Come Back To Us - 31. Chapter 31

He knew something was up.

The commotion in the room surprised him as it was usually so calm. Except for maybe that time when he had first arrived…

“They can’t do that!”

“They won’t change their minds anyway. So there’s nothing we can do about it.”

These were the two sentences that caught his attention. But why should they know something he didn’t? Were the people there trying to hide something from him?

“What’s up?”

He spoke so low that his voice couldn’t be heard. The men weren’t aware of his presence, not that he could blame them for not noticing him. He tried to clear his throat but it didn’t work either…

“Guys,” he raised his voice, but it still wasn’t enough…

He sighed. He had to try differently if he wanted to be heard. What could work better than that? Erm…He soon found out.

“Hey!”

This was the first time he had been shouting to get someone’s attention. And it worked beyond his expectations. But now isn’t the time to congratulate himself.

“What’s up?” He asked, his tone dead serious and his gaze hard.

The men all stared at him as if someone had just died, but…it couldn’t be that, right?

They exchanged glances between them, and they were definitely looking like parents who were looking for the right way to announce some bad news.

“The English have decided to bomb Copenhagen,” one of the men answered solemnly, showing no emotion in his eyes.

“Since Denmark was annexed by the Nazis, they find it strategic to bomb one of their most important locations to weaken them. They have already done that with Paris and other French cities.”

Karl froze in his spot as a shiver ran down his spine. He couldn’t have heard well, right…? He needed some time to take in the sudden piece of news. But…but…They couldn’t do that…

A feeling of uncontrollable anger was slowly rising in him as the seconds passed. How could they dare? Attack their country? It wasn’t the people’s fault if Denmark had fallen to the hands of foreign invaders. Why didn’t they bomb Germany and its capital instead?

“But they can’t do that!”

The men kept quiet for a few moments.

“I’m afraid they can,” the second to explain the situation spoke again.

“It has been decided with the Americans’ support,” another one chimed in.

He couldn’t believe it. His fist and jaw both clenched. There was no way he could let that happen. No matter what it would take to prevent it.

“When is the attack to happen?”

None of the men replied and he could only snap at them.

“When is it planned?!”

“On the 25th of February, at the break of dawn. This will be on a Wednesday.”

In one week only… they wasted no time to act. They must have been planning this for a while already…

“I won’t let them.”

“Don’t. Your attempt to talk them out of it will be pointless”, the same man as earlier spoke for the third time. He had the appearance of a real leader.

“And so what? Do we just let them destroy our country without saying a word? Have they planned to have some of us do it while they’re at it?!”

None of the men scolded him for his angry and bold behaviour.

“None of us approved of it, but it comes from High Command. And we can’t speak up against them, let alone disobey their orders. That’s just how it is, and we have to deal with it even if we don’t like it.”

“I don’t care about that. Aren’t we supposed to fight for what we think is right? What if it was England that they had to bomb? It’s easy to give orders and let innocent people die! Everyone can do it!”

“Carl. Please, calm down. You don’t want to get into trouble, do you? Besides, this is not a behaviour to adopt for a soldier. You will never become a pilot if you keep acting in such a way.”

“Don’t worry about me. You will be all out of trouble at least.”

Maybe he wasn’t made to become a pilot after all. But as long as he was alive, he could never let anyone harm his country and its people.

He turned on his heels to go and see Arthur.

“Don’t let him go! Hold him back! Quick!”

Next thing he knew, he was struggling against a bunch of his countrymen, and he felt it would be near impossible to escape them…

If Jørgen had been there, he would have known what to do…

He sighed through his nose. Using force would definitely not be a good strategy. He had to use his brain if he wanted to get himself out of that mess. He could find a way. He wasn’t stupid. He just had to think about it for a few moments.

“Most of you come from Copenhagen, right?” He paused, waiting for their reaction, but they all just kept quiet, some with distress readable in their eyes. “Will you be able to keep living with the remorse of not even trying to have done anything to prevent that if your families were to get killed? Because I won’t.”

Yes, he had his brother and sister leaving there with their families, and he couldn’t imagine the thought of them being hurt, let alone dying like he could have died.

The long room was filled with the most utter silence. But despite that, he could hear the desperate moans of the men and feel the way their hearts were breaking at the thought.
He glanced at the man whom he considered as the leader when Kristian wasn’t there, Elias, that was his name if he remembered well. He could mix it up with someone else’s.

Nothing happened for a while.

“Let him go. Release him.”

