She took me back to the house and I never expected them to have this nice of a home. It smelled of freshly baked cookies and the all too famous German dish, schnitzel. She helped me take my belongings up to the bedroom. "This is the only bedroom available here. It was his and it still hurts whenever I have to come up here. I'll leave you for a second. The bathroom is just down the hall a few feet." She turned the corner, walked down the steps, and disappeared.
I sat my flight jacket on the brown bed sheets. I looked around for a moment. It smelled like a sweet smelling citrus air freshener. My eyes caught the night stand next to the bed then they traveled over to the closet. My fingers painfully opened the closet as my lungs took a deep breath. I saw a neatly lined up row of Nick's shirts. There was a perfect stack of folded pants in the corner. When I opened the doors all the way I found a box of matched up socks and another box of flight gear. I heard a knock on the door. When I opened it I was met with his mother. "Marion, I have dinner for you in about 30 minutes. You are welcome to take a shower."
I decided to take her advice because maybe it would help heal my wounds. I locked and shut the door to the bathroom. The hot water stung my skin, but began to relax my headache. I hurried and washed my hair and then retrieved the towel off the back of the toilet. I washed my face with the soap that smelled like lilacs and burnt vanilla. The hot water relaxed my body as I stood there for a minute. I sorrowfully turned off the faucet as I got the towel. I dried off and wrapped the towel around me. I realized I forgot my clothes. I just wrapped the towel and walked back into the room. I pulled out a pair of sweatpants that I brought along with my undergarments. I wanted to wear one of the shirts that I had packed, but I decided to shuffle through Nick's closet. I found a dark blue t-shirt. I walked back into the bathroom. I put the clothes on and I retrieved a comb out of the drawer. It was funny because the comb was red with floral designs painted on it. Once I pulled my hair up how I desired I finally put all my stuff in my small purse. The shirt was a little bit big on me, but it fit perfectly. It smelled good too. My soul felt as if a part of him was hugging me. I looked at myself in the mirror and could have sworn I saw his sweet smile. My heart crumbled into a million pieces.
My heavy feet walked back into the room as I wiped my tears away. I was drawn to the nightstand again. I opened the top drawer and found nothing. As my hand continued down to the bottom drawer I found something. It was a letter, but just about when I was going to open I heard my name called. I put it in my purse and walked downstairs. "Oh hi honey. You are... you're wearing Nick's shirt." She seemed quite surprised. "Yeah... do you not..." I said, but then she interrupted me, "it's alright Marion. I made some schnitzel. It's classic German food." She smiled and signaled for me to sit down.
"Ich liebe das Schnitzel, danke." I bit into the schnitzel and tasted the best meal I've had in years. "Oh my gosh, it's so good. I don't even know how I'm going to repay you for all this." I said. My eyes wandered down the perfectly set table for three. Only her husband was dead and I'm here replacing Nick, her son. "You don't have to repay me. You just keep me company for the next few days and I'll get the rest."
My mind still wasn't clear from earlier, but I tried my hardest not to think about him. "Thank you, this is greatly appreciated." The breading on the schnitzel was crunchy and sheer perfection. After our fairly lengthy conversation that got us nowhere I finally finished eating the food. I helped her do the dishes and put things away. I was able to cancel the hotel reservation. She was letting me stay here for free. After all was said and done I went back up to the room and I shut the door.
I picked up the guitar that was lying by the nightstand. I played a few riffs that I know. A knock on the door scared me. "Oh hey!" I exclaimed. "Am I bothering you Mrs. Schneider?" I asked politely. She ruffled her eyebrows. "Oh no, I just wanted to say goodnight. I heard you playing and you play so well. He loved that guitar and he also loved playing that song too. That's why I made him stay upstairs, so we wouldn't hear him picking around." She smiled as I held the guitar in the playing position. "Thank you. I learned a few songs here and there."
After our short five minute conversation she shut the door and left. I put the guitar down when I suddenly remembered that piece of paper. I continued to fumble through the night stand. I found three more folded pieces of paper. I began with the first one. My fingers slowly pried the envelope open. The handwriting was clean and crisp. The entire place was silent. I could hear a pin drop. I quickly turned my head when I heard something fall into one of the drawers. I reached in and picked up a bottle of German cologne. I opened the cap and sprayed a little on my hand. I remember Nick vaguely smelling like it. It smelled really good. It was almost like a sweet smell that tingled the nose. I set that aside and crawled up into the bed and shut the light off. There was a small amount of light reflecting from the street light down below. I was able to read the letters.
The first one meant nothing to me at least. However when I got to the third one my world literally almost fell apart. I pulled the covers over my arms as I sobbed and sobbed. The war has killed a lot more people than it was expected. In the letter it stated that it was not a plane crash that killed Nick, but the government. Not just any government, but the US government. Who could do that to my pilot?. As my eyes tearfully read the rest I found a signature at the bottom. The signature was from the highest ranking military official in America. I thought the war was over, but after reading that I guess not. That's not even what the press said, but I guess people lie.