Winfred

106

Official Report

British Intelligence

Code: 3986                                                                                                                                    

Kathleen Winfred

The halls were empty; the German soldiers had, just as they did last year, partied and drank and celebrated a break from their duties. Now, they were presumably sequestered away in their quarters, sleeping in preparation for the next day when they would resume work.

As I wandered the upper level halls, I realized that it had been a little over a year since I had arrived at the prison. It seemed to have been a much shorter time. I had become surprisingly content to be here.

I was more conscious than usual, as I walked the hallways, of just how fast time was moving forward. It was that feeling you get when you suddenly realize that there is no way you can stop today from ending and becoming tomorrow.

I slumped down against the wall on the third floor and sighed.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps. I immediately stood, trying to formulate an excuse that would explain my presence in the hallway in my flannel pajamas.

Pirot came around the corner.

I allowed myself to lean against the wall, sliding down into a sitting position once more.

“Hey,” said Pirot, coming to sit next to me. “I heard you leave.”

“I’m sorry for waking you up,” I said. I sighed. “First Freidrich, then you. Who will I wake up next?”

“Is something wrong?” asked Pirot, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder.

I turned to look at her. “Freidrich told me that time is growing short. Soon enough…he thinks I’ll have to leave. But the thing is…” I met her eyes. “I don’t want to leave him. I don’t want to leave you. I don’t want to leave Matthew, and Jessica…Albert and Andre…I keep fearing that something like what happened to Virginia is going to happen to one of you.”

Pirot gave me a small smile and looked at the wall across from us as if in deep thought. “You know,” she eventually said. “that I finally just had to come to terms with knowing that we’ve made our choices and we can only continue on. What’s going to come is going to come.”

“So I’ve been told…” I sighed. “Just…when the time comes…I don’t know if I can do it.”

“Do you want to be safe?”

“Doesn’t everyone?” I frowned. “I just don’t think I can live with myself if I make it to safety and no one else does.”

Pirot patted my hand. “I guess the only thing you can do is take one moment at a time and you’ll figure it out when the time comes.”

“Thanks,” I said, genuinely grateful that she had sought me out and spoken to me.

“Any time,” she said, stifling a yawn.. “Now let’s get off to bed.”

She stood, and offered her hand to me. I took it, and we walked back upstairs.

She slipped back into her spot, between Albert and my vacated bed. I closed the door, dousing the room in darkness once more. I fumbled towards my spot, finding the place I had earlier vacated in my makeshift bed between Freidrich and Pirot.

She reached over and gave my shoulder one last comforting squeeze, before falling almost immediately back into sleep.

I slipped my hand out from under the warmth of the blankets, and found Freidrich’s. Even asleep, his hand closed around mine.

Finally, my eyes grew heavy enough to close. I brought Freidrich’s hand up next to my face and held it close, as I fell asleep.