Throughout It All

34 | Shelter | November 5, 1918

Oooooo I can't wait to write this!!

Enjoy! :)

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Jack wakes up to the smell of something absolutely delicious.

He also wakes up on a matress. Not a cot, not a cold ground of cement, not the forest floor. A soft, warm, matress, with a pillow and a blanket.

I have no idea where on Earth I am.

He tries sitting up. The only problem is that he sits up too fast and he gets dizzy. He has to wait for his vision to clear before he gets a clear view of where he is.

It appears he's in a small house. A house with cute designs on the walls, a sofa in the living room, the kitchen just behind the living room, and then there's the bed that he's sleeping on. There's a woman cooking in the kitchen, and a man sitting on the sofa, reading a paper.

Jack squints at the date, trying to make it out. It's too far away to tell.

He also realizes that he's in fresh clothes. He feels grateful for that; before now, he had been in the same clothes for ... he doesn't want to think about how many days.

He feels like he should alert his captors/saviors (he doesn't know which yet) that he's awake. Yet his throat is dry, and he can't say anything.

Lucky for him, the man looks up from his paper, sees that Jack is awake, and smiles at him. "Good morning, our dear guest!"

Our dear guest?

The man chuckles; he must have noticed the look of confusion on Jack's face. "Would you like to know the story of how you ended up here?"

Mutely, Jack nods vigorously. And just where is here?

The man turns around and call to the woman in the kitchen. "Noemi! Our guest is awake!"

The woman--Noemi--claps her hands in delight. "How wonderful!" she beams. "And your food is ready!"

Jack perks up a little at the mention of food.

She brings him a tray with more food on a plate than he's seen in a week. There's bread and butter, there's marmalade and honey, cheese--fondue, and hot chocolate. She sets a glass of water next to him too. He could cry from happiness.

The first thing he does is drink all the water in the glass. He coughs, and then clears his throat. He looks up at Noemi. "Thank you." She smiles and nods.

"Pardon me," Jack asks sheepishly, "But ... who are you? Where am I?"

The man smiles. "I am Bruno, and this is my wife Noemi."

"You are in the little village of Gimmelwald, in Switzerland," Noemi adds.

Jack starts. "Switzerland?"

So he did manage to miraculously walk out of the country.

"What a sight you were!" Bruno exclaims. "All alone in the forest, passed out, obviously in need of nourishment. You certainly gave me a surprise, that's for sure! I just knew I had to bring you home with me, so that Noemi and I could nurse you back to health."

Jack studies them. He looks at Bruno's kind green eyes and his dimple with his smile; he looks at Noemi with her sparkling dark eyes and smile that says safety. They are an older couple; with graying/silvering hair, and probably could be old enough to be his parents. Most of all, he notices how amiable and hospitable their aura is. And so he relaxes.