Hello, dear readers. Sorry for the long absence. Here's another translated chapter from "The Labyrinth". Sorry for the many ortographics mistakes... I'm not an english fluent speaker. But I hope it's better than google translate. I hope you liked and, please, let me a review. Thank's for your support, big hugs, Claire.

For the first time in a long period, I feel like I've had a truly refreshing night of sleep, without pain or fever. My body is relaxed, I feel rested and renewed my strength. It's like finally I found the tranquility long lost.

A ray of sunlight hit my face and I decide to open my eyes slowly, to enjoy this peace that fills my whole body. I miss this feeling, because my soul has long been accustomed to tension. I don't know how to relax, I guess I never knew. But strangely, not today. Today I feel light, comfortable in my own skin.

I don't want this marvellous feeling leaves me. That's really strange, because this is the first time I truly feel at peace. This feeling was so good that I didn't want to wake up. I just wanted to be there, because I never felt so protected, so calm and serene in my whole life!

I give a long yawn, open my eyes and stretch my whole body in a very slowly movement. Raise my head; still sleepy and then, all the peace I feel minutes ago quickly turns into a horror movie. With wide eyes, realize that I don't know where I am! Once again, I'm in a completely unfamiliar room!

Horrified, I quickly remember the whole nightmare I've been living in the past few weeks. And I hold the yell in my mouth so as not to arouse anyone's attention, I don't want anyone enter here now; I need to get my thoughts in order. The first thing I notice in me is wearing pajamas and not the maid's uniform I got to wear in the basement, which makes me a little less scared. Anyway, I have no idea how I ended up in this strange room. I remember getting sick in the basement and then I don't know anything else... What it seems now is that I'm in another room; maybe it's his room. But how did I get here?

After the shock, the next feeling is a deep shame. The embarrassment of having felt at peace in the house of the man who still inhabits my worst nightmares depresses me deeply. Well, I know I could not escape, I know I'm still in Vienna; I'm still at his house. Avoiding any sudden movement that makes noise and attracts someone's attention, I try to get out of the bed. But I feel a strong pain in my right ankle and immediately remember twisted it in my attempt to escape. I raise the blanket slowly and see my ankle is bandaged.

- I probably won't be able to support my foot.

The situation is so absurd that I cannot reason properly. So, I hear the sound of a key turning on the doorknob and I shrink, pulling the blanket next to me, as if doing that somehow protects me from what is to come. The door opens and Frau Künzel's dark figure appears in front of me, holding a tray with a glass of water and another small glass. She seems surprised to see me awake, but she maintains her firm stance and impenetrable facial expression.

- Oh, see you're finally awake and conscious! Good afternoon, Fräulein Hirsch. How do you feel?

The casual tone she uses with me is very annoying, because it seems she was really worried and pleased to see I was awake and fine. This kind of behaviour irritates me a lot. But, since I'm really feel good and don't want to waste my newest strength with this woman, whose face is so familiar to me, I decide talk to her, even to find out how I got there.

- I feel much better, Frau Künzel, thank you for asking.

- Herr Prauchner will be glad to know that. - She replies.

- Listen, Frau Künzel. I remember I was locked up in that goddamn basement. How did I get here? What room is that?

- You got very sick. I think you spent a lot of time wearing wet clothes and contracted a very bad flu, which grows to pneumonia.

- My health has been fragile since those horrible days in the concentration camp. All humidity in the basement's villa compromised my lungs. I have cronical bronchitis because of that. A simple cold is enough to make me sick. - I don't know why I decided to tell this kind of things to this cold woman. After all, I don't need her sympathy. She seemed to ignore what I said.

- Well, I brought your medication. - I didn't bring anything to eat, because I thought you were still unconscious.

- I've been unconscious for many days?

- You had alternate states of consciousness with many delusions caused by fever.

- I went to a hospital?

- No. You received appropriate treatment here.

- Did a doctor come to see me here? - I insist, because I want to know more.

- No. I'm a well-trained nurse. I myself took care of you personally for your prompt recovery. And, as you can see, I well succeeded in that.

After Frau Künzel spoke these things, I finally realized that this cold woman was really my acquaintance. She was one of the nurses of the medical staff at the Plaszow concentration camp. I can't remember her name, but I know she attended me a few times in the camp, when Herr Kommandant went overboard with me and he thought I should receive some kind of medical attention, otherwise I would die because of all the blows I received...

- God, what's her name?

- I know you… You're really a nurse! Attended me more than once time in Plaszow!

