The action takes place during the Second World War.
Elizabeth is a recent medical school graduate from Boston who hopes to find her dream job, find a man she loves, have children and live a peaceful life. But her dreams are shattered the moment she...
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"Listen, save yourself, Elizabeth," Toby spoke again, but instead of obeying him, I stood right in front of him and grabbed his face with both hands and forced him to look directly at me.
I expected to see tenderness, love, goodness in his brown eyes. Any romantic feelings. And if not romantic, then at least sadness. Something to suggest that his heart is not made of stone. Because he still has humanity. Unfortunately, all I saw was emptiness. No feeling. Neither good nor bad feeling. Only emptiness.
What happened to him? What had changed since the moment I last saw him on that freighter, when we both holed up in the cabin and hoped to make it to sunny Spain. I don't know what we would have done in that country, but I was sure our new life would have started there. Maybe we would have gone our separate ways, or maybe we would have decided to try living together and see what happens. Maybe, just maybe, my dream of living a peaceful and beautiful life would have come true after all. Unfortunately, those dreams flew away with the birds to warm lands and will never return.
Still, I had hopes that I would be able to escape from this ship, that I would be able to escape from the war. Hide somewhere where no one will find us both. I had hope that we could live relatively peacefully at least for a while. At least until the war is over.
"I expect you, Toby," I decided to tell this man the truth. For some reason, the idea seemed pretty good now. Maybe it's the only thing that will help him decide to try to run away together instead of staying here and letting me carry it out alone.
Toby raised his head and looked at me with either bitterness or despair. It was hard to read what he was going through right now, but I still got the feeling: he really wasn't happy.
"Why now..." he sighed desperately and looked at me again with that unreadable look.
"Why now?" I asked hurriedly and started looking towards the corridor. There were already shouts, voices and footsteps in it.
"It doesn't matter, forget it. Get out of here as fast as you can. Save our baby," now he was speaking gently and quietly. Looking into my eyes, still with the same look of despair, but full of warmth.
"Être passionné et détestable. Respectez vos ennemis vaincus. Ne gardez jamais vos morts, vos blessés et votre arme*." Suddenly I spoke French. It's the only phrase I knew in the language that I knew what it meant.
For a soldier, these words mean much more than family. A soldier will never break this oath. And even if that soldier is not French, he will still follow this rule.
"How do you know this oath?" now Toby was surprised.
"I once heard French soldiers swear these words to each other. Later I nursed a French soldier. I couldn't help but ask what these words meant," I explained and pressed my lips tightly together.
"Adieu signifie toujours mourir un peu." Toby muttered and sighed deeply.
"What did you say?"
"To say goodbye is always to die a little," he replied.
"French here too?" I checked.
"Yes." My beloved bowed. "Save yourself while you can."
"Toby, I won't leave you. After all, you saved me almost two months ago, I can't leave you now. I can't afford it. I can't," I began to feverishly repeat the same words. I couldn't even think about what would happen if I asked him now and left him in this hole. I didn't even want to imagine what would happen to him if I didn't help him save himself.
"It doesn't matter at all, Elizabeth. I told you to forget me and you must do it. For your own well-being. I will save myself. I didn't have to endure that much yet," he assured me. With his words, the ship's warning sirens began to wail, which, it seemed, were about to explode my eardrums. "You don't have much time. Save yourself and our baby."
I couldn't delay any longer. I had to choose: either stay in a prison cell with Toby and be locked up; or to save myself, even if I don't know what my fate will be, but to do everything to ensure a clear and strong and calm and beautiful future for our baby.
Or at least try to get it out of life.
After hesitating for a few damn long seconds, I still chose the second option.
Pursing my lips, I gave Toby a reassuring nod. He cupped my face and kissed me softly. Then he let go and returned to his cell. I wanted one more kiss. I wanted a hug, I wanted to be with him some more, but I didn't have time. So I just turned on my heels, sighed deeply, and after looking at my lover one last time, I ran out into the corridor.
I was greeted by three uniformed military police officers. My hand didn't even shake as I pulled the trigger of the gun and shot them all in seconds. It's strange that I'm suddenly so sharp. And maybe I should have thanked fate that those three men were too close for me to miss.
On the way I met another group of men who tried to stop me, but without success. I kicked a few of them in the crotch, some of them I stung with bullets. When I had nothing left to shoot, I threw the pistol on the floor and shot others in the head or other parts of the body with whatever happened to be at hand. Finally managed to escape from the clutches of the guys, but not for long.
It all ended the moment I found myself in Pius's arms again. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that his leg was already bandaged, and although he was limping, he was still very strong. He gripped me so hard that I couldn't move. Although I thrashed around trying to break free, I was completely powerless against him. He dragged me somewhere further away from the other men who had tried to hold me before and pressed me harder against the wall, breaking my arms.
"You planned not only to escape, but also to free a war criminal," he shouted quietly. Now he no longer seemed as calm and friendly as before.
"I thought. And what? I will want to run. And no one will stop me," I snapped, not holding back my anger and still running. Pius was holding my broken arms with one hand, his head was pressed against the wall with the other, and his legs were straddling my legs.
"That's where you're wrong, girl," he protested to me, speaking through gritted teeth and pressing harder against the wall every second. "I not only have the right to detain you." You will come with me now.
"Where are you taking me?" I squealed when Pius roughly pulled me away from the wall and began to lead me somewhere.
After climbing the same stairs I had taken to look for Toby, we walked down the middle of the ship's deck, I could see no land on either side. Just a black but too calm ocean. And although the sky was still pink from the bombs that had been carving it up for too long, we could no longer hear the roar of a single airplane engine overhead. No bomb blasts, no shouts or calls to defend, to take your positions.
Silence and peace.
The silence and peace was broken by the announcement over the ship's loudspeakers:
"Today we can congratulate you, dear people, on the freedom and peace that have finally been regained. Führer Adolf Hitler has just killed himself. It is believed that he did not entertain the idea that all countries were united against him and surrounded him on all sides. He could not accept that lose this, the second world war. You are free."
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*To act without passion and hatred. Respect your defeated enemies. Never leave your dead, your wounded, and your weapon.
