Time passed sneakily at the brothel. Days bled into each other and neither Kuchel nor Levi were aware of how long they had been there. Soon, the only indication of their stay's duration was the mother herself. The clientele here was less stuck-up and arrogant, but it was also less sanitary. Kuchel did not realize it for a while, but she gradually felt weaker and weaker. Levi began to dislike looking at her. It was not out of judgment or anything along those lines but instead was due to how he could tell she was dying in front of him.
Kuchel's once sweet face was becoming unhealthily thin and her skin was so pale that the boy feared no blood flowed through her veins. Still, she worked as long as she could. On one particularly bad night, the client left early. Even he could see she was unwell. With a pitiful look, the man dressed again and gave a generous tip.
"See if you can get some medicine," he said, sounding genuinely worried. "You don't look good."
"Thank you," Kuchel told him quietly.
This was the only bit of strength she had left in her. She could hardly project her voice above a whisper. It hurt her chest, but she tried to not show this. Kuchel did her best to give a pretty smile to the man as he left, but it faded as soon as he was gone. Even this was straining.
Feeling a deep cough coming, Kuchel stiffly got out of the bed and went to the door. She fell on it before she could grasp the handle and Levi ran from his hiding spot to help her.
"I'm okay, sweetie," she said, patting his head lovingly. "I'm just going to get some sunlight."
She could not fool the boy so easily. "There is no sunlight," he reminded her.
Kuchel could no longer suppress her cough and let it out, involuntarily worrying her son even more than she had already done. It did not matter if she tried to contain it or not. The coughs came in succession and only became harder. She began coughing up blood and Levi gently led her to the bed. He propped her head up with a pillow and tucked her in the sheets. Just as Levi finished, he heard the sound of the door opening. Hurriedly, he went to hide.
"Olympia," a woman's voice called out unsurely. "I heard you weren't doing well."
Light from the opened door hurt Kuchel's eyes, so she closed them and listened to the newcomer. A blond-haired visitor went towards the bed with wide eyes. She looked at the other woman almost with horror.
"You can't get more visitors like this."
"I have to."
"It'll kill you!"
"Who's to say it hasn't already?" Kuchel thought miserably.
When she felt something on her lap, she squinted her eyes and saw a tray of food.
"You shouldn't be getting up unnecessarily," the visitor said sadly. Her expression became more sullen. "I'm leaving this place. I can't stay here anymore. You're not the first person to get sick, Olympia. I can't watch it happen to more people and I'm scared it'll happen to me too."
Kuchel weakly tried to lift herself up on her elbows. "Where will you go?"
"I don't know," came the honest reply, following a sigh. "There's got to be something more out there for people like us."
Kuchel did not want to discourage such dreams, but she also could not have possibly disagreed with them any more than she did. She missed the days when such thoughts filled her head. The days when the future seemed like a portal to endless possibilities and not an abyss leading to despair.
"Thank you for bringing this," she said. "Wherever your life leads you, I pray you'll be safe and happy."
The guest had a tearful smile and gently held Kuchel's hand for a moment before she felt too many tears coming and left so that they did not disturb the unwell woman. Once she was gone, the mother strained to speak again.
"Come eat this with me, Levi," she instructed.
Levi moved from his hiding spot and sadly regarded her. She had shut her eyes again but did not feel the tray become lighter and reopened them.
"Levi," she started to say before coughing again.
The boy caught the tray before its contents fell and got a towel to dampen. He used it to gingerly dab her forehead. As much as she wanted to press the matter of him eating, speaking was too much of a chore. If not for Levi's persistence, she would not have eaten either; however, he carefully fed her. He made sure that she did not choke and took nothing off the tray for himself. Her eyes were closed, so he thought she would never know the difference. He was young and healthy; he did not need to eat. A thousand meals would have been missed if doing so allowed Kuchel to rebuild her strength. Levi needed her to be strong again. This–this state she was in–terrified him and he did not terrify easily.
That night, Levi could barely hear himself think. All he heard were the labored breaths of his mother. They were not overly loud, but when paired with what they meant, they seemed deafening. In, out, cough, repeat. Kuchel was barely conscious. Levi could tell this when coughing no longer awakened her. She just coughed and went right back to her illness-provoked stupor. He could not take it anymore.
"Medicine," he thought, hearing the last client's voice in his head. "That's what she needs. Where can I get some?"
The boy did not know, but he did know he had to try. Part of him wanted to rush out blindly, but he remembered what his mother had told him about not being seen. When she got better, he would need to still be their secret. Therefore, he would get the medicine, but he would be stealthy.
Levi went to the entryway and pressed his ear to the door. Nothing. Nothing besides a few sounds he had become familiar with during his time at brothels. That meant two things: that everyone was either asleep or in their rooms, and that the coast was clear. Levi quietly opened the door and crept out the room. Quickly but equally silent, he made his way to the exit. Just like that, he was out.