- I'm glad you have such great memory, Fräulein Hirsch!

- Frau Horowitz. I'm married! And don't change the subject! I mean you don't pay for your war crimes?

- Which crimes?

- Well, you and your awareness probably know!

- My awareness is at peace! I didn't commit any crime.

- Being a nurse in a concentration camp is not a crime?

- Not that I know of. I helped save lives. I didn't kill anyone.

- Are you sure you didn't help the camp doctors with experiments in humans?

- All I did was for Science! You have no proof of anything!

- Nurse Müller! Elza Müller! That's your real name! If all you did was for Science, why did you change your name?

- To be left alone! I really didn't kill anyone! And after the war, I didn't want my daughter to be persecuted or had to give any explanation about things she didn't know and didn't do. - The woman said, with angry in her voice.

- You try to protect your daughter, I could understand. She must have been very little at then. I don't remember her in the camp... But you... You should pay for all your crimes! If not with death, since you didn't kill anyone, at least you should have spent some time in jail! I remember you were always on the medical inspections and always were on stand by in the Camp Hospital! Are you sure didn't kill anyone? I heard horrible stories about how the prisoners who went to the Plaszow's Hospital didn't scape alive from there...

- You left alive, didn't you? So don't talk about what you really don't know! - She said, trying to end the subject. I finally being quiet so as not to provoke that woman's wrath. She seemed to realize my silence and took the opportunity to change the subject.

- I brought your medication, Fräulein Hirsch. You need to take it for a few more days to heal well. - She noticed that I hesitated whether to accept the medication and tried to reassure me. – Don't be afraid. I assure you that it's only a medication to relieve the more severe symptoms. You had pneumonia… You're weak. You need this medicine. It's not a sedative. I won't do anything to you. Neither did he.

- He!

Then I realize until that moment we haven't pronounced his name. We're not talking about the Kommandant yet.

- Does he think I'm lying? That I forged my disease?

- How could he think so? He saw your condition. Accompanied everything. It was he who took you out of the basement, plunged into your own vomit and urine, in the midst of a collapse. You were convulsing with so much fever.

- His entire fault! - I couldn't resist to say this to her.

- Yeah, It could be. He shouldn't have left you so wet and with this twisted ankle down there...

- He shouldn't have brought me here first! - I said, unable to disguise my exaltation.

- Anyway, my dear Fräulein Hirsch, he didn't leave your bedside. Almost all the time he was by your side, monitoring your fever, helping me in the injections applications, inhalations and the exchange the band surrounds your ankle. He simply didn't rest until he saw any sign of improvement.

I turned the subject off so I wouldn't need to hear this woman compliment the Kommandant's attitude. He doesn't deserve my appreciation.

- Is it broken, Frau Müller? My ankle is aching a lot.

- It's Frau Künzel, I don't know who Frau Müller is! No, it's not broken, it was quite a twist, but it didn't break anything. A few more days and you'll be able to steady your foot.

- As we're speaking about the monster, where is he? - I ask.

- Well, since you woke up and took your medicine, I was going to bring your breakfast here, but the order I have is as soon as you wake up, no matter the time was, it was to bring you down, to make your meal with him.

- No, please, help me.

- Why? - She pretended not to understand.

- Tell him I'm not well yet. Please let me eat here. Having to share a meal with such horrible man again will bring down all my strength. I don't want him near me.

- Sorry, I'm just taking orders.

- That's what you always say, isn't it?

- What? - Again, Frau Müller tries to irritate me, pretending not to understand my hints.

- All the Nazis... They say that: "I was only following orders." It was the most heard in Nuremberg's trial.

- I'll help you with your bath. – You'll come down nicely and perfumed.

- Tidy and perfumed like a madam's puppy?

- That's what you think! Anyway, let's go to the bathroom?

Without an alternative, I accept Frau Müller's offer. I refuse to think of her as Frau Künzel, just as I refuse to think of Amon Goeth as Anton Klaus Prauchner. He is and always will be Amon Goeth, the butcher of Plaszow!

After the shower, Frau Müller drove me in a comfortable wheelchair, down the enormous hallway that led to an elevator.

- A house with an elevator! Now, Herr Kommandant can say that he lives in a real villa.

We passed a magnificently decorated room, filled with pieces of art, until I was taken to the small but cozy dining room, where I had been before, in that ill-fated encounter with the monster. The room is empty, but there is a space without a chair next to the headboard. Everything was already ready for me. I note that Frau Müller's daughter is finishing the presentation of the table. Suddenly, the door opens, the girl bows and walks out of the door.

