Dear West

Chapter 5:

November, 1974

Bella smiled as she dusted her dress off and made her way over to the little restaurant her brother worked at. She'd gotten off earlier that day since the owner's grandchild got sick and so, he decided to close the store down earlier. And with all that extra time, she figured that even though her brother had told her not to go, paying him a visit couldn't hurt, especially when free food was involved.

Although they were originally from outside of Germany, with Lars being born in the Netherlands and her being from Belgium due to their parents' constant travels around Europe, after the war had ended, their parents couldn't put off visiting their sick grandmother in Berlin. Unfortunately, soon after they arrived, not only did the old woman die, but the wall had been quite abruptly erected, blocking them off from the rest of the world. Their parents had been taken away after the first few months after getting arrested for getting caught planning escape routes with other civilians, leaving the siblings to fend for themselves.

Luckily, they were old enough and knew enough German to get by on their own. Lars found himself a job at a small restaurant while she helped out at a grocery store which was ran by a kindly old grandfather who had become the sole guardian of a sweet little girl. As a result, they were financially stable enough to get by, living in their grandmother`s two bedroom apartment. It was a small place but a homely one.

From outside the restaurant, she could see her brother talking to the other waiter behind the counter, his arms were crossed while the other man sported a lazy grin on his lips. She'd noticed that as of lately, he'd become good friends with his co-worker, Gilbert, a loud man with light hair and red eyes, and he always had a watch on and a little bird on his head for some reason; either way, somehow, the man had become her emergency contact if Lars was ever unavailable or anything. After hearing that from her brother, she figured that they were working together on something, possibly something illegal, but what, she didn't know exactly; he had never told her before.

Pushing the door open and listening to the little bell at the top jingle, she winked her greeting to the two waiters and took a seat.

He glanced over the counters as subtly as he could, idly running a finger over the scar on his forehead, the one he got when he was little where he ended up having stitches in his head for weeks and the doctor said it'd cut part of his skull and that he was lucky it didn't go through completely. He remembered Bella standing beside him the whole time at the hospital, crying and holding his hand as he sat in his bed with bandages around his forehead, bored out of his mind.

Scanning each and every customer in the restaurant, both to make sure that they were all satisfied, partly to look out for their next client, he relaxed slightly when nothing looked out of place. Suddenly, he raised a brow in interest as one of the customers nearby caught his attention.

The woman had all the signs.

Her newspaper was tilted and dog-eared while turned to the fifth page; she'd also ordered pasta with a side of tomato sauce and extra cheese. She was their next client. It was an elaborate set up simply to distinguish clients from other people but well worth the little extra sense of security that came with it. Jotting down what he was supposed to on the back of the receipt; he placed it in front of her and returned to his position behind the counters.

She got up and walked over to him and told him that the amount was wrong. He nodded and wrote down the next part and returned it to her. After paying, she slipped the bill into her purse and left. And from behind him, Gilbert gave a yawn before lazily grinning at him, "Most impressive, my compliments to you, sir. I must say, you're getting really good at this, very subtle, I hardly noticed a thing and I was waiting for it to happen too."

After making sure that all the customers were satisfied, he turned to his co-worker with crossed arms and an indifferent look, "you know, you could at least pretend to be useful instead of just standing there and napping on your feet for half an hour straight."

"My bad," the other gave a half-hearted apology and another yawn, "didn't get much sleep last night."

Sometimes he had to remind himself why he was even helping the German man. The keywords always boiled down to respect and friendship, though at the moment, watching his friend fall asleep on his feet, he couldn't help but absentmindedly reassess his judgment.

He shrugged to show how unimpressed he was with the excuse, "so? You're at work now. At least try to stay awake until your shift ends or the boss will send you packing."

Gilbert merely raised his arms and began stretching, "whatever, I took that last dish out. But speaking of the old man, have you figured out what side he's on yet?"

For months now, the two had been trying to figure out which side their boss was on, and occasionally, they made bets on it too. While there were many times they'd seen him talking to the soldiers in a hushed tone, there were also times where he'd help them whether or not they were intentional. He was the one who'd given them their brilliant idea when he rolled his eyes and commented on how the soldiers never noticed subtle sign languages such as newspapers being held or people eating a certain way. Affiliated with both sides, they couldn't figure out whether or not they could trust the man and had been debating about the matter for weeks on end.

