Bergen-Belsen

1945-04-15

Once again, Austria's prayers hadn't been heard. He had woken up to a new day in hell. He was bedridden now, not even the disease had allowed him to die. His fellow prisoners had taken care of him after what happened when the guards discovered that he was ill and in some way they had managed to keep him alive, to the great annoyance of the guards - or luck, they came into the barracks at regular intervals harass him and for all that Austria could see, they really enjoyed it.

But this morning it was almost worse than usual, the trumpet hadn't sounded when it all began so everyone was still alseep. When Austria awoke the barrack were full of soldiers who brutally woke them all up. The last thing Austria had time to think before he himself was shaken to life was that what ever this meant, it couldn't be good. Presumably everyone would be taken to the crematories now.

Austria began to cough violently when he someone woke him up, when the cough finally calmed down, he lay in bed and gasped for air. During all this time, the one who had shook him was standing next to Austria's bed and almost stared at him, like someone who didn't believe his eyes. Austria had seen this, he had even a feeling that he had recognized the man. Some of the guards, he had actually even learned by name as he had seen them so often. But this man also seemed to knew him.

The strange thing was that Austria couldn't find a single memory that included this face that was terrifying. In other words, he recognized this man, but he didn't remember being afraid of him.

When Austria discovered that the person who stared at him seemed to wait while he coughed, he forced himself to continue to avoid knowing what would happen next, because he didn't want to know. But what happened when he couldn't cough anymore he wouldn't even have been able to guess if he would have had a million chances. The man took a few steps closer and placed his hand on the Austria's trembeling shoulder.

"Austria?" Austria gasped, making the coughing start again, "Is that you?" The man asked when Austria's coughs had calmed down a Little again. Austria now looked more carefully at the other, who apparently not only had recognized him but also seemed to know that he was a nation, but Austria still couldn't recognize him.

"Excuse me," Austria said when the cough had stoped so much that he could speak again, "Who are you?" He asked. The reactions that followed by the question was a deep sigh and a moment of silence while the man next to Austria's bed were looking down at the floor. It seemed almost as if he were sorry for something. But then he met Austria's tired eyes and answered the question. And this answer was an answer that Austria would always remember as one of the best and happiest moments in his life, and given that he was a nation that had lived for almost a thousand years said a lot about what that meant to him.

"I am Canada! Britain and I have stormed the camp and we're going free everyone who are here." Then Canada climbed up by one foot in each of the two lower beds. From there, he could easily lift out Austria from the top bed. This was no problem at all, especiallt considering that Austria weighed close to nothing right now.

Outside there was a total chaos. Britain had almost filled a bus with detainees who barely seemed to survive the day, most of them were both skinny and sick. But now the camp was nearly empty. Britain carried a woman who could barely walk by herself on the bus and went out again to see if there were any more people he could help.

Then he saw something that even made him scream. Canada came half running towards him. And in his arms, he was carrying a man who was now unconscious and Britain didn't know if he dared to hope that it was not who he thought it was.

"Canada!" Britain called for him when he got close enough for them to talk to each other. "Please say that is not Austria"