Amon Goeth emerges, elegantly dressed in an Italian cut suit. His shoes are gleaming, like the boots he wore on the camp. He looks at me in an intense way and opens a smile, as if genuinely happy to see me. At the same time, I feel ridiculous and embarrassed, because I am also very well dressed, combed, full of make up and perfumed.

- Like a madam's little dog!

He seems really delighted to see me. He approaches, bends down to get closer to me, takes my right hand and kisses it effusively. I withdraw it quickly and rub the back of my hand into my skirt, so he sees that I despise any chivalrous attitude on his part. He doesn't seem to mind, which irritates me even more. Pull the chair and sit down, straightening his pants, making a gentleman pose that I know doesn't match the killer monster he is.

- Lena, Lena, Lena... I'm glad you're doing so well. We had bad bites together this week. But now I know you're fine. Finally!

I remain silent.

- Nothing you do will shake my good mood, my dear Helen, you have no idea how much I am relieved and happy for your recovery.

I won't give him a chance to destabilize me with his supposedly witty phrases. So I remain silent.

- Oh, please, be reasonable. Let's will be friends, just like old times! - As soon as he finishes speaking, he lets out a provocative laugh.

I keep my silence.

- Helen, Helen, you're still not a little humorous, are you?

Suddenly, I decide to speak, to get a doubt that has been tormenting my spirit since I woke up in that room.

- Is that your room?

- Yes.

- Did you take me there so I could keep up with my recovery more closely?

- Yes.

- Did you help Frau Müller at all?

He seemed surprised that I referred to Frau Künzel by her real name.

- Ah, so you recognized her? Is not it good to be surrounded by old familiar faces?

- Don't change the subject! Did you help Frau Müller at all?

- What worries you, Helen? What do you mean by "all"?

- Don't change the subject! You saw me naked?

- Yes!

Hearing this response, so simple said, without even blinking, it embarrasses me and deeply irritates me. I try to lift myself from the wheelchair, but I lose my balance and almost go to the floor. He supports me before I fall. But as soon as I found myself stable in his arms, I try to assault him, beating his chest with all the energy I have, which is not much, because I am hungry.

- Calm down! Calm down. - He says, still calm.

While we are in this kind of fight with only one opponent, because he doesn't even force to avoid my punches, Frau Müller enters the room bringing the food that was missing to the table. His gaze to us is so disapproving that I immediately stop my aggression and let Herr Kommandant support me and put me back in my chair. Frau Müller, without being shaken, finishes the arrangement of the table and says:

- The meal is served. If you need me, ring the bell. Excuse me.

- Thank you, Frau Künzel. - He says, also trying to maintain his composure, an attitude that certainly doesn't match the monster I know. Just like my attitude doesn't match the frightened girl I was.

- Can we eat now?

- You asshole, you liar! You promised you wouldn't see me naked!

- I promised I wouldn't do anything to you without your consent!

- But that didn't include me without clothes. You promised me that!

- I apologize for having to break my promise. I really meant to keep it. But as the circumstances were a little different than I had imagined, I had to assist Frau Künzel with the ice baths in the bathtub. This is the only way we can control your fever. But I just did it, nothing more.

- Did I sleep alone in your bed?

- Yes.

- It's a lie! You didn't miss an opportunity to circumvent the rule you created yourself! I'm sure there was someone else in that bed with me! I even thought it was Sam.

- You were delirious! You had a fever!

- Liar!

- No! I'm not lying. Don't talk about what you do not know!

- Pig, liar!

It was then that the monster inside the gentleman clawed again. He just cannot control himself. He quickly holds my cheeks with one hand, trying to shut me up, in what he succeeds. As I stare at him, his eyes widen, he seems to sense my fear and, disconcerted, loosens the grip on my cheeks and turns that act into an unusual caress.

- Please excuse me. I don't want to lose control with you anymore. But be reasonable let me explain what happened.

I say, now in a low voice, afraid of another unexpected attitude on his part.

- I already understood what happened. You took advantage of my unconsciousness to touch me or you know what else you did to me.

He takes a deep breath, pauses, and continues.

- I just took care of you. I helped Frau Künzel with the baths and that's all! I'm not lying. Please believe me! I only did it because I needed to take care of you. Otherwise, I would have fulfilled my word!

- I'm hungry! - I change the subject to avoid the course the conversation was taking.