The men holding him did as told and he turned back around to face the man.

“Do what you can. But don’t insist if the outcome isn’t in your favour. We will have your back on this. Unity is key.”

Karl thanked him with a sad smile and without wasting any more time, he went to look for Arthur or Edgar. He wondered for an instant where Kristian was and what he could be doing. Maybe he was already trying to negotiate with the Marshal and Arthur and other men from High Command.

He spent a long time searching, but it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. He looked in every room possible, but without much result…

But as he was about to give up, he ran into him by chance, in one of the long corridors.

“You have to cancel the bombing you have planned on København.”

Arthur gave him the look which he didn’t like, but he wasn’t going to stand down.

“First, you could introduce this conversation politely, and second, you have no say in this matter. So just go back to your quarters.”

“Yes, I have. This is our country we are talking about. You just can’t do that! We all have families living there! They will get hurt if you do that!”

Arthur kept staring at him silently, but he didn’t flinch. His gaze was hard just like the man’s.

“Well, it is bad luck that they are staying there. But there is nothing we can do about it. We cannot warn them beforehand; the Boche would suspect something if we did.”

Karl was seething. He had no patience to sort out things with a nice and rational conversation anymore.

“Tør du ikke.”

Don’t you dare.

It seemed that even though Arthur didn’t speak Danish, he could still understand the three little words that left his mouth. The look they exchanged was intense, full of unspoken animosity that made the tension rise in the air.

“I am not the one making the final decision, so if you and your colleagues are not happy about it, just go and see the Air Marshall.”

No, he wouldn’t. He knew this would be pointless. The man would probably kick him out right away for speaking out loud against orders.

“Just think about our families!”

The more he saw how Arthur’s face remained composed and indifferent, the angrier it was making him.

“Hey, what do you think? We’ve got families too. They were bombarded day and night, and despite our counterattacking, we couldn’t prevent the many casualties that followed.”

He was perfectly aware of that, and he felt really sorry about all those families that have been destroyed. But would taking revenge on one of their allies make up for it?

“Denmark is not your enemy.”

“But it’s not free anymore. They can’t do anything against the enemy on their own, and even if they try the smallest action, they will be taken and sent to camps sooner or later. Listen, there will always be collateral damage in a war. There is nothing we can do about it.”

That feeling of powerlessness slowly overwhelming his whole being; he hated it. He curled his fist into a tight ball as his jaw clenched so much it hurt.

At that point, he thought he didn’t care if he did something he shouldn’t.

“Can you live with the blood of many innocent on your hands? Can you live knowing they dined by your fault? Can you really live with that in mind?” His voice was dangerously low at first, but then his anger took the best of him. “Can you?! Say?” He lashed out at the man, but the latter remained impassive and still as a statue. “What if it was your family?! Would you speak the same words?! But thinking about it, imagining that your family had been bombed, it wouldn’t be a great loss, if they are all as cold-hearted as you! No one would cry for them!”

“Karl! Stop!”

He recognised Kristian’s voice shouting at him, but he didn’t care. He wouldn’t listen. Wasn’t in the right disposition to do so.

“You’re despisable.”

“Karl!’

He felt the man’s sudden grip on him but struggled out of it, his eyes never leaving Arthur’s as he did.

Their long-lasting stare was like a silent fight, but the outcome was uncertain.

“We say “despicable”. Now get out of my sight before I send you back to your precious country where you will have the privilege to experience the oncoming bombings.”

“Come on, Karl!” Kristian urged. “Go back to your quarters and let me talk to him. You’ve spoken enough for today!”

Karl didn’t mind going back there and dying if he could save his siblings.

“Come on!”

He felt the anger in Kristian’s voice and grip, but now he was unable to move any longer.

“Karl,” Kristian insisted, but his voice wasn’t shouting any longer. It was just like his, dangerously low, threatening.

He moved reluctantly after a few moments, but at least he did. He went to wait for the man in his room, sitting with his jaw and fist still clenched, the nails of the other hand digging in his palm, and his hard gaze staring at the wall.

He swore that if Kristian couldn’t convince him to cancel the attack, he would go back himself to see him again and spit in his face.

After a long while, he heard the door being opened. His eyes met Kristian’s. He was looking like he was angry at him. But that was alright. He was ready to face the worst. The man ended up sighing and went to take a seat next to him.

