AllFreeNovel
Share Us
32
21stDecember 1944
It would be Christmas in four days, and although Nacha had never celebrated the holiday, she knew how much it meant to Jan and his family.Yet there’d be no Christmas for him this year.
He saw his mother and sisters occasionally on outings in the city at night.They arranged times and places to meet and would bring him supplies when they could.Still, he’d spend Christmas with her and her family in the cellar of a cold, dark office building in the middle of a burned, bombed and evacuated city instead of celebrating with his own family.
It hurt her heart to think of him going without because of them again.Yet if it wasn’t for him, she didn’t know how her family would’ve survived all this time.They wouldn’t have.They’d have been killed years earlier with Babcia, Papa and the rest of the people she loved.
“I’m sorry you’ll miss Christmas,” she whispered.
Several of their party had already fallen asleep.It wasn’t late, but they’d taken to dozing on and off from evening through to the early morning hours since they had nothing else to do.It also ensured that there was always someone awake to keep guard.But so far, the Germans fighting desperately for Warsaw in the streets above their heads hadn’t discovered their hiding place.Although they were almost out of food, so they’d have to venture further afield to find more before too much longer.
Jan went out every few nights to forage among the apartments and office buildings nearby for supplies.He usually brought back enough to keep them all satisfied for a little longer.But he was covering a greater distance each time, and Nacha couldn’t help wondering how long the fighting could last.Surely the end must be in sight.The constant bombardment from both the Germans and the Soviets in surrounding streets had exhausted them all.
Jan shrugged.“It’s okay.It wouldn’t be much of a celebration this year anyway.”
“But you could be with your mother and sisters.”
“I’ll miss them,” he admitted.“But I’m here with you and that counts as family, doesn’t it?”
She squeezed his shoulder in the dark, her throat smarting.“Yes, of course it does.”
She leaned back against the sandbags and closed her eyes, but she couldn’t drift to sleep with her stomach in knots from hunger.She was empty, and she shivered with the cold.She huddled into the blanket wrapped around her, but couldn’t warm up.Her eyes blinked open, and she stared at the dark ceiling overhead.
Nacha couldn’t recall the last time she’d had a bath.She did the best she could, washing with a cloth dampened under the tap in the bathroom upstairs.But there was no shower or bathtub.She was cold all the time, since the cellar didn’t have a fire, and there was no way to warm themselves other than to crush their bodies together in the small shelter they’d built for themselves using sandbags and random pieces of furniture.
She was tired all the time, since she could never drift into a deep sleep with the threat of discovery and a gruesome death hanging constantly over her head, not to mention the never-ending noise of war only metres from where they hid.
“What’s wrong?”Jan asked.
“I’m hungry.”
“I think there’s a can of beans…”
“No, we ate it earlier.”
“I’ll go out and find some food.We’ll need some in the morning, and this is the best time to scavenge.”
She sat up straight as reached for his gun.
“It’s dangerous.Wait for Tata to wake.He’ll go with you.”She didn’t suggest Walter, as he hadn’t been sleeping well lately and mercifully seemed to have succumbed to his own exhaustion.He was fast asleep on the other side of their bunker with a blanket tucked beneath his chin.
Jan grunted.“I’ll be faster without him.”
“But what if they see you?You’ll be on your own.”
He laughed softly in the dark, and she felt the warmth of his hand cup her cheek.“You act like I’ve never done this before.”
She blushed, grateful he couldn’t see her colour rise.“I know you have, but I worry.That’s all.”
“I’m glad you worry about me.It would be a sad day if I had no one to worry.”His voice took on a sombre tone.He was thinking about his mother and sisters.She could read his every mood these days.They spent so much time together, it was as if she heard his thoughts.His tone brightened.“But I have you, so I’m happy.”
“Yes, me and Tata, Nathan and Walter.We all care about you.”
“It’s your caring that means the most to me,” he said.His voice was soft, and she wished she could see his face clearly.He wasn’t much more than a shadowy outline.His eyes were black and he was so close to her she could feel his breath in her hair.
Her heart skipped and her cheeks warmed further still.“I do care.You know I do.”
