Come Back To Us - 10. Chapter 10

“Jules, je te présente Karl.”
Jules, let me introduce you Karl.

The guy was young, he must have been his age. He had brown hair and a light stubble.

“Enchanté. Nice to meet you.”

His accent was funny. It was nothing similar to the English one, and it wasn’t quite like the Danish one, but it was definitely closer to the Danish one.

“Nice to meet you too.”

He noticed how they had trouble making the long ‘E’ as well. This pronunciation didn’t exist in Danish. He was under the impression that it was something typically English.

“Il est arrivé début janvier ici.” He's been here since the beginning of January

Jules nodded.

It was fascinating to see how he seemed to master that unknown and strange language. French didn’t sound as sweet and easy-flowing as English, but there was something melodious ? In it.

He remembered how Mrs. Hopkins had told him once that she’d like to learn to speak French. She had already started, but spoke a few words only, which was already quite honourable. He thought about something. If he asked Jørgen or even Jules to teach him some French, he could help her with it once he could come back to see them again. He smiled at the thought of it.

“Could you teach me ?” He asked Jørgen in Danish. “ Some French. I know I’m already still learning to speak English well, but only a few words, so I can try to talk to him.”

“Qu’est-ce qu’il dit ?”
What has he just said?

Jørgen looked at Karl with a faint feeling of surprise in hi eyes before he turned his attention to the French guy.

“Il dit qu’il veut apprendre un peu le français pour pouvoir parler avec toi.”
He said he wanted to learn to speak some French to be able to speak with you.

“Oh. Mais on peut parler en anglais aussi.”
But we can speak in English too.

Jørgen started to smile.

“Je sais. Mais c’est aussi bien qu’il en apprenne quelques mots.”
I know. But it's just as well if he can learn some words.

The French guy shrugged.

“Comme il veut.”
As he wishes

“Bon. Je vous laisse faire un peu plus connaissance. Je dois y aller. On m’attend.”
Well. I'm going to let you to get to know each other. I've got to go. I'm awaited.

The French guy nodded.

“Ok. A plus.”
See you.

“I’ve got to go,” he told Karl in Danish. “I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah. See you.”

“And yeah, I’ll start teaching you some French words tonight,” he winked at him.

Karl smiled in return.

With that being said, he started walking away from them. They were in a kind of common room that didn’t look that bad. There were shelves full of books in it, just like at the Hopkins’s.

“So…toi aussi tu viens de Copenhague?”

Karl blinked at him as he tried to make out the words in his head.

“Tu…toi…” he pointed his index finger at him. “…Are from Copenhague?”

It reminded him of the first time he had met the Hopkins family. It had happened quite a while earlier already…

He was just trying to ask whether he came from Copenhagen too, like Jørgen. This one wasn’t that hard.

“No. I’m not from København. I’m from Fanø.” He doubted he knew where it was… “an island…and you ?”

“Une île…Je vois… Je ne savais même pas qu’il y avait des îles au Danemark. Moi je viens de Dunkerque. Je faisais partie de l’armée française au moment de la bataille. J’ai réussi à m’introduire sur un navire anglais et à m’échapper. Un vrai miracle. C’était ça ou mourir de toute façon. On était encerclés…On n’avait pas l’ombre d’une chance…On le savait mais on y est quand même allés…” he paused for a moment as Karl was staring at him with puzzled eyes. “J’ai tout laissé derrière moi, ma famille, les seuls quelques amis que j’avais. Tout comme toi et Jørgen en fait. Bon, t’as sûrement rien compris à ce que j’ai dit, mais j’imagine qu’il fallait que ça sorte…”
An island..I see...I didn't even know that there were islands in Denmark. As for me, I come from Dunkirk. I was a part of the French army during the 1940 battle. I managed to get onto a British ship to escape. A real miracle. It was either this or dying anyway. We were surrounded...We didn't have the slightest chance. We knew it but we still went there... I've left everything behind, my family, the only few friends I had back there. Just like you and Jørgen actually. Well, you probably didn't understand a single word of what I've been saying, but I guess it needed to come out...

He could sense it in his body language and the way he spoke, that same feeling of anxiety and sadness. But there was something more. His eyes held traces of things he hadn’t seen yet, They looked just like Mr. Hopkins’s ones.

“Et sinon, tu as des frères et sœurs ?”
Otherwise, have you got any siblings?

Karl kept gazing at him with that deep stare and his mouth slightly opened.

“Brothers and sisters?”

It took a little while for the words to reach his brain.

“Two. One brother and one sister.”

Jules nodded.

“And you ?”

“Une petite sœur et une grande. A little sister and a big one. Elle est mariée. Married. Mais j’aime quand même pas les savoir là-bas avec ces putain de boches dans les environs. On sait très bien comment ils sont.” But I don't like the thought of them staying there with these bloody Boches around. We all know very well how they are.

He looked like he could hurt someone. He saw how he was fidgeting his hands not nervously, but like he wanted to strangle someone with them.

The unpleasant feeling in his stomach started appearing again. What was it you called it when you could understand the feelings that others get when they were going through the same thing as you ?

He couldn’t put a name on it.

“You can’t have news of them either…”

Jules looked up to meet his gaze as his fidgeting slowed down.

Blue into blue.