“Listen, I know this is a terrible thing that’s going to happen. But…” he paused. “A war is a war. And it is not meant to have happy endings. I am just as horrified and angry as you and all the others, but they are going to end up ditching us all if we keep disagreeing with them for any decision they make.”

Karl just looked down as he couldn’t unclench his jaw. He heard the man sigh again.

“You shouldn’t let your emotions take over you. One day, this might get you killed. We’re not at home anymore.”

Karl didn’t say a thing. He was too upset to speak or to care about anything but his siblings any longer. He couldn’t stand the weight of powerlessness watching him.

“You know… I tried to talk the Air Marshal out of it when this was announced to me. But trying to convince them that their ideas and strategies are bad only makes things worse for us all. All those men in High Command know war, they are stubborn and self-assured about their capacities. So there is absolutely no point in trying to discuss it with them.”

Afterwards, they remained sitting next to each other in the utterest silence. It seemed to last for hours, but that was the best thing Karl could ask for right now since they couldn’t open their mouths to protest.

They eventually heard a knock on the door. Who could it be? Karl wondered.

“Come in.”

It was Edgar. He noticed he had been gone for a while, probably on a mission.

He only took a few steps forwards.

“Hey. I just wanted to inform you both that the attack on Copenhagen has been postponed. That’s the best Arthur could manage to do. He doesn’t want you and all the other Danes to rebel against us, and neither does the Air Marshall. But next time, when it really happens, he won’t be able to postpone it anymore. So brace yourselves for it.”

Karl wasn’t sure he had understood well.

“Post…pone…” he had trouble pronouncing the word. “What does it mean?” He asked Kristian in disbelief. Wait… he replayed the words in his head. He had just said it wouldn’t happen like it was supposed to the following week, but that it would happen sooner or later, right?

“It’s delayed. It won’t happen the following week. But later in time. We don’t know when though.”

So he understood well… But he couldn’t believe it. Why would Arthur do that? After what he had said to him?

“I don’t understand…” he spoke in English this time.

He both glanced at Kristian and Arthur.

“Well, let’s say that you were lucky this time. So rejoice. Next time you do what you did might be the last.”

Karl wondered what could have happened in Arthur’s mind, but it was the worst mystery he could ever face. A sudden thought crossed his mind. Could…Could he really be doing that just for Paul and his parents? Well, he couldn’t find any other sensible explanation.
“Well, I’ll see you later. Good evening. Sir, Carl.”

Edgar quickly left without another word. Karl and Kristian exchanged a look, and before he knew it he smiled at the sight of the man’s own smile.

“Well, if this isn’t good news, I don’t know what is. It’s the best we could hope for in the current context,” Kristian said.

“Yeah,” he could only agree.

“Oh wait, before I forget. There is someone that would like to see you. Let me just take you to them. I think they’ve been waiting for long enough now…”

Karl’s smile faded as he was suddenly intrigued.

“Who?”

But that of the man didn’t.

“You’ll see soon enough.”

They left the room without wasting time and Kristian took him to the entrance of the main building. Karl was stupefied when he saw who was standing there.

“Jørgen…?”

Said youth looked all shy at the sight of him.

“Hi.”

They kept staring at each other for a while until Kristian broke the silence.

“Well, I shall get going. I’ll see you around later,” and with that being said he walked away.

Karl couldn’t believe it. It was too much to take in so short an amount of time…. He decided to break the awkward silence after a while.

“Why have you come back…I mean I would’ve thought that you’d stay there for the rest of the war.”

That was true. Who would have guessed?

“I miss flying Hurricanes. They are much cooler than any other plane,” he sounded confident as he spoke, he noted.

Huh? He had been told that Spitfires were better than Hurricanes to fly…. Wait… he wasn’t teasing him, right?

“But if you want me to go, say so. I’ll go back there right away. They told me they had never seen someone flying a Spitfire so well in ages.

Karl couldn’t help the small giggle that left his lips. He had missed that. Could he really deny it? Well, no…

“No, that’s fine.” Even though he meant it, he was reluctant to say it out loud. He needs to stop talking for a while. “I…I missed your friendship.”

The hint of happiness in Jørgen’s eyes couldn’t go unnoticed as he said that.

“Well, I’m glad to hear it, because I missed yours too. You’re the only best friend that I’ve ever had.”

He couldn’t deny he was glad to hear that as well.

“But…do you know what you want now? Are things clear in your mind?”

“They are like they've never been. We’re friends, and we’ll never be anything more,” he sounded confident again.

Karl smiled.

“Welcome back then.”