A/N: Well...this is the second chapter to my first ever fanfic. I apologise if this one seems a tad rushed but I am halfway through exams and wrote this chapter while "revising" (I know...I'm bad.)
Disclaimers: I do not own The Sound of Music or any of the characters that you all know so well from the film. My title is an adaptation of one kindly suggested to me by "MaryAnne741" - thank you for the e-mails :' D
As the family took their first few steps into a side-street, Maria was firstly struck by how pretty the place was. The small, cosy-looking houses all had unique, happy characters; some had brightly coloured flowers hanging in baskets of twine, others were covered in ivy or had sweet honeysuckle clinging to their walls and arching over their welcoming doorways. Windows were flung open due to the warm weather and vases of wild flowers were often visible, sitting merrily on the inside window-ledges.
The cobbled street that the Von Trapp family were slowly walking up, probably heading towards the town-centre was completely empty and the sound of a set of wind-chimes could be heard, tinkling a lullaby refrain from a few houses away.
The peaceful quiet soothed Maria's frayed nerves until a concern began to form at the back of her mind. Beginning to feel tense again, she tried to draw the worry to the surface of her foggy brain, to make sense of the half-formed thought still shrouded in the darkness of her subconscious, and to sort the fractured, blurry images into a full picture. It was the soothing silence itself, she realised. The Sun was high in the endless sky, indicating that it must have been about midday, so why were the streets not crowded with people? It was early afternoon, the weather was fine and yet not a soul could be seen.
Georg must have had the same thought; before the family moved from their little alleyway and into the larger street it led on to, he raised his hand to halt them and gave Maria a sideways glance. The concern in his dark-blue, mysterious eyes confirmed her suspicion that something was definitely wrong.
"Why is this town completely deserted?" Maria asked, swinging Gretl off of her back, resting her on the floor and laying her hands lightly on the small girl's shoulders.
"When we arrived, I saw some soldiers." Captain Von Trapp muttered in reply, his eyes sweeping over his nervous children. "Whether they are German or Austrian, I don't know but it doesn't matter. They're part of the same army and they're guarding this town." Brigitta gasped and Louisa sidled closer to Maria, taking one of her hands in her own. Maria squeezed back gently in reassurance.
"Where do you think everyone is?" She asked her husband, while her imagination depicted all sorts of horrific ideas as to what could have happened to the townsfolk.
"No..." Georg said, predicting her train of thought. "I'm sure they're just inside their homes, they wouldn't want to be out too often with Nazi soldiers patrolling the place."
"Then," Brigitta began. "Don't we look suspicious here, outside?" The group fell into an uncomfortable silence at that remark and Maria could feel little Gretl, pressed up against her, shivering.
"Come on." The Captain said finally, his voice slightly croaked. "We'll go this way and keep away from the main streets, we'll try to work our way around the town square without going through it."
So, with Captain Von Trapp leading the way, the family turned around, backing up on themselves, and walked back a short distance down the street, before cutting through the houses where there was a small passageway. The walls of the buildings on either side pressed inwards, making the tight space between them feel cramped and claustrophobic.
Reaching the end of the little, hidden walkway, Georg stuck his head around the corner of the houses and saw another cobbled street, much like the first they had encountered.
"Come on." He whispered. The family followed obediently and crept up the new street, huddling together, no longer able to enjoy the beauty of the place and feeling only its cold atmosphere. At the top of the street, the group halted again.
"OK." Said the Captain. "All of you stay here. I shall just go ahead to get my bearings and make sure the coast is clear." Maria began to protest, scared for her husband's safety. "I will only be gone a few short minutes." He assured her, letting go of Marta's hand to stroke his wife's cheek. "Don't worry, I'll be careful." Maria leant her face into his warm palm and closed her eyes, mouthing a silent prayer before nodding her consent.
"I'll go with you Father." Friedrich offered, stepping boldly forward and holding his blonde head high.
"No." Georg said firmly. "You stay here with the others." Friedrich's shoulders slumped dejectedly. His father still did not think he was man enough to take his place at his side, still thought he was a little boy who could not take care of himself. Noticing his eldest son miserably turning his face downwards and kicking at the ground moodily with the toe of his scuffed shoe, Georg said, "I need you to stay here and look after the family while I'm gone. They need a man around." Friedrich grinned up at him and stuck his chest out proudly.
"You can trust me, Father." He said, trying to sound important and solemn.
Georg smiled, took one last look at all of his children and Maria, then ventured out of the sanctuary of their little road to explore the streets ahead.
As Georg walked warily away, Maria watched him closely, holding her breath, while the children sat to the side of the street on a moss-covered wall. Maria was too engrossed in her observation of the Captain's hunched figure disappearing up the road, to notice when the children (excluding Liesl and Brigitta) began picking off bits of damp moss and flicking them at each other. Friedrich had held back from taking part at first, wanting to play the adult, but decided that it would be more fun to join his siblings.