- Please help yourself. Do you want me to help you?

I let the monster do the honors of the house and I allowed him to put everything on the plate that I liked at the time. I confess I ate a lot. During the meal, I avoided making eye contact with him, because again I was in a situation of vulnerability and hunger. When we were finished, he pushed my wheelchair into an even more cozy parlour to serve a glass of sherry. After serving us the drink, he sat down in front of me in a huge leather armchair.

- Is that your room?

- Yes, you liked?

- I thought it was very masculine.

- You can change it to your liking, anytime.

Upon hearing that, I become irritated and again, I don't miss the opportunity to attack him.

- Is that what you think?

- Think what?

- The life you chose for both of us?

- And what would be the life I chose for both of us?

- Just like that. I leave the cell, or better, your room when you allow me to eat only in your company and then return to the room that you kindly let me redecorate to live next to you in a luxury prison?

- You have a very negative view of life you can take with me, Helen.

- And what would be your vision?

- Certainly better than yours. If you cooperated and agreed to live with me, we would not be locked up in this house. By the way, we would be live very little here. I would take you on my yacht for a trip through the Mediterranean in the South of France. Soon the season will be suitable for this. We would leave Marseille, sail along the coast, and stop at Cannes or Nice, perhaps taking the time to play at the Casino in Monaco. Then we would continue along the Italian coast. There's a beautiful little town called Cinque Terre, which I'd love you to meet it. We would anchor there, spend the day and at night we would return to the yacht, where we would dine and make love until dawn...

- I'm not interested in any of this.

- Not really, Helen? Which kind of places do you know? New York? Paris? All very obvious, my dear!

- Oh, I know other places... Krakow! Plaszow! - I say, in a rather aggressive tone.

- Oh, really? For besides Plaszow I was in Sobibor, in Treblinka, in Lublin... I have given a great service to the Third Reich, but that has passed. Stop living from the past!

- You live in the past, too! That's why you brought me here!

- I brought you here because I want to grow old at your side... Look... (Pause for a long moment) You're already here, that's a fact! Nothing you say or do will make me change my mind. Accept your fate, Lena!

- I'm not Lena! – I shout.

He stands up, approaches dangerously from my right ear, and whispers, in an insinuating way.

- Yes, you are. I'll call you whatever I want! If it's from the past that you want to live, my dear, I'm sure I won't hesitate to throw you in that basement and make you a maid with good manners. Even if I have to correct you as you deserves!

- I... I…

When I was thinking of something to say, Frau Müller hurried into the room.

- Mr Prauchner, Mr Prauchner...

- Are you all right, Frau Künzel? - From the tone she spoke to her, Herr Kommandant seems very nervous.

- There's a woman out there at the gate at the foot of the hill. The porter told me it was urgent.

- Who is it?

- Anna Hirsch!

When I hear my sister's name, I open my eyes and try to get the wheelchair in motion.

- What the fuck is this idiot doing here? - He seems to be asking me the question.

- Idiot is you! I'm sure she came with the police here! You'll be unmasked, monster! She must have recognized you!

- I find it difficult, my dear. Frau Künzel, you can have her come in. Ask Hans to pick her up at the main gate.

- Perfectly, sir.

- How can you think she didn't recognize you from somewhere? You didn't change anything and she was in Plaszow! She may have seen some pictures of you, somewhere...

- I don't think she had the happy opportunity to meet me at the time.

- How can you be so sure?

- Because I met her at the Sacher Hotel yesterday, and she didn't give a damn when she saw me. If she had known me, she would have shown it!

I think he's bluffing. But since I almost never talked to Anna about what we went through on the camp, and how she lived for a long time in Herr Bosch's factory, I'm not even sure if she ever got to know him or even see him. Despite being smaller than Auschwitz, Plaszow was a camp of reasonable size. Maybe she really had not met him!

- It cannot be. You... Did you see her?

- Yeah. I talked to her and your hubby…

- Have you been with Sam? Oh, my God, how is he? Did he tell you about me?

- In fact, he opened his heart to me. Poor creature, he's such a weak man. I cannot believe you fell in love with him, Helen. It can only be admiration for the exceptional musician that he is, because otherwise it is really very difficult to respect a man who is so weak as to allow be dominated by his clever sister-in-law!

Again he leads me to the streak of madness. I get up from the chair and push on it with all my strength. This time he doesn't support me and I go to the floor as soon as I lose my balance. I fall on my injured leg and cry out in pain. He quickly opens a small drawer of a small table in the corner of the room and takes out a piece of cloth. I realize his intention and drag myself as fast as I can toward the door of the parlour, which I know is not locked. He comes after me and pulls me by the injured leg, which causes me to utter another cry.

