The Forbidden Love

Chapter 2

Every day that I trained I saw her. Sometimes shovelling, sometimes wheeling, sometimes organising. Whatever she was doing, she always somehow sent me into some sought of trance. I had never felt this way about anyone before. I wanted to speak to her, I really did. I just never knew when and where to do so. What's even worse, she was far too smart for me! I would never know what to say to her! I didn't want to sound stupid! I never knew something as simple as speaking to someone could be quite so difficult! One day I was walking through the camp to pick up some wood for my father. A rain storm created a hole in our gardening shed up at the house. Anyway, my father needed to mend it so he asked me to go get some supplies for the job. Then I saw her. I think she saw me. I looked at her and smiled. She just looked back at me apologetically. She didn't smile but I understood why. She could get into trouble and most the punishments are very brutal and sometimes even fatal. That's the last thing I want. I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing that her death would have been my fault, so I just dismissed the fact that she ignored my action of friendship and continued on with my assigned job. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself knowing that I was responsible for her death! I also saw her when I went down to the camp to do my chores. After our home's cleaning staff had increased, my help with the cleaning around the house was no longer required. So instead, my father had put me on a few shifts down at the camp. Luckily, my jobs were just to clean up and give messages to the guards from my father. I don't think that I could have handled doing anything greater than that. I don't want to sound conceited, but I just can't be cruel to those innocent people, especially since one had left such a memorable mark on me! I continued to show this mysterious girl- that I liked to call 'the mystery girl from behind the supplies shed'- that I wanted to be her friend by giving her small smiles. But the same thing happened every time, she just lowered her head and walked away briskly. That seemed to be a consistent habit for the Jewish people. I knew that it was dangerous to smile back but it did discourage me and made me feel as if she didn't want anything to do with me. 'Maybe she DOESN'T want anything to do with me!' I contemplated.

I didn't speak at dinner any longer. If my mother or father asked me a question I answered with a nod or a simple one-word answer. I didn't want something to slip out about this girl that I spoke to because I would have gotten a scolding and so would she. After I had what I felt like was an emotional connection with one of the prisoners, I hated listening and agreeing with what father had to say any longer! And there was no point arguing with him either, because trust me that would have gotten me absolutely no where! All my father talked about was the camp anyway. But one particular night, my mother didn't speak a word either and the whole 20 minutes spent at the dining table was basically just my father talking to air. Something was going on but I didn't say anything. She might have just been tired or, like me, sick of my father's same and constant conversation! It's also very sad to see my sister agree ever so passionately with what my father says. She's such a daddy's girl but I think this has rubbed off a little too much on her. I don't want her to end up like one of those barbaric human beings! Something else weird also happened that night! I did something rebellious! Something I have never done before. I was lying in bed and I couldn't get to sleep. I could hear muffled yells coming from my mother and father's bed room, there was a huge storm outside and I could just get this tingle that something was going on. Something bad. I decided to climb through my window and sit in my tree. Where all my thinking and relaxing took place. Where I went as a refuge for whenever I am really confused about something and I just needed to purify my thoughts. The torrential rain, despite being extremely loud, was soothing against my skin. Each droplet running down my face made me feel better about the bath I had forgotten to take for the prior 3 days! I saw flame torches flickering outside the camps main dorm. I instantly thought that was strange. I knew that all the prisoners and guards should be inside the dorms by then as dinner had just finished about an hour before then. I just couldn't contain my curiosity! I had to go down to see for myself what was going on and to check everything was okay. Based on the noise travelling down the hall and into my bedroom, my parents seemed pretty occupied. I thought that I could sneak down to the camp, via my back entrance (through the hole in the training yards' fence), fulfil my suspicions and be back up to my room before anyone noticed. I wasn't going to get any sleep until I found out was the fuss down at the camp, so it was worth the risk. As I was walking down to the camp, 'the mystery girl from behind the supplies shed' flickered into my thoughts. I needed to be reassured that whatever this issue was, had nothing to do with her. This thought sent me from a walk into a run which quickly transitioned into a sprint. When I approached the hole in the fence I was puffed out of my brain, and before attempting to weave my way under the barbed wire fence, decided to try and contain my breathing so then no one heard me. When I finally wedged through the fence I heard shivering coming from behind the supplies shed. I was praying to whatever lord lives above, that this would be my chance to talk to 'the mystery girl from behind the supplies shed'. I hoped with all my life that it would be her shivering and hustled in her little refuge. That sounds really strange, as I didn't hope she was shivering because I wouldn't wish someone to freeze but I really did hope that I would finally get the chance, after a long excruciating week, to have a proper conversation with her. I looked around the corner to check that no one would catch me and much to my surprise, the guards had gone and the once fire lit camp grounds had turned completely dark. I then slowly approached the area where the shivering was coming from and once I was confident that the dark silhouette, hugging their knees to their chest, is the poised young woman I met at the end of what WAS supposed to be a regular training session, I took a seat next her and some rusty metal pipe. She looked at me startled and once recognising me, looked down at her feet. I decided to start the conversation with something simple;