The freedom of captivity

strange blessing

Reginald Chester-Stewart

France a beautiful country. Paris, the city of love. That Is the thing everybody thinks of when they hear the name of that city. I think of war. Karl knew I needed to leave Austria after the incident. I could still be a benefit to the resistance but I would be sloppy if there would be too much reminders. So he sent me to Paris, the city of love, the city of resistance. As I had a French passport it was easier for me. I smuggled things over the border before settling into the real resistance, writing in their papers and eventually even becoming an armed member. I was aware how reckless it was after the things that had happened in Austria but I couldn't stop myself. I felt I needed to pay my dues for what i had done. I needed to save lives.

Paris was wildly different from Austria, back in austria we were secretive, very careful and meticulous. In paris they had weapons, they had so much more power. I regretted the fact I had not been there earlier. I regretted so much. I regret so much. I think while looking at the clear sky above me. I feel a tear falling on the ground.

"Reggie, Wendy, Are you up for an adventure?" I hear Eddie saying and he approaches me. I sit up and Gwendoline who was laying beside me follows my lead. "Depends what it is?" I respond. "It'll be fun. I promise." He says. "I don't see why not." Wendy says when she sees that Sol and alethea seem to be ready for adventure. Eddie smirks as we stand up.

"So we have four hours where the clinic is understaffed and the doctor is not present. So that's the best window to do strange things." He explains. Solomon raise his eyebrows. "How do you kniw." Edmund smirks. "Money does wonders here." We chuckle, of course. Typical Eddie. We walk up to the wall, some people might say it is to keep people out but it is to keep others out. But we all know it is to keep us in. We look at it, it's pretty high and has some sort of wire on top of it. Not unlike prisons. Solomon takes off his wool suit jacket and ask for a bit of help as he puts the jacket over the winre. He sits down on the wall.

"Ladies first" Edmund says. Solomon reaches out his hand and we help the girls up. When it's my turn I feel a bit nervous. I don't feel completely safe. It feels like we're doing something that could potentially hurt us. Solomon helps me up, I only now realise how much he resembles Karl. He has the same built, the same way of helping people. When I sit down on the wall to turn I see the beautiful place where we are. We are in the middle of nowhere, everything we can see is high grass, hay and wheat. It's so beautiful in the orange sun. I feel a smile growing on my face. I jump off of the wall.

 I look at everything it is do beautiful so sollemn so lonely. So peaceful. When we all got over the wall there's a tiny moment of silence. It's like we all take a breath of this newfound freedom. We lall know we will return to the clinic but still this feels better. I look at the others. I see a tear on Douglas and Solomon's face. I smile, I did not expect that. The girls aren't crying, bur alethea's eyes are watering.

"Follow me" Edmund says and he starts to run. I hear a scream of joy. I am surprised to see it came out of Douglas and he frolicks through the high grass. We stumble, run and dance through the gras. Touching it with out hands and feet. It;s like you feel everything twice as intense as I used to feel. I would enjoy everything even the things I used to hear. I feel whole again as the warm wind brushes through our hair and our smiles merge into the joy of one another.

We arrive at a river. It is a beautiful but small one. Edmund crumples up his sleeve and hikes up his pants so the don't get wet. He takes off his shoes and steps into the water. We follow his lead. Solomon splashes water onto douglas, before we know it we are fighting with water. It feels so beautiful, so great. I feel so....alive.

The crystal water is beautifully cold as Solomon explains erosion to Gwendoline. She grabs the stone he used to explain it and looks at it intently. I smile as I feel the wet moss on the stone I am sitting on. It feels so good to feel so much. I see my salty fall into the stream. "Are you alright?" Edmund asks. I nod. "I think I didn't expect to feel like this anymore." "Did you know this stream leads to a really big lake not far from here?" I shake my head. "Next time we go to the lake. But it's a bit harder to anvigate as it's a bit wooded there." he says. I nod.

Edmund starts to sing as Alethea and Solomon start to dance in the stream. It is that one beautiful vera lynn song. I begin to sing when gwendoline asks if I want to dance. I nod and we start to swing through the high grass. The warm sun warming our face. Even Douglas and Edmund are dancing through the nature. I smile, I would have never imagined doing this a few years ago. My parents wouldn't like it. People back in the school would hate it. I don't think I would have ever done something like this If I hadn't been mad. If I hadn't been utterly. What a strange blessing this might be. I wonder how much I miss my old life. I do not think I miss it at all.