- Shut up, you bitch! - At that moment I feel a slap hit me in the face. - Shut up or I'll gag her!

- Then do it! HELP, HELP! - I scream, with all my might!

He quickly joins my wrists and binds them with the fabric. Then he takes another cloth in the little drawer and shuts my cry for help with the cloth. Then he picks me up from the floor and, as he struggles, puts me back in the chair. Frau Künzel enters.

- She's coming now.

- Great, take her in the next room.

- But, sir... Don't you think it's dangerous?

- No, I don't think so! Helen, since I'm a very good man, I'll let you see your sister.

I look at him without understanding what he means. He then opens a curtain from the sitting room and I get a splendid view of the next room.

- I wouldn't be such an idiot, would I? But see how good I am. - As he say it, straighten his suit and hair. - You can see your sister in the distance. But she won't be able to see you. This glass is only transparent to that side. On the other side is a mirror.

I try to protest, but the gag stops me altogether. He turns on me in the chair, picks up another cloth in the drawer, and ties my legs to the chair.

- So I'm sure you won't play and crawl to the window. - With the rest of the cloth, he ties the chair to a heavy piece of furniture in the corner of the parlour. - Stay there and you'll have a good view of the room. Kill the homesickness of your sister's and wait for me. We'll talk more later.

As he leaves, locking the door behind him, I try again to get out of the chair. When I realize that I'm going to fall and I cannot see anything from the next room, I give up and wait. It is incredible how, after a situation like the one we just lived with, with so much emotional wear and tear, he can calm down and keep his composure as if nothing had happened. It's a self-control he never had in his time as a concentration camp commander. Then I see my sister's slim figure entering the room. She looks gorgeous as ever, wearing a green water dress that fits her pretty well. She is very well groomed and makeup. As if she wanted to draw attention to her beauty.

Then I see her smile at the monster, as if she were happy or even relieved to see him. He goes toward her, to kiss her hand, but my sister has an unexpected attitude. She immediately embraces him, ceasing to smile and crying copiously. The monster wraps her in a hug and turns her head toward the mirror. The look he addresses to me has a mixture of pleasure and pride that makes me even more nervous.

He takes her to the couch, and as they talk he holds her hand. She doesn't withdraw her hand; on the contrary, she seems to find comfort in that gesture. He takes a tissue from the pocket of his jacket and hands it to Anna, who looks at him moved and continues talking and talking and speaking, which distresses me deeply, because I don't hear what they say. I try to pull the chair to make some noise, but the furniture is too heavy. I insist anyway, so she can sense the noise and leave him in a vulnerable situation.

- I need to try.

The monster keeps talking to her. He drops Anna's hand for a moment, and then heads over to the bar, which is in front of the mirror that serves as a window for me, and prepares two whiskeys, one with ice and another with a cowboy style. Then he glances at the mirror and smiles maliciously. He hands the cowboy whiskey to Anna! Then he opens a silver cigarette case and offers her a cigarette, which also accepts it. Anna is no longer crying. They both smoke and talk, and that display of intimacy is deeply disturbing. I don't want Anna to approach him like this. My sister, despite appearing strong and very impetuous, is fragile and usually doesn't resist chivalrous gestures, such as those Herr Kommandant addresses to her. I fear for my sister.

That conversation between the two seems endless. I believe more than two hours have passed since she entered that room. The two seem to understand each other perfectly and I feel angry at him, and a little for her too, for seemingly forgetting the motive that led her there. She almost seems happy to be in the company of this despicable man. Then Herr Kommandant gets up, goes to a phonograph in the corner of the room, and puts a record to play. I'm surprised, because the sound of the phonograph starts playing also in the room where I am. The chords of the beautiful tango "Por una cabeza" echoes throughout the room.

I watch the monster approach my sister and try to get her out to dance. She seems to deny it, pointing to the pair of very high heels she is wearing. Then the monster bends down, loosens the clasp of one shoe, then the other, and my sister, smiling, gets up. She must have made a comment about the difference in height of the two, evidenced even more by the lack of shoes and what makes them both laugh a lot, like two accomplices. When I see them dancing awkwardly around the room, with Herr Kommandant looking cynically at the mirror several times, I think I have seen too much and lost consciousness.

- Anna, if you only knew…