One Woman War | Inglourious Basterds/Original Story

Chapter 8

When I woke the next morning to the sounds of children laughing and a kettle whistling on the stove, my eyes fluttered open slowly, allowing my pupils some time to adjust to the morning light that was shining in through the windows. For a few moments I remained still on the chair I had fallen asleep in the night before, giving myself some time to fully wake up. 

I contemplated going back to sleep for a little while just because of how warm and comfortable I was, but before I had the chance choose, the decision was made for me. 

Running up to the side of the chair, the little girl, whom I had met but hadn't had the chance to speak to yet, stared at me with wide eyes for a second before smiling. "Hello." she greeted me. "My name is Annie."

I felt a small chuckle build in my diaphragm and escape my lips as I sat up, stretched, and yawned. "Hello, Annie." I stuck my hand out toward her and felt my heart melt when she wrapped her little fingers around it and shook enthusiastically up and down. "It's very nice to meet you. My name is Ruth."

"Ruth," she repeated, her small voice overpowered by the two boys who were shouting from the room where they were playing. "That's a very pretty name. We don't get a lot of girl visitors. We don't get a lot of visitors at all, actually. Would you like to play with me?"

A feeling of pure joy engulfed me as the small, adorable child stared up at me, her hand still wrapped around my own. Although her past had been rocky, from what I had heard from Louise and Raymond, she seemed completely untouched by the horrors of the war. It was probably because she was so young, so she was sheltered and didn't know the depth of what was really going on beyond the confines of the secure world Louise and Raymond had created for her. 

Her naive nature reminded me of Micah, which reminded me that he was hopefully still out there somewhere. I wished we hadn't have coddled him so much. I wished we would have told him the truth from the very beginning. Maybe then I would feel more confident in his abilities to be alone. Maybe.

"Oh, Annie." Louise came out of nowhere, startling me a little as I emerged from my secluded thought bubble. Placing her hands on Annie's shoulders, she smiled down at the girl. "Now, let's not bug Ruth after she's just woken up. Give her some time to adjust."

"Okay." Annie finally let go of my hand before turning back to me. "Can we play later?"

I nodded right away. "Of course we can."

"Thank you." her manners added to her undeniable charm. With a flip of her thin, blonde hair, she took off again just as fast as she had appeared and went to join the boys in whatever game they were playing.

"I'm sorry." Louise apologized on the girl's behalf even though there was absolutely no need to. "I think she's just excited to have another girl in the house. There's only so much time I can take out of the day between cooking and cleaning and making sure everyone is still accounted for to play with her. She's a good sport with the twins, but I can tell she gets fed up with the roughhousing every once in a while."

Standing up out of the chair, I folded the blanket that I had been using and placed it neatly on the cushion where I had just been sitting. "It's fine, really," I assured her. "I know what it's like. Most of my childhood I was an only child, and then I got a younger brother."

"Mmm." Louise hummed as she got lost in thought, her eyes drifting to the doorway where the silhouettes of the kids danced back and forth. "Oh, that reminds me." she jumped out of her daydream and walked over to the table where a bar of soap, a towel, and a stack of clothes sat. "I thought you might like to have a proper wash-up."

My mind rejoiced at the thought of taking a proper bath to finally scrub the layer of filth off of my skin. "I would like nothing more." I held my arms out to take the supplies from her.