In the Black and Dark Night

This is just an idea that randomly came to mind years ago. This was my first Hogan's Heroes story. . . I took it today and revamped it slightly, adjusting grammar and rewording a few parts. I hope you like it! I'm so sorry if anyone is OOC at all. If Newkirk is, it's explained in the story. By the way, if you recognize the unnamed lady character, it's not mine. :) I couldn't remember the name of the female traitor. . .

The name of the story comes from a verse in the Bible. It's in Proverbs 7:7-9, which says, "And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,
In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night:"

The lights were off in barracks all around the stalag. Almost every prisoner lounged on his bunk, fast asleep. The only one still awake lay staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep. It was not as though he were not tired. His eyes burned with exhaustion. The day had taken its toll on him both physically and mentally. He would have tried to drift off again, but every time he closed his eyes, he was accosted by the terrible events of the day. He could still see his colonel berating him for disobeying orders, getting into trouble in the first place, and nearly getting their whole operation blown. Even worse, visions of his friends looking at him with disappointed stares shook him to the core.

He moaned, rolling over to face the other men. He could hear the soft, even breathing of LeBeau, the quiet snoring of Kinch, and the incessant mumbling of Carter, along with various and sundry sounds of other people. Fulbright was sick, his snorting almost loud enough to be a nuisance. Holland tossed and turned frequently. What was left of the silence was broken by the occasion Stevens' coughing and the usual sounds in a prisoner of war camp, like footsteps, the soft rumbling of voices, and the occasional barking of a dog.

Slapping his thigh in frustration, Newkirk finally accepted that he wouldn't be sleeping anytime soon. He sat up, rubbing his eyes. Everything he had felt that day, all the pent-up emotions from earlier began to flood through him. As it stood now, he could no more contain them than that Carter could "borrow" Schultz's watch without getting caught.

He shuddered at the thought of all that had transpired throughout the day. It had been rather a trying time for him, for all involved. First, he had been worried and scared when he had been caught out of the stalag and at a woman's apartment, no less. Being informed that he was to be transferred to another stalag had left him stunned and dejected. His excitement at escaping back to camp was crushed at the betrayal when the lady had betrayed him for the Germans. Even his relief that all was over could not overcome the regret when he realized all that his actions would cost him. He truly was sorry for disobeying the colonel's orders and had finally begun to realize that Hogan had been right all along.

At the end, what had struck him the most and the hardest was fear, an emotions with which he was quite familiar. What if his actions—and his bleeding impulsiveness—would result in him never getting to be with his mates again? What use did the colonel have for a man like him, one who disobeyed orders because he felt like it, one who jeopardized the whole operation for the sake of a woman?

All the others were asleep, worries and fears forgotten for the moment. As it was, no one was watching him. No one could hear him. With that thought, Newkirk decided he had held back for too long. Tears came streaming down his cheeks in rivers. He was too emotionally drained to push his feelings to the dark recesses of his mind anymore.

~\•/~

Carter turned over in his bunk, half-awake. He had thought he heard crying, but that could not be right, could it? I wonder what it is, he mused. A choked sob broke through the fog, waking Carter up all the way. Hey! That's coming from Newkirk's bunk! I should see what's wrong with him!