Memoirs of Solace
Chapter I
30 April, 1940.
Another birthday, another year older, uncelebrated. Kat wondered to herself if things would be different on this day if they were still in Minsk, if she would have been happier with her life, or if it would have been worse. The Fleischer's were getting worried about staying in Berlin, with the rising tensions among the minorities and the Party. There was to be a small celebration on this day, but Kat didn't seem to get the attention or favoritism that her sister had, probably because the Fleischer's were somewhat afraid of her; maybe the propaganda was actually working toward some people. It was a small celebration, with a few sweets that had been hidden away, and no presents of any kind. One could appreciate being alive in these times, presents weren't necessary. Even though this was Kat's thirteenth birthday, her younger sister seemed to be getting more attention, but Kat didn't mind. On one occasion she found herself somewhat jealous of the extra attention Nina was getting, but then she remembered her differences. After all, less attention could be a good thing, giving her more time to herself, alone, thinking.
The Fleischer's had announced earlier that morning that they were all going to a relative's house, where a nephew was celebrating his fourth birthday. Kat sighed at this news, it was going to be yet another boring day, staying indoors with a family that wasn't her own, and pretending to enjoy her time there. Kat hadn't been to this family's house before, so of course when she got there, she was already getting strange looks from the parents. The niece and nephew on the other hand didn't really pay much attention, the girl was Nina's age, so they ended up bonding somewhat and went off in another room to play.
The Fleischer's and their relatives went in the dining area to talk and enjoy themselves while the kids played, and the nephew went in the room with the girls, Kat thought he was a little strange to like playing with the dolls as much as they did. She took this time to go sit in the lounge by herself, where she could sit in a comfy seat and think to herself. All this thinking and the only thing that kept coming up in her mind was why were people always disassociating themselves from her? Sure, there weren't any other people with distinct features like hers, but she thought herself as fairly normal, and didn't see why she could fit into society with everyone else. Her own father had said on several occasions that she wasn't his daughter, her hair and eye color were nothing like what's ever been in his or his wife's family, but her mother still loved her and treated her like a normal person, like an actual daughter. All of this was gone now, Kat had heard of people disappearing like this before, and she wasn't getting her hopes up about seeing either of her parents again.
It was starting to get dark out, and the relative's were bringing the cake to the dining area, so of course all of the kid's gathered around, wanting their share of the sweets. Kat wandered in, she wasn't a big fan of sugary things like cake, but she hadn't eaten much all day so she wouldn't mind trying a little bit. Everyone sang a happy birthday tune to Kat and the nephew, then the cake was cut and everyone enjoyed a small slice of it. Before long they were leaving, it was late and time to get home. Katarina was another year older, taking part in yet another boring celebration; but she was one year closer to being old enough to get out on her own with Nina, and hopefully return to Russia.
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It was late August; several months after Kat had turned thirteen. The German newspapers had announced that they had bombed Central London, after long weeks of bombing other strategic positions in England. It was late at night, and the air raid sirens started blaring, it was time to black out the house and go to a shelter. The sirens went off to late. There were some explosions heard outside, so Kat hurried to wake Nina and took her and ran to the bottom floor of the apartment building with the Fleischer's not far behind. Kat just got out of the building with Nina in time to hear bombs whistling in the air. She was running down the street as fast as her legs could carry her, and heard the cluster bombs hit several buildings in the area that they were in, including their own. There were chips of brick and wood flying in the air everywhere, and several fires started on the street, but Kat kept running, the shelter was only 4 blocks away from where they were living.
The girls made it to the shelter just as they were closing the doors; with them were the last of some other refugees arriving at the shelter. Kat saw that they weren't all going to make it, so she used her gift to hold the door open until they got there, and could hear the two men trying to close it cursing. They all ran down the stairs into the shelter, and heard the doors being shut and locked behind them. It was going to be a rough night, there wasn't much food or water in the shelter, and it would be almost impossible to sleep, for the group could still hear the bombs going off outside. Kat and Nina huddled up in a not so crowded corner of the shelter, and Kat looked around for the Fleisher's; maybe they had run faster or made it in before the girls did. They were nowhere to be found.
Nina wouldn't stop crying so Kat held her for it must have been several hours until she stopped crying and eventually fell asleep. It was quieter outside, but no one in the shelter was planning on going back out on the streets until morning. Kat couldn't stop thinking of what might have happened to the Fleischer's, and wondered where they would live now, since their building was probably leveled or at least burnt out by now. She couldn't get to sleep much, she had a horrible headache probably from the noise of the explosions, or maybe the screaming, but she didn't think that her gift might have caused it. Eventually Kat became tired to the point where she also fell asleep, still holding onto Nina, never letting anything happen to her.
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It was about noon when Kat woke up, with Nina still snoozing in her arms. She couldn't wake her when she was sleeping so peacefully, so she decided to sit there until Nina got up on her own, this would at least give Kat some time to think to herself. The sheltered had mostly emptied out by now, there were still a few people sleeping down there, and a few people awake and chatting, Kat overheard something from them about their houses being destroyed, and them trying to stay with friends.
Nina finally woke up, about an hour after Kat did, so they decided to exit the shelter and make their way back to the apartment building to see what was left. As the sisters were walking down the street, they could see several buildings had been hit, some where still on fire, some where so destroyed there was nothing left to burn, and some were missing walls so you could see inside, kind of like a life sized doll house. There were people digging through the rubble in some of these buildings, probably looking for loved ones or friends that couldn't escape in time, and were buried. Kat wondered to herself if the Fleischer's had ended up this way, or if they were out somewhere looking for them.
Kat and Nina finally made it back to their building, and saw that the side where the front entrance was had been hit, and collapsed. They made their way to the back and went up to the third floor, where there apartment was; thankfully it was in the back; and the girls didn't see the Fleischer's there anywhere. "Nina, go to your room and get a few of the things you think are most special, we have to leave and stay somewhere else" Kat said to her sister, and she went to do the same. Nina came out with her arms full of everything she could pick up that was hers, telling Kat "I don't want to leave anything here, I want to take it all with us!" "We're going to probably be walking a long way, so you shouldn't bring so much." With those words, Nina put back some of her stuff and only took a few things, held in a cloth bag her mother had given her. Kat only took her journal, she didn't really care about anything else that she had at the house, and this was all that mattered. She went and dug up another bad in the closet, and went to the kitchen to pack as much food as she could, and grabbed two canteens that Mr. Fleischer had underneath the sink and filled them with water. The two made their way back down the ground level, and went to the front, ready to make their way across town the relative's house they had gone to for Kat's birthday. As they made their way closer to what was left of the front entrance, Nina started crying horribly at something and stopped walking. Kat looked around, and saw in horror, the Fleischer's, with some more residents of their building, crushed under a section of the front wall that fell down.