Of The Dark

Chapter 10

What happened yesterday never left my mind.

He expressed his affection towards me and I did not fight it. If anything, I provoked it even more. I let him press his body against mine and I let his long-caged ferocity unleash upon my lips.

It didn't mean that it was a bad thing, though. For my first (voluntary) kiss, it felt incredible. And even though I equalled his passion in the act, it did not necessarily mean that I equalled his feelings if he had felt any at all.

Heading back to the camps, I wrapped my arms tightly around my chest with a conventionally fuzzy feeling circulating around my body. I followed the soft glow of the sunset, muted by the thickening clouds but it still, somewhat, managed to penetrate through.

I was excited to see Lola. I didn't tell her about what happened but it felt good to know that I still had a piece of my old life left. I watched, this morning, as Elsa cried in Oskar's arms when it was time for them to leave and clung onto him despite her mother's stern protests. She was resistant to leave him and was only persuaded when he promised to visit her again, soon.

I did not know what it would feel like to lose Lola. We were always very close as sisters. We shared a bedroom and secrets and stories about school despite our ten year age gap and we had never spent a night apart. I cherished our relationship and she was always at the forefront of all my concerns.

When I reached my allocated cabin, a silent dread filled my lungs as the unsteady-looking wooden huts guarded by brute men materialised in my vision.

I walked past the soldiers with my head down, trying to pretend that they were not there at all as I reached for the handle of the gate.

Chatter died down when I entered, until an unhinging silence befriended the coldness of the poorly insulated room. Something felt off in the air. It made me shiver. It made me wonder why I was receiving such piercing glares from the women crowded in the small room.

Aware of the strange abundance of eyes fixated on my every move, I cautiously walked towards my usual bunk. When my eyes caught sight of Lola, I felt a twinge in my heart at the bundle of nervousness crouched into the corner of our shared bed.

"What's wrong?" I turned to the other prisoners, all of whom now held an expression of pure anger and resentment. Towards me?

"Whore!" A tug on my arm caused me to stumble back, just missing a swing to my face. I almost fell on top of Lola, who was tearing up as she let go of her grasp on my wrist.

"I- I don't understand." I stuttered, looking back and forth from my worried sister to the furious gang of women.

"Sleeping with the Commandant's son for preferential treatment?" Another woman growled, violently tugging a lock of my hair. "You little whore!"

I fell back on the mattress, speechless. Looking around at the masses of seething women, I gulped. Their boiling blood suddenly made the room rise a thousand degrees in temperature, leaving me immobile.

"I'm not sleeping with him! It's not like that" I defended, using all my lung-power. Lola had streams of tears running down her face as she gave me a look of concern.

"Liar!" A harsh strike to my face prevented me from seeing who said that. A sharp sting permeated through the side of my face. My eyes began welling with tears.

"Eloise works in the kitchen. She saw you and the Reichsführer's son on Christmas Day."

Mouth agape, realisation dawned on me.

She saw. She saw Oskar feeding me that truffle. She saw his arm around my waist when he did it. She saw me let it all happen!

"It's not what you think! I'm not sleeping with him, I swear!"