Love Goes On

Chapter 21

Ciara's P.O.V.:

I was sitting in History class next to Ryan. It's about World War II and I'm trying to take as many notes as I can, but Ryan keeps squeezing my thighs so I can't really concentrate.

"Hitler let the Jews in Warsaw move from their own home to the ghetto's. To make sure no one could reach them and the Jews had no contact with the non-Jews whatsoever," the teacher explained. I furrowed my eyebrows. How could one person with so much hatred against one religion, cause all this pain and trouble.

"Nazi's would come into the houses of the Jews in the ghetto's and drag the people outside on the streets. They had to run and the Nazi's shot them. If people lived in an apartment and someone was in a wheelchair, they'd pick the wheelchair up, walk over to the balcony and throw the disabled person out of the balcony," the teacher continued. This is just horrible.

"There was one famous pianist who survived the war. He experienced everything I told you and lost his family. There is a movie that tells this story in the perspective of the pianist. He lost his family, but he survived. It's called The Pianist and that's what we're going to watch. There's also another movie I want to watch with you, Schindler's List, but we'll do that after we've watched The Pianist," the teacher said and the bell rang. I got up and packed my bags.

"Pretty heavy, huh?" Ryan said. I nodded.

"It's just unbelievable how one person, with so much power, can cause so much pain and trouble," I said. I threw my bag over my shoulder and left the classroom. Ryan took my hand in his.

"What are you doing now?" he asked, knowing this was my last lesson.

"I'm going to wait for Laurine and then I want to watch those movies with her. I know she's fascinated about the World War and she's already seen those movies, but she said she wanted to see them again," I smiled and looked up at him.

"Can I join you?" he asked, "I'm interested as well, plus I get to spend more time with you," he said.

"You won't hear me complaining," I winked and walked to my locker. Laurine was already there.

"Hey, Ciara," she smiled, looking up from her phone.

"Hey, I have a question," I said, "do you want to watch The Pianist and Schindler's List with me and Ryan?" I asked and her eyes instantly lit up.

"See you at home," she said and ran away. Wow.

"She's a war movie fan, isn't she?" Ryan chuckled and wrapped his arm around me.

"Pretty much," I giggled and leaned into his side. We walked home, making silly jokes. We went inside and I noticed the curtains drawn.

"Umm, Lau?" I asked in confusion as I took off my coat.

"Finally, you're here, okay, I already but The Pianist in and put snacks ready for us," she said and sat down on the couch.

I shook my head smiling and sat down next to her. We watched the movie. What a beautiful movie. I held my breath when the protagonist hid in the house and he dropped the can of pickles. A foot stopped the can. The camera went up and a Nazi stood there.

"NO! RUN!" I shouted to the tv. What happened next astounded me. The German man asked the pianist to play something for him. He did so and the Nazi guy welled up. Wow, those people have feelings. The Nazi made a deal with pianist. If he played a song for him, the Nazi would give him food and clothes. If it wasn't for that Nazi, the pianist wouldn't have survived. The pianist lost everything; his family, his loved ones, his house, but he survived.

The next movie we watch was Schindler's List. It was with Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes. It was black and white. Ralph was a Nazi and Liam was a very wealthy man who owned a factory. Liam hired Jews because they were really cheap. Little did he know that the Jews in his factory weren't taken away to those camps. Once he found out that he kept those Jews safe he decided to open more factories under his name and that's how he saved a couple of thousand lives. The Jews he rescued made him a golden ring as a token of gratitude. I heard sniffles beside me. I looked to my right and saw Lau in tears. She looked at me and she smiled a little.

"I may be crying, but you're crying as well," she giggled. What? I put my hands against my cheeks and felt they were wet. I shrugged and looked at the tv again. At the end of the movie they showed Schindler's grave and the people who were still alive because of him. More tears poured down my cheeks.

"This guy is my hero," I said sobbing.

"Mine too," Lau said.

"Same here," Ryan said and pulled me close to him, letting me cry into his chest.