This was merely the first step. Levi wished it did not have to be night (thinking about what his mother would say when she eventually found out), but it was his best chance to go mostly unnoticed. He could hide under the cover of darkness and the fewer people around would provide less chances for him to be spotted. Levi used this to his advantage and moved alongside buildings. His speed was hampered by his lack of knowledge about his surroundings. He saw that several businesses were closed and had to guess which of the open ones would even supply the medicine he was hoping to purchase.
The best Levi could do was look through windows. Some of the stores had lit lamps nearby, so he could peer inside and see what they had to offer. The options were not plentiful and he just saw things like dried foods and clothing. After an hour passed, Levi wondered if anyone sold any type of medicine. There was one store remaining, but it had two people in front of the entrance. Cautiously, Levi approached, keeping out of their sight.
"Again?" one of them asked. When his companion nodded, he loudly cursed. "It's like he wants us to all be trapped here."
"Or worse–eaten."
A chill went down Levi's spine as he heard this. "Eaten?" he thought, confused. "Who would eat us?"
"He's a madman, this 'Ripper.' Doubt he even has the forethought to consider what'll happen without the military police."
"Maybe he's doing it for money?"
"And a lotta good that money will do him stuck here. What's he gonna do? Buy the Underground? He'll be king of the slums!"
The two half-laughed, half-grumbled away and Levi was able to get close enough to look in the building's window. Finally, he saw something promising. He had to jump to reach the doorknob and then rushed inside. The sound of the door opening drew the attention of the owner. A tall man came around a corner to greet the customer, but he saw no one. Frowning, he returned to the back of the building. Levi waited patiently until he heard the footsteps stop, then lightly ran up to some shelves. There was medicine for sore throats and coughs but nothing else. Levi did not even know if that was the real problem Kuchel had. Still, he refused to leave empty-handed. He decided to not take the risk of getting the wrong thing and went to grab them both. The sore throat medicine was on a shelf which required him to get on his toes, and the cough medicine was even higher.
"That's the one she really needs," he thought unhappily.
Looking around for what he could use, Levi found nothing. The store was practically bare. Instead of using something to step on, he used the shelf to climb on. Carefully, the boy began shifting his weight from foot to foot as they were placed on different shelves. It seemed like the desired shelf was getting further away, but a feeling of relief washed over him as his hand brushed the cough medicine.
"Yes!" he thought, excited.
This excitement was short-lived due to the shelf he was stepping on letting out a creak. The owner responded to the noise by coming around the corner. Levi froze in place, hoping no additional noises would alert the man to his presence. Unfortunately, whether he did anything else or not, the man's paranoia had been triggered. He peaked around the corners, checking each to find the intruder. Levi held his breath as the footsteps grew closer. He was about to be seen and knew this, so he bolted from his place and out the door, ignoring the angry yell of the owner.
Levi kept running until he was sure no one was following him. Then, he slowed down and went back to being sure he was not spotted. The way back was faster than the trip to the building. He was able to sneak back into the brothel without being seen. Just as a client left one of the rooms, he pressed himself against the wall and stayed there until the man was gone. He then quickly returned to his mother's room. She had not even noticed he had left or returned. It was not until he tried to lift her head that she became aware of something happening. He had taken a spoon from the tray and poured on some of the medicine. Kuchel winced as she swallowed the medicines and kept her eyes closed the entire time. Levi was not sure how much she needed, so he stopped at one spoonful each. Levi looked at Kuchel and her thin face. It seemed even thinner than when he had left.
"I'll make sure you have food," he thought. "I'll go get it and make sure you have the medicine too."
The boy kept true to his word. Everyday, he crept out to get food for her and medicine. With her not working anymore, their money was dwindling. Whatever he could not buy, he stole. He did not eat much and slept less. The required sense of comfort for both did not exist, so the only food he consumed and rest he had was to make sure he would be strong enough to take care of her. Yet, everyday, she weakened. The medicine never eased her coughs or other symptoms. It never healed her. Levi lay next to her in the bed one night when a coldness he had never felt before went through his body. He shivered and then instinctively looked at his mother.
"Mom," he said hopefully. He started to shake her shoulder. "Mom," he repeated in a harsher whisper.
Kuchel did not respond because she could not. That chill he had felt was death coming to them both, but it had spared only him…despite what he would have wanted. Tears welled up in the boy's eyes.
"Mom, you have to wake up. Please."
Levi looked at her closed eyes and wished they would reopen. He just wanted to see them again even if it was once more. The boy got out of the bed as his tears fell. He moved away from the body, looking at it with misery and horror. Going to a corner of the room, he curled up and held his knees to his chest with his back to the wall. Levi stayed there and just stared at the corpse which once held his mother's soul. He stayed there and wished to rejoin that soul. Days passed without him moving. Weeks passed as the smell of decay filled the room and his own bone structure became more pronounced. It was coming. He could feel it. He was fading away just as she had. Soon, they would be together again. Or at least they would have been had the door not opened and a man with brown hair, a long coat, and a hat not entered his life right before the final curtain could drop.
