Oreo

Three: The Germans

The street outside couldn’t be more different to the spine-chilling interior of the huge house. Happy families roamed the pavements, children clutching soft toys and parents exchanging polite nods. As Reo and I came out of the house, everyone stopped and turned to us. Immediately feeling self-conscious, I checked my outfit. My pink 'Legalize Gay' shirt and denim shorts would definitely be considered skimpy, if not illegal, by the well-dressed citizens in long brown trenchcoats and grey trousers. In fact, I thought, they probably haven’t even heard of the colour pink. One thing was for sure; we had gone back in time.

I expected them to confront me about my ‘skimpy’ clothing, and they did run up to us, but their expressions didn’t say ‘eww!’ they were leaning more toward, ‘wow!’ Reo stayed put as the adults left their children at the gates and trotted up to us.

‘Did you really dare to venture into the home of the ghost?’ said a regal man.

I bent my head down to check Reo’s reaction. He looked curiously back at me, also intrigued by the villagers.

‘What on Earth would possess you to make you do such a thing?’ cried a lady, holding her shaking hands to her chest.

‘We, umm, we... just...’ Reo stuttered.

‘Your accent; you do not come from around here!’ noticed another citizen.

‘We did not see you enter!’ called someone from the crowd. 'Witch!'

Their statement was followed by a smattering of agreement.

‘We’re from... err...’ I couldn’t think of anything sane-sounding to explain our situation. However, just as chants of ‘Witch! Witch!’ broke out among them, the people staring at me began to part like a sea.

‘Come vith mir!’ called a boy, pushing his way through the crowd.

‘Huh?’ I called.

People in the crowd began to reach for him like spiders after a fly, but he avoided their grasping hands long enough to shout again, ‘Come!’ before he disappeared back into the mass of adults. Reo didn’t hesitate and galloped into the crowd after the boy. The mousy-haired youngster was dipping and dodging people who took grabs at him so he was quite difficult to keep track of. Finally he turned down an alleyway and then turned back and smiled at us. ‘Come.’ he said again, before revealing a trap door to a flight of steps. As we approached, Reo told me, ‘You can hop down now.’

I jumped off and rubbed my neck bashfully, ‘Oh, yeah.’

We walked down the dingy steps and ended up in a dark, tight space that smelt of damp hay and old stew. The boy continued across the room, then I could hear the sound of a match being swiped along a matchbox. A dim yellow light filled the room and we could see right then that we were being watched. There was a girl that looked just like a female version of the boy, and a little baby that shared her pretty green eyes. They both looked at me, interested.

‘Zis is mah sister, unt ma bruzer.’ explained the boy, who was now holding a lantern.

‘You are German, yes?’ I asked the kids.

‘Yah.’ answered the boy.

‘You speak quite good English.’ noted Reo.

‘Mine papa vas English teacher.’ he replied.

‘Was? Where is he?’ I queried.

‘He is... gone.’

A sad and awkward silence filled the room.

‘Vhere dist du come from?’ the girl asked. Her accent was a lot stronger and she sounded as though she was not use to speaking our language. Reo’s expression was indecipherable but from the way these kids were living and the way the boy had jumped in just in time to stop Reo and I being burnt alive as ‘witches’, I decided to tell them the truth about our origin.

‘I am from the year 2012. I met this cat... and we fell through my floor and we ended up in the ghost’s house...’ I explained, gradually realising how insane I sounded. Oddly, the children accepted my story. It was as if they had seen crazy things, and had become used to it. The boy said, ‘Vhat are your names?’

‘I am Avery and this is my, uh, kitten Reo.’ I explained. The brother and his sister nodded politely, then the girl told us, ‘Ich heisa Rosalie.’

‘I am Axel.’ said the brother. ‘Baby ist Kai.’

‘How did you end up here?’ Reo asked.

‘Papa sent us here for safety before ze bad Germans killed him.’ Axel sighed, gesturing across the room at a bale of hay. Reo and I sat there obediently. I felt so sorry for these poor orphaned kids having to scratch through life on their own in an underground hole...

‘How do you afford the food?’ asked Reo.

‘Aha, vell...’ the boy fiddled with his nails anxiously. ‘you see..’

‘He is pick-pocket.’ his sister finished.

So that’s why the adults were trying to catch him. Reo turned to me. ‘We must be at the precipice of a war.’

‘Yes. We’ve got to get home. This isn't right.’

‘You’re right. I mean – you’re right that it’s not right. You understand, r-right?’ Reo stammered.

‘Yeah, Reo, I get it.’ I said, before I addressed the German children.

‘The war will be big and bad. Make sure you have plenty of food on you because the war will start on the first of September 1939.’

I surprised myself with my own knowledge.

‘Ven vill it end?’asked the girl.

After a moment’s thought, I answered quietly, ‘6 years later...’

‘Hey, you know a lot of history.’ noticed Reo.

‘Future, you mean.’ I corrected him numbly.

‘I wish you the best of luck, but I need to find a way to get back home.’ I told them, heading for the steps.

‘Nein!’ cried the boy, grabbing my hand. ‘You can not leave yet.’

‘Why?’ I asked, confused and scared.

‘Vell, eins, zey zink you are vitch, zwei, it is dangerous at night fall, drei, ze var starts tomorrow, you must feed.’ explained Axel, an honest tone of concern in his voice.

‘I don’t thi-’ Reo gave me a Look.

‘Thanks.’ I said.

It was cramped and cold in the cave but I managed to doze off, my belly content with my small share of carrot stew. At about midnight, I awoke to the sound of licking. My eyes gradually adjusted to the dark, and beside me I could see Reo licking the back of his hand.

‘What are you doing?’ I whispered as he wiped it onto his cheek.

‘It’s called hygiene.’ he whispered back, returning to his arm-licking.

My eyebrows creased in disgust, I hissed, ‘That’s not how you’re meant to get clean!’

‘Vhy is ze boy licking himself?’ another voice put in; Rosalie’s.

‘He thinks he’s still a cat.’

‘Still a cat?’ repeated Axel’s voice.

‘Is everyone here awake?’ Reo asked.

Baby Kai gave a small ‘OoOoo’ to confirm. Rosalie lit the latern and explained, ‘It ist hard to sleep vhen ve know zere is a var coming.’

‘It is.’ agreed Axel.

‘Well... we’re not going anywhere, wanna hear some more stuff about the future?’ I suggested.

‘Yah!’ replied Axel.