mother kissed her and then went in search of the children. Louisa stopped him with a hand on his sleeve even though she shouldn't have.

"I was a bitch" she said. "I…I have said and thought some things father, I…I get it now. I just, I wanted to say that, I was a bitch, a stupid little girl and I…I'm proud of you, I trust you—"

She was cut off by her father who hugged her closely pressing her against him as he kissed her on the top of her hair. She forced herself to let him go and there was a look in his eye as he touched her chin that she had never seen before.

"You were never a bitch" he said finally. "You were a child, you all were, and I should have…I could have…I should have done things differently and if I could go back—" his mouth twisted as he stopped speaking forcing himself to swallow.

"We cannot live in the past Louisa, just the future, and as long as we are together then we have a future, come on"

And they ran back to the car.


They made it to the main road before they heard the sirens in the distance. Brigitta moaned into her hands, Friedrich wrapped his arm tight around her and pulled her close. Their father swore and then swerved the car so Louisa ended up with Marta's elbow in her face.

"Where are we going darling?" their mother asked her face grimmer than Louisa had ever seen it. They were moving up a rickety road.

"Somewhere they might not think about. He's going to check the port and the train station he might not check here. Of course he might because of your connection but Herr Zeller thinks that he's a gentlemen then it might by us some time"

They moved up the rickety road uphill the car making them all shake and shudder. There was another pause where Louisa watched as their mother put two and two together.

The convent.

"Out" their father barked and Louisa scrambled out hurrying through the open doors as the car was moved around the back. The nuns ushered them into a hallway and they crouched low where there was no windows their father joining them a second later.

Now all they had to do it seemed was wait.

Louisa found Brigitta's hand.

And they waited for the inevitable.

They did not have to wait long.


And there you are, I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter and I hope to see you again at the penultimate one.

Next Chapter-The Penultimate Chapter of this story: The Nazi's invade the convent where the Von Trapps are hiding, Liesl comes face to face with her past as their is a desperate attempt to escape.