In the Shadow of His Wings

Chapter 28

You woke up to some first rays of sunlight already shining in your face. This was unusual since you usually got up when it was still dark outside. How late is it?

When you turned around to wish Josef a good morning, you found that he was gone. Instead there was a note lying on his side of the bed:

Liebes,

I have decided to let you sleep a little longer and already went to work. Get up whenever you'd like, then put on your doctor's coat and come outside. You can find me in the medical block.

Kisses,

Josef

Oh. You glanced at his alarm clock and it was already 8 AM. Today was Friday, the 19th of January, 1945. Day 3 in the second hell.

You decided to get up immediately since you were not used to getting up so late anymore. Following his instructions, you went to the bathroom to get ready and dressed, then slipped on one of his white coats.

After that, it was time to join Josef. Although you had to admit, you were a little scared for what he wanted to do today... Would you have to see blood again? Maybe even people dying? Suffering pain, being tortured? Why am I even doing this?

You took a deep breath, then went out the door into the hall. As you made your way to the stairs, however, one of the doors on the left side opened and a uniformed SS man stepped out. Oh no. You hated interactions with them, they always acted so... creepy. Nod, say good morning, then go on quickly...

As you came closer, the man noticed you. "Oh, guten Morgen, Fräulein..." he greeted you, quickly locking his door and then stopping you.

Confused, you came to a halt in front of him. Something told you that you wouldn't get out of this that easily. He was trying to start a conversation with you. Great...

"G-Guten Morgen, Herr... w-what's your name?" you stammered out. God, how embarrassing!

"Thilo, Heinz Thilo. Hauptsturmführer. I work as a camp doctor here."

I see. You scanned Thilo's looks. He was just as impeccably dressed as Josef, whom he shared his SS rank and probably also his age with. He looked like he was around 30, a visor cap with the familiar skull symbol sat on his head. Two dark eyes looked down at you.

"And you... you seem to be a doctor too, are you? Judging from your coat... I have never seen you before, are you new here?"

Good... he seems to be nice. "Well... yes, I'm the assistant of Doctor Mengele. We just came here from Auschwitz," you explained.

He raised his brows. "Ah! Right, Auschwitz was liberated a couple of days ago... I used to work there too and I know Mengele. So you're his... assistant, hm?"

There was a strange undertone in his voice as he said that last sentence. You gulped. "J-Ja..."

He suddenly put his hand on your shoulder and slowly let it wander up to your face. You widened your eyes in shock and went completely stiff. What the hell is he doing!?

"So young... and tender... tell me, what's your name?"

"...(Y/N)," you brought out, still unable to move.

"(Y/N)... what a pretty name... just as pretty as you, Liebe."

Liebe. Only Josef is allowed to call me that! Not you...

He suddenly took a step towards you, closing the gap between you almost completely. Too close... Your heart started to beat faster, this man gave you the creeps.

He ran his thumb over your cheek, just like Josef had done it in that first night... But the difference was, when Josef did it, you liked it. You didn't like it when some stranger did that. It made you uncomfortable. Really uncomfortable.

"No need to be so scared, Liebe..." Thilo said in a calm voice. Liebe. Again. Don't call me that. "I'm sure we will have a lot of fun together..."

Alarm bells started ringing in your head. I have to get out of this. Right now.

"I... I... I have to go," you stuttered, then turned away to walk past him. Surprisingly, he allowed you to go without trying to stop you. You approached the stairs with fast steps, still traumatized by the experience you had just made.

You had encountered a new enemy. Thilo had clearly made sexual innuendos. What if I won't be able to escape him so easily one day and he'll... abuse me? Should I tell Josef about it?

No... you just felt too ashamed. This whole situation had been so embarrassing to you. So you decided to just... push it to the back of your mind and move on.

~

You entered the medical block and went into the room where you had found Josef the last time. And he was there again, currently wiping off one of the two exam tables. There were bloodstains on both of them. It didn't shock or surprise you anymore, but still, it was an unpleasant sight.

"Josef?" you said quietly.

But he still heard it. He turned around and smiled as he spotted you standing in the doorframe. "Ah! (Y/N), there you are! Guten Morgen!"

He put his cloth down and took off his rubber gloves, then strode over to you. Your heart jumped at the sight of him, he looked so elegant, as always... His lab coat was blowing around his legs as he walked with his shiny boots, matching his perfectly slicked back hair... A beauty of a man. And he was all yours. Sometimes you still couldn't believe that he wanted you, and no one else...

He weaved his fingers into your hair, still smiling with his sweet tooth gap. "Sorry that I just vanished this morning, but I decided to give you some rest after that panic attack last night. You deserved it."

You gave him a sad smile. You still couldn't stop thinking about that encounter with Thilo, no matter how hard you tried.

He furrowed his brows. "Is everything okay? You seem kind of... downcast."

For a moment, you contemplated telling him what happened. But you gave up the idea. "I'm okay, Josef... it's just, I'm really tired."

"Oh. I get that. Come here."

He cupped your face with both of his hands and leaned in to kiss you. You gladly kissed him back, it felt good to finally be with the person you felt the safest with again.

After the kiss he told you: "You see, I thought maybe you could stay with me for a while today? You could assist me a little with my coming patients. First, we need to clean up in here... I was too lazy to do it yesterday, and since I don't have any other assistants yet... well, yeah. Would you mind helping me with the tables?"

"No, I... I don't. Of course, I would love to stay with you!"

He smiled again. "That's my girl. Grab a wet cloth from the sink and wipe the other table."

You did as you were told. You went to the sink, made one of the cloths wet and went to the left exam table. It really looked like a murder scene, it was covered in bright red blood stains all over. Since it was from yesterday, the blood had dried already. God, why did he do in here? Good thing he sent me away, I wouldn't have wanted to see that.

While wiping the blood away and trying not to think too much about whose it was, you dared to ask: "Who... who is the next patient, if I may ask?"

That weird grin appeared on his face again. "Oh, those beautiful twins you selected for me there. Hungarian Jews, only 3 years old and with the best attributes: Blond hair, blue eyes..."

Oh no! You knew what twins he was talking about. Those girls were really lovely and it had taken you a lot to take them with you for his experiments. Please don't hurt them, you hoped. But you already knew that it was probably useless.