Beauty and the Beast

Good Girl

A/N: GRAPHIC CONTENT AHEAD. PROCEED WITH CAUTION. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

If anything, the conversation with Anna gave me the courage to try to escape.

I had never actually contemplated escape before. I had been through hell and back in the short time I had already been here, so that left no room for daring plans. But with a ring that probably cost a fortune on my finger and a bit of courage, I supposed I could make a decent enough escape attempt.

I had to learn your schedule first. When Anna was in my room, I briefed her on my plan on paper, to which she responded--in writing, of course, that she would try her best to learn your daily routine and find a decent opening.

I was sitting in my room floating chunks of potatoes in my bowl of soup when Anna hurried in. Disregarding all safety measures, she expostulated, "Heydrich will be coming home late tonight."

"So?" I asked. Dammit if you heard. To hell with you. I would be out of your hair forever in less than a few hours.

"You cannot try to escape during the night, as you spend your nights with him. In the morning, you have work to do. You must escape when he comes home from work, when the gates to the chateau are all opened. All the SS guards will be so preoccupied with attending to him that no one will notice you sneak through the throng to go outside."

That actually made sense. I speared a chunk of carrot on my fork and ate it, chewing thoughtfully.

Anna went on, "You must run like the devil himself was chasing you once you are outside the gates to the chateau. Run for the woods, and hide yourself there. You must stay there until dawn, whereupon you must go to the village, cut and dye your hair, and go to my house. I will procure false papers for you and you can be out of the country by tomorrow night."

I was getting more and more excited about the prospect of being out of your filthy clutches the more Anna spoke.

"You must not come back. You must never write to anyone in Czechoslovakia. You must wait for us to find you after the war is over and these National Socialists have been vanquished."
I felt a pang of disappointment. I had been looking forward to seeing my mother and friends the day of my escape.

"And if the plan should fail?" I asked. "If I am caught?" I didn't want to imagine what would happen to me, and I was pretty sure Anna hadn't bothered to think either, by the horrified expression that crossed her face. The answer she gave was equally terse.

"Then you must pray that you escape with your life."

~~~

Night fell, and the moon in the dark sky rose upon me crouched in the rose gardens, behind a set of rosebushes closest to the exit to the chateau and the entrance to the courtyard, across which I would make my escape to the outermost gates, and then it was from there across the rolling hills that surrounded the chateau to the dark woods to the South.

Anna had hugged me fiercely before leaving me in the garden. "Don't worry about us once you are gone," she said. "We will manage. Worry about yourself most of all. Once you are outside the chateau, consider this chapter of your life finished."

Tabula rasa, she had added. A blank slate.

The first thing I would do when I got to the village was go to my house. I would reunite with my mother and my friends and then do what Anna said. It was only fair. I would need some time to recuperate from this harrowing experience.

The screech of a car's tires on smooth pavement made me jump, derailing my train of thought. I saw your green, bulky Mercedes come to a clean stop in front of the gates. Your SS security detail swarmed you as you got out of the car, Nazi saluting as one, which you lazily returned.