Lars pursed his lips and shook his head, "I still can't tell. He could be part of the Stasi for all I know. Everything he does is too subtle, but that old man's got plenty of tricks up his sleeves, I'll give him that. What do you think?"

"I want to believe that he's infiltrating the Russians for us, but in reality, we'll probably never know unless we ask him. And fortunately, I don't actually care enough to risk everything and ask." Suddenly, the bell at the door jingled, causing the two of them looked over, "hey look, it's your Schwester, guess she got off early today. Now isn't that sweet? She came to visit and to mooch off of you."

"How many times have I told her not to come," he sighed but rang in an order for her favourite dish anyway. Who was he to deny her a meal? It wasn't like anyone in the place, aside from Gilbert, knew that they were related. "Oh yea, how's your kid brother doing? Has he adapted to the other side?"

"West?" That was the name the boy had adopted after being smuggled out to avoid people tracing back to him due to their regular correspondence. "He's awesome, of course he's adapted, I mean, he's been awesome-fied by me. He's in school and I bet he's way ahead of all the other kiddies. I feel kind of bad though, haven't been able to write to him in awhile with all this work coming up. The other kiddies write to me every now and then too."

"That's always nice," he muttered for lack of better things to say.

Gilbert nodded in agreement, "he keeps asking me when I'll go over and I keep telling him 'soon'…I wonder how many promises I'll have to break." He shook his head, clearing his head of those thoughts, "why is it that when I talk to you, we end up talking like lame, cheesy brothers?"

His brows furled, "Hey, don't put me in the same boat as you, you're alone there."

"What are you talking about? I'm not the one who spent more than half your cheque buying Belgian chocolate and books from the black market for your sister. You know, I don't think I've ever seen her upset before, but then again, with such a loving brother who bought me all these gifts and gave me free food, I'd be cheery too. Damn, now I'm jealous."

"Shut up, it was her birthday."

"Liar. I distinctly remember that other time when you bought her that brooch and headband for her 'birthday'. Or the time before that, or the one before that…damn, I've fallen for that excuse a couple times already…"

"Shut up, it was…just shut up. I need a smoke…"

Gilbert looked down at his watch, "Well, it looks like my shift is over, so I'll just be taking my leftovers and make my way back home. See you tomorrow."

He let out a scoff, "I'd thank you for all the hard work you've done today but you haven't really done anything since I arrived."

"Ja, but I worked pretty damn hard before you got here so whatever," the man gave a wave and disappeared out the door.

Rolling his eyes, he grabbed the freshly made dish and brought it out to the woman, speaking in a soft voice, "did you get off early today?"

His sister looked up and smiled, "ja, and then I got hungry so I decided to come here instead. It's not quite as good as homemade meals but it'll do."

"You're welcome," he muttered dryly and returned to work, ignoring her stifled giggles.

December, 1974

Another normal day had gone by. They both went to work, and she returned home earlier than him. She fixed up dinner for when he got off, they ate together and had an idle conversation about how the day went. She made him do the dishes and they lounged around the living room for awhile; she read her book while he took a drag of the pipe their parents left them.

Until suddenly, there was a loud knock on the door and incoherent yelling from the other side.

They both shot up, her in confusion and Lars in alarm. Tapping the tobacco out of his pipe and placing it back in his pocket, he asked "who is it?" loudly to stall for time as he hastily motioned for her to remain quiet and ushered her into his bedroom. He removed one of the boards from under his bed, then, glancing at the door, gestured her for her to hide.

More screams came from the door.

"Hurry," he hissed in Dutch as she crawled under his bed and into the hiding space.

Once tucked in under the floorboards, she noticed that it was only big enough for one person and turned to look at her brother anxiously, the dread building up inside her chest, "wait, broer, what are you going to do?"

"I'll be fine, just get out of here as soon as you can, do you remember the path I taught you? Go all the way down the stairs and get into the next building and leave from there and stay off the main roads."

Shaking her head, she grabbed onto the hand that was clutching the loose board, tears of fear blurring her vision, "but broer, what's going to happen to you? You can't just leave me alone!"