“Non…Je donnerais n’importe quoi seulement pour savoir qu’elles vont bien, et mes parents aussi. My parents. You know, know if they’re good.”

Karl nodded.

“I know.”

Their looks said it all. They didn’t need more words.

“J’aimerais essayer de revenir sous une fausse identité. Et intégrer un réseau de la Résistance. J’ai l’impression d’être inutile ici. Et puis franchement piloter un avion, ça a jamais été mon truc.”
I'd like to try and come back with a fake ID and join one of the networks of the Résistance. I feel like I'm being useless here. Besides, honestly, flying a plane has never been a thing for me.

Language wasn’t that much of a barrier actually. Even if he couldn’t understand a word of what he was saying, he knew how desperate he was to find a way to go back home. You only needed something in common that created a connection strong enough to understand each other.

“S’il leur arrivait quoi que ce soit, je ne me le pardonnerais jamais.”
if anything were to happen to them, I'd never forgive myself for it.

It was too much. Too much pain and sorrow. The aching feeling in his guts didn’t die down, it only intensified as he could hear that feeling of vulnerability in his voice.

People with so much ache in their hearts. They were everywhere. It was overwhelming.

“Sorry. I should go now. You have enough with your family. À la revoyure.”

He left the room without wasting any time, leaving Karl alone thinking about his own family and his own pain.

But he shouldn’t think too much about it. As long as he was far away from them and couldn’t do anything for them, there was no point in it. At least they weren’t danger with the bombings.

He looked around the room. It was almost empty, but a certain person suddenly caught his attention.

There he was. Paul’s friend. He was sitting at a table playing chess. Maybe he had already played with Mr. Hopkins. He was curious, although he shouldn’t be. He made his way towards the man swiftly. Once he was standing across from him, he examined the chessboard thoroughly. He tried to think of a good move that he could with one of the black pawns which seemed to be just waiting for him.

He didn’t even see he was there since he was too focused on the game to pay attention to what was happening around him.

After reflecting for a while about the best strategy he could find, he made his move. Paul’s friend had the same thing in mind, but Karl was faster than he was. The man finally looked up to meet his gaze. His was hard and cold, but Karl wasn’t impressed, let alone afraid. It must have been so because of his heritage.

His lingering stare told him he shouldn’t have done what he had just done but he couldn’t even say he regretted it. He didn’t want to apologise.

“You’ve just enabled the Nazis to shoot down some more of our men. That’s quite a bad start for you here. ‘Got me wondering which side you’re on.”

The Nazis… Wait…he was picturing a real battle on a chessboard ?

“I didn’t know. You can’t blame me for it.”

“Then don’t touch what you don’t know. If you want to survive this war.”

Karl’s jaw clenched as Paul’s friend looked down again.

“Did the Hopkins ask you to convince me to go back to them?

He acted as though he didn’t hear what he had just said. He moved one of his own pawns after a while.

“They don’t need to. You just don’t belong here, and you should realise it before it gets too late.”

Such animosity from someone he thought would be just like Paul. Was it because he wasn’t like him?

“I know you don’t like me. But that will not stop me to try to get to know you.”

Paul’s friend looked up again. His emotionless eyes observed him for another while. They were enough to fill the room with an awkward tension that no words could ever be enough to describe.

“You are only doing that because Paul told you so.”

“No. He never did. I’m just curious.”

“Curiosity is one of the worst flaws you can find. Just mind your own business. I don’t want to get to know you. I don’t need a friend.”
After taking the time to observe people thoroughly, even those he only saw for a few instants, he had got much better at figuring them out. Never had he thought that human essence could be so interesting yet so complex.

“Are you afraid? Or is just because you don’t like people?”

“I’m not afraid. I haven’t got any fears. I am simply used to being solitary. And I like it that way. I don’t want anything to be changed.” He wasn’t looking at him as he spoke. “Now, just go away.”

He liked having no friends, right ? Was it what he was saying ?

“What about Paul? Is he not your friend? Do you not like to spend time with him?”

He kept ignoring him as he played one more move after a short while.

“We used to be friends. But we’ve lost touch with each other since he started going out with that girl.”

“That girl…?”

Could he be speaking of Emma…?

“Yes. That girl. You’ve probably met her already.”

“Emma…?”

He glanced up without a word.

“They haven’t got married yet, have they?”

Married meant having a ring on your finger.

“No.”

“Well, being married means giving up on one’s freedom. So I’m not that surprised. Even though he is really fond of her.”

“Free…dom…?”

There was another long moment of silence.

“That’s what we are fighting for. Our freedom. Our freedom to think, to live, to choose. Now get out of here, you’ve been disturbing me for long enough. I was polite and patient enough not to kick your bum out of the room, so you should be satisfied with that.”

Karl’s hand started twitching and he could do nothing to stop it.

It would be no use to stay here and try to get him to open up to him. It was too soon.

“Fine. I’ll go.”

He started walking away but after a few steps he stopped in his tracks and turned around.

“Everyone has got fears. Even if it’s a stupid fear. Like fearing manure. Those who say they have got no fears are just liars.”

He left the room without looking back or waiting for him to retort anything.

There was more to this man than what he let him see.

Hello everyone!
I hope you're all doing well on this Sunday  and that you enjoyed this chapter
Take care! ❤️