Chapter Nineteen Aletta #2
A woman near her cried out in pain as a female guard with her blonde hair pinned back from her face smacked her with her baton.
Aletta looked away, not wanting to draw attention to herself or let them see her staring, but she found it almost impossible to believe that another woman, that other women, could be so cruel.
But it seemed that breakfast was over; clearly there was to be no actual food.
A dog barked, and she glanced past her mother, seeing yet another female guard, but this time one holding the leash of a dog with its teeth bared. Aletta shuddered, and this time it had nothing to do with the cold.
‘Where do you think they’re taking us?’ Aletta whispered.
‘Work detail.’
Aletta looked over her shoulder to see who’d spoken. A young woman a similar age to her with light brown, wet hair plastered to her scalp, raised a brow. Even in the rain, she was pretty. She must have slowed a little, because the woman spoke again.
‘Keep walking, don’t slow down,’ the woman said. ‘If you fall, they’ll shoot you. If they don’t think you’re strong enough to work . . .’
‘They’ll shoot me,’ Aletta finished for her, whispering back, swallowing and realising just how precarious their situation was. And how right her mother had been to say they had to at least appear strong.
She’d foolishly thought the Nazis wouldn’t want to be caught killing a non-Jew, but when she looked around at the barren camp, she realised that no one would ever know whom the guards killed.
They were just a number now; a number that could be eliminated without any consequences.
Was this the type of horrid place her father’s clients had ended up?
Where some of her beloved families from school had been sent?
‘What type of work is expected of us?’ Aletta’s mother murmured as they marched.
‘Our group goes to the Siemens it made her feel as if every bone in her spine had shattered.
‘Get back to work!’
The words were said in thickly accented English, and as Aletta bit down on her lip to stave off the pain, she saw tears falling silently down her mother’s cheeks. It had already been the worst day of her life, and Aletta knew that this was only the beginning – for both of them.
‘The days when Herr Weber is here are the ones when you can relax, he’s the manager; but the others are right,’ said one of the women from earlier. ‘When he’s not here, this place is a living hell.’
Later that night, after working for almost ten hours straight with no break before the gruelling walk home, Aletta felt as if her body was going to break.
Her stomach cried out for food, her back still ached, and even curling up in bed didn’t ease any of her pain.
It was like nothing she could have imagined before; none of this seemed real.
Not what had happened at their apartment, not arriving at the camp.
‘Hold on to the good, Aletta. Hold something beautiful in your mind and keep it there, don’t let go of it.’
She held her mother’s hand, curling into her as they shivered against the cold in the room, as they tried not to wriggle against the scratchy mattress. But her words had worked, because Aletta held Harry in her mind just as she’d suggested, as if he were right there beside her.
Her body ached, and her stomach growled so loudly it hurt, but no one could stop her from closing her eyes and pretending she was somewhere else – it was the one thing nobody could take from her.
Aletta looked up shyly at Harry as his fingers traced lazy circles on her skin. His smile was ever so slightly lopsided, and something about the way he looked at her warmed her from the inside.
‘This little room must be driving you mad,’ she said. ‘Are you going crazy yet?’
His mouth tilted into a wider smile. ‘Well, I would be, if it weren’t for the very pretty visitor who keeps calling by.’
Aletta laughed. ‘Truly though, you must be bored out of your mind being stuck in here.’
He leaned forward and touched her hair, brushing it gently from her face, his fingers lingering. It was the first time he’d touched her so casually, almost without thinking, and she liked it.
‘I’m not,’ he said, his voice low. ‘I’m safe, I’m warm, I’m well fed, and I have you. What more could a man ask for?’
Her breath caught as he leaned in a little further. He didn’t kiss her straight away, he never did, always giving her the choice, but this time he didn’t hesitate for long.
When Harry kissed her, she forgot everything else.
She forgot where they were, what time it was, the fact that one of her parents could walk into the room at any time.
All she could think about was the gentle, warm brush of his lips against hers as she tried to remember to breathe, as his mouth kept moving so softly against hers.
And when it was over, when Harry touched his forehead to hers, his fingers resuming their gentle circles against the bare skin of her arm, she had a feeling that he’d meant it. That he didn’t mind being stuck in their little hidden room at all.
Aletta closed her eyes then, as if by shutting them, she could shut out the memory too. But all she did was create a more vivid picture in her mind, one that she couldn’t erase, no matter how hard she tried.