wenn wir treffen wieder (english)

chapter 2

As it turned out, Phil did not get to see Jörg that morning. He was beaten up by the officers in their way into the ghetto, and Phil couldn't even see any Jews. All he saw was a boy coming around the corner from a grayish concrete building. He was walking rather quickly, like he was late for something, but as soon as he saw Phil's predicament, he stopped in his tracks.

"Hey!" He exclaimed angrily. "What's going on here?"

The SS officers started laughing as they kicked Phil another time. They started to explain the situation to the boy, about how Phil was supposedly gay and on his way to a questioning, and Phil just stared pleadingly at the boy. He really didn't want to get questioned, he was a terrible liar.

Phil watched the boy's expressions as he heard the story, hope quickly turning to anger as he realized this boy thought homosexuality was disgusting. When he offered to take Phil himself, Phil almost screamed. But seeing as he was being bullied by his current "caretakers," he couldn't exactly be disappointed.

Suddenly, the hands were off him and he fell to the ground. As soon as the officers were out of sight, the boy dropped next to him.

Phil looked at the boy. What on earth was he doing?

"Are you okay?" The boy asked softly, glancing over Phil .

"Yeah, 'm fine. Just a little banged up." Phil grumbled. He wasn't falling for any tricks. Strangely, the boy seemed excited. What, Phil thought, has he never seen a possibly gay person before?

The boy kept looking over his body, like he was looking to see if he was hurt. Phil was confused.

"Why are you being so ni-" He started to ask, but was quickly cut off.

"Shh. We need to get you out of here. If we go this way, we can-" The boy's hurried voice made Phil bitter, he didn't want to be scared or hidden. He decided his best course of action would be to not confirm that he was actually gay.

"Wait, you believe them? You think I'm gay?" Phil squinted his eyes at the boy.

The boy tensed. "Are you... not?" He questioned.

Phil brushed his fringe off his forehead, sitting upright on the cracked pavement. "What's it to you? Why does the Führer care about homosexuals?" He challenged.

The boy became visibly flustered and he started stuttering an answer. "Uh, I just... I assumed that...uh... I don't know. I don't know what's going on.... are you, though? Gay, I mean?"

"I don't know why it matters," Phil said pointedly, pursing his lips.

"It doesn't," the boy said nervously. "I'm gonna get you out either way, but you need to cooperate." He held his hand out, offering help to Phil.

Phil hesitated, but decided against taking his hand. He could get up by himself anyway. He held back a wince as he stood, holding his breath to bite back a whimper. The boy backed away slightly, giving Phil room. Phil could tell he had hurt the boy's feelings by rejecting his help, but he could care less.

"I'm going to have to fix your papers, unless you want to keep having run-ins with officers." The boy explained.

Phil tried to figure out if he should trust the boy. He seemed nice, but he also worked in a ghetto. Phil was at a crossroads. Could he or could he not trust this boy? He looked so innocent, and his dimple added to that. Phil pinched himself. Pull yourself together, Phil! He works for Hitler!

Sighing, Phil responded as neutral as he could. "Fine. But then I'm leaving."

"Of course, sir," the boy replied politely, pointing towards the fence.
"Just this way, please."

《×》

Dan led the way to his small office. He pulled out a seat for the black haired boy, and walked behind his desk to sit. As soon as the boy settled into his chair, Dan began asking for his identification.

The boy reluctantly handed over a card, showing that he wasn't Jewish. (A/N: I'm sorry if this seems incorrect! I know there was some sort of ID for non-Jews, but I wasnt really sure how it worked.) Dan scanned his eyes over it, attempting to keep his face straight. Philip. Philip Lester. What a perfect name for a perfect boy. Dan admired the little photo next to his name. He got some forms out, and gave Philip his ID back. He pretended to busy himself with filling out the forms, but really, it was unnecessary. All Dan had to do was just tell the other officers that Philip wasn't gay, and they'd done a test. Then they would believe him and Philip would be in the clear. But Philip didn't know that, and Dan wanted to keep him in his office for as long as possible.