A Love Story with a Prisoner of War - 21. Grenade

It has been two hectic months for me. I am utterly sorry for not being able to update the story, please forgive me. I am pretty free now as semester break has just begun. I will try to end this story by mid-January, so frequent update is on the horizon. I hope you will not give up reading this story, it really means the world to me=)

Recap:
The romance between Xavier (the Canadian farm boy) and Axel (the Nazi prisoner of war) blossomed in a time when homosexuality was nothing but a taboo. Caught with their pants down, the lovebirds were banished from their house by Xav’s religious mum. After a strenuous trek through the deathly cold, they arrived at their neighbor’s (the Williams) farmhouse where another German prisoner of war, Otto, was living. Knowing the cold outside was lethal, the Williams, who didn’t have the slightest clue about their love, let the two young men stay. Now, Axel and Xavier lived with Otto. But unfortunately, Otto, like Xavier, was mesmerized by Axel’s awe-inspiring handsomeness. The devilish Otto threatened to tell the Williams about their secret unless Axel did exactly what Otto wanted. Just now, Otto made breakfast for Axel and demanded Axel to savor it in front of Xavier. So… what would Xavier and Axel do in face of that devil?

Story:

Late-December, 1941
Otto exited the room with a triumphant grin, leaving me dumbstruck at the spot. Rage consumed me. My hatred for Otto was blazing like an inferno. I wanted to tear his limb from limb, slit open his throat, tie him up and set him on fire. Despite my burning disgust for Otto, I was far from being capable of foiling his sordid crime. The Williams didn’t know Axel and I were in love, but Otto did. If he spilled the beans, Axel and I would be doomed - the Williams would for sure get rid of us and we would have nowhere to go and ultimately, rot in the Siberian cold. What Otto said to the Williams would seal our fates, so following his order was perhaps our only option.

God, could you be nicer to me? – A helplessly religious mum and now a devious Otto, do you hate me that much? - I thought.

Seeing Axel being bossed around made me loathe Otto, but at the same time, I just couldn’t help feeling irked by Axel’s willingness to cooperate. I knew Axel was being controlled by Otto like a puppet – but Axel, though appeared to be reluctant, followed Otto’s order without any confrontation. I knew it was not the right time to feel jealous, but I could feel ‘a balloon of jealousy’ inflating within me, ready to burst at any passing second.

‘Why didn’t you say no to Otto?’ I blurted, in a slightly exasperated tone. But once the words left my mouth, I regretted it.

‘Oh Xavier! I have no choice!’ Axel replied, clearly agitated by my question.

As I paused to allow his words to sink in, tears blurred my vision. The unpalatable events – mum banishing us and Otto stealing a kiss from Axel – replayed in my head. The thoughts brought me a mixed feeling of despondency, gloominess and bitterness which ran through my body, from head to toes, battering my soul. The gut-wrenching emotion was overwhelming and it hurt so bad that I almost wished Axel and I had never met.

Seeing my cascading tears, Axel, who was standing a few feet away, walked towards me. He wrapped me in his strong arms like he did every time.

‘All will be ok.’ Axel whispered softly in my ear, patting my back consolingly. Again, his warmth, his voice, and his love turned everything into dust and they were like morphine, making me numb to the heartache, but simultaneously, aggravating my addiction to him.

‘We are in this together.’ Axel whispered again, hugging me tight.

After minutes of hanging on to each other, my stirred soul finally calmed down like a falling leave has at last peacefully landed on the ground.

I looked up, gazed into Axel’s watery eyes and I sensed sorrow and hurt.

It must have been an unbearably hard time for Axel – I thought – countless miles away from home, banished by my mum, torn between following Otto’s demand and caring my feeling. Axel had actually suffered much more than I had – after all I was less than a mile away from home. And what amazed me the most was that despite all these hardships, Axel had never grumbled a bit. All along, he had supported me, comforted me and loved me.

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to blame you for doing what Otto told you to. I love you, Axel. I love you’ I said, feeling lost in his mesmerizingly blue eyes.

‘I love you too.’ Axel replied, voice trembling, holding me tighter.

‘We need to do something to stop Otto from taking advantage of you. We can’t let this go on. One day, he will ask you to make love to him.’ I said, fury welling up in my chest at the mention of the bastard’s name.

‘What we do?’ Axel asked, face lit up a bit at the prospect.

Unwillingly, I pulled partially away from Axel.

After long moments of calculation and deep thought, my face uncontrollably creased into an evil smile.

*     *     *

Dinner was an awkward affair at the Williams – everyone just sat stolid, eating up their portion. Honestly, I missed dining with mum and Jake. We used to chat about everything and nothing, from farm work to schoolwork, from astronomy to geography. I missed the times when dinner was something that I would look forward to. But deplorably, I couldn’t see dining with mum and Jake would ever happen again.

It was our third dinner with the Williams and Otto. Axe, sitting next to me, looked sickly pale and apparently subdued. No one paid much attention to Axel at first which made me worry about the workability of my plan. Half way through the dinner, Andy William suddenly brought up the matter that I had been waiting for.

‘Is Axel alright? He looked so sick and down.’ Andy said.

Bingo – I thought.

I put down the eating implements in my hands and stood up, drawing everyone’s attention. Then, I inhaled deeply as my mind quickly ran through the script that I had written in my brain.

‘Axel.’ I said slowly, sadness and calmness in my voice. ‘I… can’t hide it anymore.’

‘Xavier, no!’ Axel murmured promptly, as scripted.

‘I can’t do this. We need to stop your suffering.’ I announced, eyes glowering at Otto, who stared at me puzzlingly, blissfully unaware of the grenade that I had prepared for him.

