HAVEN BLACK - complete

THE STRUGGLE

Chapter 2 – THE STRUGGLE

"What do we have here my friends!" jeered another Nazi with from the behind the line of men. A tall dark man roughly pushed two of the soldiers aside and stepped forward welding a smirk across his scar covered face. Unlike the other men around him, he wore a black uniform with a red band around his left arm and a rifle in his right: he appeared to be the commanding officer of the other Nazi's. The mere sight of him infuriated me more. He seemed to notice this widened his yellow-toothed grin more.

"Take what you want, but you won't harm my family!" Father shouted back, his voice quivering as he tightly clutched the candle stick high in the air.

The soldiers finally removed their horrid gaze from me and focused on Father; they laughed loudly mocking his desperate plea.

Father stood protectively in front of us and as the the Nazi dressed in black walked towards us holding the tip of his rifle, he stopped a few yards away. Tapping the butt of the rifle once on the floor, he stared deathly into my father's eyes.

"You do not talk to an SS Officer so rudely! You shall be punished." replied the commander menacingly, noticeably gritting his teeth. "And what is her problem?" he pointed at Grandma who continued to shake on the ground.

"She is sick with hypothermia! If we don't get her help soon she is going to die!" I erupted uncontrollably, a haze of condensation escaped from my cold, trembling dry mouth.

"Oh I see... ...well how unfortunate. Maybe I can help her, no?" the officer replied smirking.

"Please sir, we just need to get Grandma to a hospital" I begged desperately, cupping my hands together against my chest.

Staring intently at me, the SS officer's smirk changed to a wide smile again before he turned to face his subordinate on his right. He quietly muttered to the soldier, who stood a foot shorter, and the soldier responded with a devilish smile and a nod.

Cocking his head towards me, the SS officer's face now had an expression of unexpected worry "Okay young girl, we will take your grandmother to the hospital, but you and your family have to move aside so that my men can come and carry her out."

A wave of relief swept through me as these words fell upon my ears. I looked at Father who remained unconvinced - but what choice did we have?

Reaching out, I gripped my little brother's hand and together as a family we moved to the side to clear a pathway to Grandma, who was still withering on the floor but now to a lesser extent.

"Excellent" the SS officer said, his smile looking more grimace than before.

He and his men took a couple of slow steps towards Grandma, staring at us more intensely.

Then all of a sudden, the horror began.

Swinging his rifle up rapidly and pushing it against his shoulder, the SS officer hunched and peered through the iron sights, taking aim at the helpless woman on the floor.

"No don't!" I screeched thrusting my hands out towards Grandma.

A shattering crack rippled through the room and Grandma suddenly lay still, her withering had ceased – she had been shot.

The SS officer slid the bolt back on the rifle and ejected the empty shell which clanged briefly onto the wood floor boards; a small trail of light grey smoke smoldered from the rifle's chamber.

My brother and I dropped our weapons and bolted from our parents. We fell at our knees next to Grandma, where a pool of blood emerged from her underneath her head.

Running my fingers through her grey hair, I sobbed, my tears streamed off my cheeks and dropped onto Grandma's still face.

"Oh Grandma" I wailed, putting my arm around my brother. A sense of hopelessness began overwhelming me.

Turning my head to the men that were slowly closing in on us I shrieked out indignantly "You monsters!"

Father rushed in towards us, intercepting the soldiers that were almost upon my brother and I.

Swinging the candle stick towards one of the soldiers (which failed to land a hit on any of the men), Father was quickly over powered by the larger men.

He was outnumbered and out-muscled.

Two soldiers wrestled the candle stick out of his hand, tossed it to the side, and dragged Father back by his arms which were now locked behind his back; his legs swung wildly kicking in the air. He grunted loudly like an animal that had just been cornered and thrown into a cage.

"Don't touch my family!" he growled as he was forcefully turned to face the SS officer.

I stood up and began running towards Father when my mother grabbed me by my shoulder and held me back.

"No!" I cried fighting the surges of hatred and helplessness.

"Be quiet!" the SS commander ordered as he clutched the barrel of his rifle and banged the handle on the floor once more.

"God will judge your soul and you will be damned to reside in the depths of hell reserved only for the most evil of men!" Father hissed, spitting into the SS commander's face.

Angrily wiping the spit from his twisted face, with a handkerchief that he had slowly withdrawn from his jacket pocket, the Nazi leader sniggered menacingly.

The SS commander then thrust the blunt handle hard into Father's face, hitting his forehead with a sickening thud. His head sprung back violently before slumping forward resting with his chin on his chest - Father had been knocked unconscious.

Signalling to his men with military hand gestures, the SS officer gave some sort of instructions to his men. The two soldiers who propped up my unconscious father, nodded to the SS officer and they then headed for the stairs.

I couldn't take it anymore, I had to do something, anything! – I had to help Father.

My instincts took over as I bolted foolishly towards the SS commander.

There was no plan, but there was a hope – a despairing hope.

My launch felt fast and heavy, powered by a concoction of adrenaline and hate that flooded my blood. A couple of steps into my attack the sound of boots pounding on the floor to the left of me couldn't sway my aim to kill the SS commander, the murderer of my grandma; But a sudden sharp judder impacted the side of my skull just above my ear; I felt my knees buckle and as a blackness took over my vision, I fell forward, head first to the ground. My mother's scream faded away as I lost consciousness.