Georg felt his light steps thundering against the stone of the pavement and wished he could somehow deaden the echoes they made, reverberating around the tops of the houses before bouncing back to serenade him on his solitary walk. His heart began pounding to the beat of his footfalls, throbbing almost painfully against his chest like a wild animal trying to burst from its cage, as he reached a point in the road where other streets interconnected with it. He would have to quickly inspect each of the routes before choosing the one which would lead deeper into town.
The Sun had retreated behind a thick mass of leaden cloud, which had materialised from nowhere in the course of a few short seconds, and the weak light managing to filter through the dense quilt was a murky haze, lending the town a surreal quality as though it were under water. The very air felt soupy and Georg could see it rippling before his eyes as the colours of the streets, without the golden sunlight to brighten them, merged together to form one toneless grey.
He glanced back and saw the bright shape of Maria some distance away and as he continued his surveillance, he could feel her worried gaze burning into his back. Mentally shrugging off his fears, Georg peered into the first of the roads...it was empty.
Before the next turn-off, there was a small alleyway, a dark crack separating two of the buildings. The black slit seemed somehow ominous to Georg and the glint of a spot of light, probably a reflection on some large abandoned object, winked at him, as though maliciously daring him to enter. As he took a slow step towards the alleyway, Georg was sure that he could make out movement amidst the shifting shadows.
Maria ignored a particularly large and juicy lump of moss as it flew past her head, landing a few feet from her, and frowned as she saw the faded form of her husband stop dead in its tracks, something evidently having caught its notice.
Squinting into the gloom, Georg was now certain that there was something moving. There was a shadow amongst shadows that did not belong there and as he watched, it began to slink towards him, quickening its pace as it came...
Suddenly it leapt out at him, making him stumble backwards in a moment of terrified confusion.
Maria looked on, gasping, as her dear Captain leapt into the centre of the street, startled. The children had not noticed, getting grime under their fingernails as they collected more ammunition from the surface of the brick wall and furiously threw them at each other, Liesl trying desperately to restrain and calm them.
Holding his hands up defensively, Georg looked up at his attacker. It was on him, hissing, spitting and clawing at his face...a cat.
Throwing it off in frustrated relief, the brave Captain Von Trapp realised how ridiculous he must look and kicked out at the feline in embarrassed anger. The cat arched its back, its scruffy grey fur standing on end, and continued hissing at him, its green, lamp-like eyes staring at him accusingly.
Maria laughed and clutched her hand to her chest in relief. A mere stray cat was the cause of such a shock. She giggled again as the distant shape of her husband aimed a clumsy kick at the animal, his leg swinging uselessly over the creature's head. As she waited for her heartbeat to slow after the false alarm, Maria felt suddenly weak and dizzy. Resting the back of her hand against her forehead, she realised that her face was becoming quite hot. Closing her eyes and steadying her breathing, she waited for the spell to pass and decided that she would have to drink some more of her water, she was dehydrated.
As she unscrewed the lid to her flask, she continued watching the diminishing shape of her husband, her fear for his safety rising again as he turned the corner into another street in the distance.
"Stupid animal." Georg muttered, traipsing past the scrawny and furiously spitting cat to continue searching the newly-established Nazi territory. Walking up another street, identical still to the others, he began to feel that he was being watched. The icy finger of fear stroked the length of Georg's spine, caressing a cold shiver out of him and he was compelled to look behind him...he was still alone. As he walked on, Captain Von Trapp began to sing his wife's old song, "Favourite Things", under his breath but found that it brought little comfort and he stopped after only a few short lines, not knowing any of the words past "...whiskers on kittens".
Staring at the spot where she had last seen the retreating form of Georg, Maria lifted the small flask to her lips and drank some of the beautiful contents gratefully, enjoying it's cool taste in her mouth and the sensation of it trickling down her dry throat. Lowering the bottle, she smiled and tousled her short strawberry-blonde hair with one hand, a habit she had established since having it cut to become a postulant. Still gazing at the street where Georg had disappeared and hoping that he was OK, she raised the water to her mouth again.
"Right!" A harsh voice suddenly boomed behind her and a heavy hand thumped down onto her shoulder. Spluttering the water in shock, she looked at the large, masculine hand clamping her shoulder as firmly as a metal vice and raised her eye line to the arm, freezing in fear as she saw the blood-red armband, emblazoned with the swastika, against the grey sleeve and fully registered the gravity of what this meant...
A/N: Once again, I'm sorry this was rushed but please review if you can, it would brighten my day during my exams – thank you.