‘What happened?’ Stephen said, concern in his voice.

‘We will be leaving tomorrow. We can’t stay here any longer. Axel and I would rather die in the cold than living here.’ I said slowly and loudly, making sure everyone got the message loud and clear.

My statement, especially the last line, came as a bombshell to the Williams. Shock and bafflement were written all over the faces of the slightly offended Williams.

‘Why? What happened?’ Andy said uneasily.

‘I can’t believe I am saying this.’ I took a deep breath, eyes locked at the now scared Otto. Then I continued, ‘Otto molested Axel! Not only once but twice.’

Hearing me, Axel broke down and wept silently as planned in his seat. His cry was so real and sincere that I couldn’t help praising Axel’s marvelous acting skill in my heart.

My statement shook everyone up, and the Williams turned to look at Otto in utter disbelief.

‘No… No… No…’ Otto cried. Unable to see that coming, Otto struggled to defend himself. However, as I had anticipated, he couldn’t do so due to his lack of competency in English. If he could defend himself in German, my plan might have fallen apart.

Not giving Otto a chance to ruin my plan, I convincingly and confidently went on to describe the dirty deeds that Otto did.

‘Otto kissed Axel on the lips and grabbed his private.’ I said loudly even the latter was not true. ‘He found Axel too handsome to resist.’

Horrified, Otto kept on shouting ‘no, no, no’ but failed to contradict me with plausible details due to the language barrier. However, even if he were fluent in English, I was certain that the Williams would stand by my side instead of Otto’s, for they had known me as ‘a good kid’ since I was born.
‘Axel succumbed to his felony because Otto threatened that he would tell you guys the reason why Axel and I got banished from my home. I can’t let Axel suffer this kind of molestation. I would rather die in the cold instead of seeing him suffer. Otto is a devil!’ I shouted at the top of my lungs.

‘They are in love.’ Otto blurted, face as red as an apple.

‘Stop talking drivel, you are a devil inside out, always making up excuses for your crimes.’

Everyone at the table was badly shaken. Andy and Stephen’s wives were clearly astounded and judging by the two men’s reddening faces, they were hot under the collar.

‘Otto! OUT!’ Andy roared. ‘You dirty bastard get OUT of my house!’

I correctly assumed Otto would be punished, but I didn’t want him to get banished from the house. Doing so would take his life for it was way below the freezing point outside.

Knowing that was a matter of life and death, I tried to soothe the infuriated Andy, ‘Um… Otto would die in the cold… um… remember when we received the prisoner of war… um… the officer said due to an international treaty, we…we cannot torture or hurt them… um… maybe… let him… let him stay in the barn? He would die in the cold. I think Axel can forgive him, right Axel?’

Axel, who probably couldn’t understand what I was saying, nodded in response to my eye signal.

Thankfully, my reminder to Andy served its purpose and Stephen concurred that banishment was unacceptably inhumane and would cause unnecessary trouble.

‘Otto, go back to your room now. We will deal with you tomorrow’ Stephen ordered.

Hearing the order, the now doomed Otto fled away like scared prey running away from its predator. Before disappearing into the hallway, he shot me an angry glance, which was at once rewarded with a victorious grin from me.

Rot in hell, Otto! Don’t you dare come close to my Axel again – I thought.

‘Axel, I’m sorry Otto did such things to you.’ Andy’s wife said, patting him softly on his shoulder.

‘I ok.’ Axel replied, sadness clearly audible.

‘Xavier, I am sorry about what happened to Axel. I can’t believe what Otto had done because Otto had always been a good helper to our family. But anyway, I think you really have to tell us why your mum threw you two out. We need to know. We can speak to her, if necessary.’ Andy said, asking a question that I didn’t want to answer.

Minutes of silence passed.

‘Um.., Axel and I had a quarrel with mum, a really big one.’ I lied calmly. ‘My mum accused Axel of stealing which Axel never did. I defended Axel and mum got really mad at us. Mum had always thought these Nazi soldiers are untrustworthy aliens but I know Axel very well and he is the nicest person I have ever known. Mum’s claim is ridiculous.’

‘Oh…’ Andy mumbled, thinking for a moment. ‘Why didn’t you tell me at first? It’s just a trivial matter! I had been worried for days, thinking why you two got kicked out. I almost wanted to go to your place and ask your mum but the weather forbids it.’

‘I just didn’t feel like telling you until now.’ I lied again, couldn't help feeling how lame my excuse was.

‘I guess your mum will let you go home very soon. She loves you.’ Andy said.

‘Um… I really don’t know. Jake came by yesterday and said mum was still mad at us. I don’t think she will forgive us anytime soon because we had a really big fight. If she doesn’t take back what she said, I will never go home. I am on Axel’s side.’ I said, hoping Andy would drop the issue. I knew this lie wouldn’t last long, but at least it could give us more time to stay at the Williams.

‘Ok, son. Stay till your mum wants you back. As for Otto, I apologize for what he did. We will probably ask for a new prisoner of war instead of having that perv in my house. I hope Axel is okay.’ Stephen interrupted.

‘He is ok.’ I replied. ‘Axel cried for hours last night but he will be ok. I will take good care of him.’ After a deep breath, I continued. ‘Mr. and Mrs. William, thank you for letting us stay. We are more than grateful to you all.’

*     *     *

Mission completed, with howling success – Otto would never threaten us again, for he would be brought back to the PoW camp as soon as the weather allowed.

The next day, I strode towards Otto, exuding pride and confidence. When he saw me, he scowled at me as if I had killed his parents.

I made sure no one could hear me and I said softly to the devil, ‘Never mess around with my Axel. He is mine.’