In the Shadow of His Wings

Chapter 12

Warm.

The first word to come to mind as you woke up. You were wrapped in a snug warmth, which was odd to you since you had only slept on a hard mattress with no blanket in the deepest winter for the last couple of weeks.

You opened your eyes and noticed that you were actually lying in a comfortable bed, with a pillow under your head and a blanket on you. You felt a slight stabbing pain in your stomach, but that was nothing compared to yesterday. The only sound you could hear was distant snoring. It was dark around you, but you could make out the outline of someone lying in a similar bed not far from you. This must be the infirmary, you thought.

You lifted the blanket to see what you were wearing, and it turned out to be a new striped suit. You wondered who had dressed you in it – and how. In your sleep? Had you really been so tired that you slept like a stone? It was kind of funny to think of someone – Mengele? – struggling to put the suit on you while you were totally senseless.

It seemed to be still pretty early in the morning, and since you didn't think they would send you to work now, you decided to just go back to sleep.

~

"Liebes?"

A soft, familiar voice caused you to blink. The first thing you saw was a white coat with a black tie. No uniform today? Interesting.

You looked up to be greeted with a sweet gap-toothed smile and beautiful brown-green eyes. One of his hands laid on your shoulder, he was sitting on a chair next to your bed. The hall behind him was now dipped in the orange light of the rising sun, you saw that it was some kind of horse stable-like barrack with many beds in rows.

But there was one thing that astonished you: You realized that your vision on your sore eye had cleared a little. You could actually focus again. Does that have something to do with the drops he gave me the day before yesterday?, you asked yourself.

"Guten Morgen," he whispered to you. You gave him a tired smile back.

"You are in the infirmary now. I'm in charge here, so I'll never be far away. I will check on you as often as I can, and we'll see if you have recovered after... two weeks."

What if not?

He leaned back in the chair and you saw that he held a notebook in his hand. "Anyway, I'm here because I need some information from you," he said, grabbing a pen.

"First, your number is... 90543, right?"

You looked at your left underarm and confirmed. That was the number they had actually wanted you to memorize, because that's all you were in this place. One number amongst many. The reason that you still didn't know it by heart completely was that Mengele cared about your real name. He was the only one here that did – along with Esther and some other friends you had made.

"Alright... then I need your last name?"

You told him your last name and he wrote it down.

"Date of birth?"

"(B/D), 1926."

He raised his brows while writing it down. "That makes you... 18?"

"Yes."

"And... where were you born?"

"In Rosenheim."

He looked at you with a surprised expression. "You are from Bavaria?"

You nodded. A smile appeared on his face again. "That's... great! I grew up there too."

I knew it, you thought happily. That rolling R. And your last name sounds Bavarian.

He grabbed a cup from the table next to you and took a sip from it. Then he looked at you. "Do you want some? It's coffee."

"Oh... yes, thanks," you replied, a little taken aback. He's actually sharing his coffee with me?

He handed the cup to you. You sat up on the bed and took it, it was nice and warm. Just the right temperature – not too hot so you would burn your tongue.

You brought the cup to your lips and took a deep sip of the coffee. Now this was a real treat. You actually didn't like black coffee so much, but it was coffee. Finally something else for breakfast than that disgusting brown sludge. You closed your eyes in delight, it was so good to have something warm to drink in this cold wintertime.

"Danke," you said as you gave him the cup back. He smiled quickly before putting it back on the table.

"Today is the... 23rd of December, 1944... and you arrived here on the 3rd. That's it," Mengele said, writing the date down before closing his notebook.

What? It's Christmas tomorrow? Your eyes widened.

As if he could read your mind, he smiled and said: "Ja, morgen ist Weihnachten."

You wondered if he would actually get you something. But, no, that was probably too much to ask. Happy things like Christmas celebrations didn't take place here. Besides, having him with you was the best present you could've hoped for anyway.

"How do you feel?" Mengele asked, stroking your hair gently.

"Well... it still hurts, but I think I can take it," you answered.

He smiled. "And your eye? It looks... better."

"I... I can see a bit better too. It's... not that blurry anymore."

His smile got even wider. "That's... awesome! I'm sure you will soon be a strong worker again."

On one hand, you hoped so. But on the other hand, you didn't. You already liked this – just being able to lie in bed, with no responsibilities, no one around who could hurt you. Just your doctor.

"Alright, Liebes, I have to attend to my duties now... But I will make sure to check on you regularly. And in case you get hungry... take this."

He put his hand in the pocket of his coat and searched through it. There was a rustling sound, he seemed to have a lot of stuff in there. He pulled out... a puffed rice chocolate bar!

Puffed rice. Oh my God.

You took it gladly and said thank you. He gave you a kiss on the forehead before standing up and proceeding to check on the other patients. You watched him talking to each of them for a while and taking notes.

After he was done, you saw that he had picked out three patients, who were then taken away. Your heart stopped when you realized that they were probably being gassed. Is that my fate if I don't recover within two weeks?