The Wolf Ballet || WW2

15. The Wolf Ballet

Chapter Fifteen

Ophelia blinked her eyes, coming through after being knocked out by a sudden force. She stood up, with the help of a small pair of hands. Assuming it was Zosia she smiled, feeling over her, making sure she wasn't hurt.

"Where's madame?" Ophelia asked the girl, who she felt shrug.

Ophelie wiped her eyes, trying to adjust to the darkness around her. Unable to properly make out the faces of anyone on the train, she clutched to Zosia's hand. She figured Madame Bal who was beside her had been separated during the hysteria.

Ophelia wondered just how long she had been knocked unconscious.

"MADAME!" Ophelia called for her teacher in an airy pant. It was hard to breathe, with everyone steaming and crying—there was hardly any air for anyone to inhale. Closing her eyes, Ophelia calmed herself before yelling again;

"MADAME!" She called out blindly again.

However, there would be no answer. The trains were too loud.

"Let's go Zosia, we'll need to travel the crowd." Ophelia sighed, holding Zosia close to her hip. The young nodded, wrapping her arms around the dancer's thin, dainty, waist.

Together the two girls slowly crept past the sides of the others. Anxiously breaking through the bodies of the distressed women and children.

"MADAME!" She exclaimed

"BABCIA!" Zosia joined in, calling for her grandmother.

"Good, good Zosia—keep calling, she'll have to hear it." Ophelia huffed, soothing the girl's back with her hand.

"BABCIA!" Zosia clung to Ophelia tighter, squeezing her eyes as the screaming around her got louder.

           "BABCIA!"

"ZOSIA!?" A voice eventually came. Ophelia could feel the ten-year-old tense up beside her, but she did not let her go. With everything going on, and the train being in a state of frenzy, there was a danger of Zosia being trampled or suffocated.

"MADAME BAL!" Ophelia responded, trying to look over the heads of the crowd, but not only was it dark—but she wasn't particularly the tallest.

Startled by the sense of a hand on her shoulder, Ophelia jumped away, shielding Zosia.

"Ophelia, Zosia is that you?!" The voice of her teacher tiredly spoke out. Unable to see her face clearly, Ophelia sighed and smiled—grabbing ahold of her teacher and bringing her into a hug. Zosia who had been staying strong and tried not to cry, wept as she jumped into her grandmother's arms. The sweet moment, however, was cut short as the train came to an abrupt stop. Everyone in the cart, stumbled, some even falling as they were all forced to a stop. The sound of the locomotive's engine letting out steam filled their ears.

"What is it?" Ophelia asked, eyes wide open, "why are we stopping?"

"I don't know, let's get to the back—" Giezla shuddered, pushing the two girls away from the doors. Whatever the Nazis were planning couldn't have been good. Afraid that they'd open fire at the opening of the doors, she cornered the girls away from the mass.

The crying had stopped as everyone stopped to listen. Voices could be heard, along with a car motor but nothing much else could be explained.

Crouched down, Ophelia held Zosia close to her, as Madame hovered over both of them, extending her arm to obstruct them away from the German's view. Shifting shadows were seen moving as men could be heard talking amongst themselves much closer now.