His eyes softened momentarily as he wiped a tear from her eye, "don't cry. You'll be alright, Bella. Be brave, okay? Once you're out, go find Gilbert, he'll help you. Be careful and make sure you don't get caught," he whispered, carefully sliding the floorboard over her head. "And no matter what happens in here, don't make a sound. Your broer loves you."

She tried her best to remain quiet as darkness closed around her and her brother's footsteps faded away. She could hear her ears ringing from being surrounded by silence until a moment later, when she began hearing soldiers shouting, some in Russian and some in German while her brother responded in the same calm tone he always used. Soon, it was followed by the sound of fists and boots on flesh and she clamped a hand over her mouth to keep herself silent. Despite not being able to see, she could imagine everything with vivid details. There was no question about the body being thrown and kicked around was her brother's, not when she could hear his soft grunts of pain and the jeering of the soldiers.

Tears were sliding down her cheeks as she continued listening, unable to help in any way. Then the noises neared, they'd dragged him into his room and thrown him onto the floor. "Look there are two bedrooms, maybe he's keeping a woman around here!"

"Yea, check out the picture! It must be his sister!"

"So where's your sister? She's awfully good looking, I wouldn't mind seeing her in person up close and personal, if you get my drift."

The other soldiers laughed.

She expected him to fight back but instead, he remained silent and took everything thrown at him.

Another punch was delivered, sending him sprawled on the floor. She stuck her fingers through the small crack of the board in attempt to reach him. He must've noticed because he reached over and brushed her fingers briefly, hissing, "luister niet" before being dragged away for further abuse.

But she couldn't help but listen. She heard everything as they attacked her brother for reasons she didn't completely understand. She didn't know how long it actually went for but after what felt like an eternity, the soldiers grew bored with his unresponsiveness and unwillingness to put up a fight.

A scoff, "you'd think a rebel would be feistier than this."

"How pathetic, so what should we do with him?"

"Well we have to take him with us, make sure you get people to keep an eye on this place. The girl may try to come in or out, we can use her as leverage. Look at that, a bit of roughhousing and he's practically unconscious already. Come on boys, let's get this useless piece of crap of here."

"Yes, sir!"

Even after they left, she stayed under the boards, trying to calm her breathing until a long while later, slowly and warily, she pushed the board off. The soldiers hadn't bothered turning out the lights when they abandoned the place, leaving her to witness every detail of the crime that'd occurred in that very room. There were blood splatters covered a large portion of the floor and furniture. Covering her mouth, she ran to the washroom and promptly emptied her stomach.

"Broer," she was trying to choke back her sobs and regain her composure as she rinsed her mouth and washed her face, trying to wake herself from the nightmare. "Broer, I'm scared. I want to go home. Broer, where'd you go," she muttered miserably as she stumbled out of the room.

Gathering her wits, she grabbed a pack and ran around, collecting all her essential items before poking her head out the door. Looking both ways, she crept out and ran for the emergency fire escape stairway. Following her brother's instructions, she ran all the way to the underground where there was a hidden door that connected the building to the next. Once in the second building, she pulled out the piece of paper with the address on it that Lars had given to her before and squinted to make out the letters. Mentally planning her route as well as she could, she stuffed the piece of paper back in her pocket and snuck into the back alley.

Weaving through various alleyways and streets, she finally found herself at her intended destination. Running into the building and up the stairs, she wandered almost aimlessly around the halls until she found the number she was looking for.

Gilbert was getting ready for bed when there was suddenly, frantic knocking at the door. Cautiously, he walked over to the door and asked, "Who is it?"

"It's Bella, Lars' sister," was the desperate reply, "please let me in."

Taken aback, he quickly undid the locks and latches and opened the door to see the blonde standing there, tears still streaking down her face. He had a sinking feeling in his chest even as he let her in, "Lars' sister? Why are you here at this hour?"

The woman stumbled into the apartment and clutched onto his shirt, "please, I need your help, broer needs your help! H-he's been taken by soldiers!"

Nya~

Another chapter! Yay Netherlands and Belgium! I've grown quite fond of them as you might be able to tell. The Stasi was the secret police force of East Germany. Apparently at one point, one in every six people were part of it, intense, no? Yea, hope no one's disappointed with this chapter and/or story. Thank you readers and reviewers! Dank u wel! Enjoy!

Luister niet - Don't listen (Dut)