Chapter 14: Facing Death

Photo by Zetong Li on Unsplash

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But at that moment three Germans appeared. Or three silhouettes did. Beams of moonlight fell all around them, but they stood only in the shadows and Eleni could not see their faces.

She felt warmth running from a thousand cuts. If they did not kill her, she knew she would most certainly bleed to death. They stood around her in a perfect triangle, the silhouettes of their rifle barrels visible in the moonlight. She wanted to run, but the bullets would cut her down in an instant.

She could die standing here, left for the crows and vultures to pick her bones clean.

She could not die here, she thought. Nikos would never know what had become of her.

Her head was spinning from the fall, but the sound of the planes was gone, replaced by the ringing in her ears, the tz tz tz tz of the cicadas, and the heavy breathing of the Germans.

All her life she had lived a lie about who she was, yet she had been happy in the simple life she believed was her own. She believed Nikos's father and mother were her own, Nikos her brother, her friend, her confidant. But the Germans had ruined all of that. These three Germans and their fellow brutes had destroyed everything she had known and loved. Now they were about to end it once and for all. She prayed it would be fast.

One soldier grabbed her by the shoulder and barked something in German. He shook her violently, and she fell to the ground with a scream, pleading for mercy. A boot pressed against her chest, pinning her to the ground. She sobbed out desperate entreaties. Yet somehow she just wanted it to end. The barrel of a rifle was thrust into her face. She sobbed as she counted down the seconds in her mind.

It touched her cheek, warm to the touch from the shots it had fired at her without success. Now she thought, he won’t miss.

She closed her eyes. The night was even darker in her mind, and she braced for the shot.

Then it came, making her jump as it blew her apart.

Or so she thought.

She slowly opened her eyes, staring straight up at the moon through the branches. The soldier with the gun was gone. Another shot rang out right beside her, and the second German dropped.

The third said something, then knelt down beside her.

Was she dreaming?

His hand lowered a canteen to her lips. It had been several hours since she had last had a drink. She wanted it badly. But when his hand brushed against her lips, she pulled away, struggling into a sitting position.

In the darkness around them, she looked around desperately. She was alive. She needed to get away, but he extended the canteen again. Germans, as she knew them, were nothing but butchers. She was sure this was some sick game before he did his worst.

He drew close again, holding out the canteen. She backed away, her body aching and her throat dry as the Sahara Desert.

He was speaking gently, but even that, to someone who didn't speak German, sounded harsh.

She cried out as pain shot through her body, moving farther away. He spoke gently, a gentleness she would remember for the rest of her life, whether it lasted only a few more moments or, by some miracle, many years. German soldier and Cretan islander, caught in a dance of trust and distrust, backing deeper into the woods, away from the dead Germans.

Her mind still spun. It was like she had been swallowed up in the arms of a tornado, everything swirling around her: the moon, the stars, the trees, the rocks, the soldier with the canteen, the dead Germans, and herself.

She inhaled it all, and held it in her lungs, like the last breath of a drowning woman.

She felt her legs lift her and felt them begin to run beneath her. She exhaled, dodging branches, and threw herself behind a rock.

The German followed after her, but passed her in the darkness. He stopped some yards away, muttering something she couldn’t understand.

He disappeared behind a tree, into the night. Eleni lay still. Not because she wanted to, but because she could not do anything else. Her body, battered and bruised, could do no more. So she stayed there, lying in the shadows, hurting, maybe dying, and still living on.

Then she woke up. She didn’t know she had fallen asleep. How long had she slept? Her body still hurt, and the blood from her nose was crusty. She rose slowly. It was still dark, but maybe a little brighter.

After a moment of hesitation, she started walking, even though she believed she was dying. She needed only to find a house or a village. She needed her satchel most, but she knew that she could not go after it in her condition. But the darkness and shadows were all she could see.

Here and there she heard things moving around her, leaves crunching and cicadas buzzing. She had to be careful. There were Germans nearby, and she knew she would not survive another encounter.

Who would have thought a satchel would mean so much?

She brushed her hair out of her eyes, matted with sticks, leaves, and blood. Darkness everywhere.

She trudged on. Hungry, thirsty, bleeding, maybe dying, maybe her whole life hanging by a thread worn thin.

Time always passes, and she did not know how much had.

But finally, she saw a light in the distance. Beaming through the darkness, almost like it was opening its arms for her to run, stumble, and fall into.

Thanks for reading.

Chapter 15 will be available soon!

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