Come Back To Us - 41. Chapter 41

July 1942

There he went again. He was ready to leave for another mission. Nothing dangerous, but if things turned out like they had for his first one, he wasn’t sure he could deal with it another time.

He was able to see Jørgen again at least before he had to leave, so it brought him some joy. He was to leave soon for another mission as well, something similar to his.

They hugged each other as they were face to face.

Jørgen chuckled.

“Karl! It’s so good to see you again!”

Karl smiled. He was too although he didn’t say it out loud.

Nothing happened for a while.

“I thought I was going to die,” he said in a low voice.

Every time he remembered, it broke his heart and made his mind worry even more than he should.

He was thankful they had allowed him time to recover. He had really needed it. He felt goosebumps on his skin now.

Jørgen said nothing but he hugged him even tighter instead.

“Be careful on your next mission.” That was all he said after a while.

They let go of each other.

“Okay.”

He was going to try to be as much as possible. He was up in the air again by that time.

He still couldn’t come to terms with him being now twenty…One more year…And this war wasn’t ready to end any time soon… he definitely wasn’t a child anymore…

He let out a shaky breath as his hands were becoming sweaty.

His mission was quite simple once again.

He was to bomb the city of Paris. His jaw clenched against his own will.

Yes, this was supposed to enable them to kill some enemies and destroy their main quarters, but at the same time, they hurt innocent French people and destroy their homes, just like it had happened in London…He tried not to remember, but it was too late…

Women, children… His body jerked. He really had to stop thinking about all those horrible things or else he would end up becoming too mad to be able to help this war end anymore. He had a mission to fulfill.

Within a few hours, they were reaching their destination. He had never had the chance to go to France or anywhere else, but it didn’t look that bad from above. His brother and sister had told him it was a really nice country, although its people were a bit…weird to say the least… His sister had told him Paris was renowned for being the city of love and romance and that they had nice ‘cafés’.

“Ready?”

It was time.

“Yeah.”

“Alright. Let’s get to it.”

He took a deep breath as he momentarily closed his eyes.

He could never sleep again at night after that. He already had enough trouble with that, but this would only make it worse.

“Ready. Steady. Fire!”

So he did.

He was so relieved this hadn’t happened yet in Copenhagen. This was his only consolation.

It wasn’t going to look that nice anymore by their doing.

This lasted for a while. Way too long for him.

Everything went well until on the way back to the station they were attacked by enemy planes near the French North coasts. There were four of them. He managed to shoot down two of them but his body tensed when his own plane started to make a weird noise. Touché… His heart began to race. All of them (the enemy) had just been shot down and he closed his eyes as his went down. He would be the lonely sheep. Once again…

He shouted as his plane crashed. It was violent. He hit his head and the rest of his body wasn’t in much better condition… He remained motionless for a while. He was suffering from a terrible headache. But he needed to move, do something, anything. He fell as he finally managed to leave his plane after a few attempts and broken glass.

He noticed that he didn’t land on water this time, but on the ground, and looking back at his plane, he wondered how he could still be alive….

He could hardly move…He was hurt…But he couldn’t stay there, could he?

But where was he going to go? What would he do? Ask for help? Would he be granted any? There was only one way to know…

He leaned on his hand for support, to prevent another fall and stood up. He only thought about it on his way, but… if he had landed in France, it meant he was on enemy territory, so he was in danger… What was worse between that and getting trapped in the middle of the ocean?

He wasn’t sure about the answer yet…

The land seemed to be desert…It was strange…

He tried to hurry up as much as possible, but if he ran, it would be suspucious and draw unwilling attention to him, even if he hadn’t run into anyone yet. One should always be careful. Maybe the enemy was hidden and waiting for the right time to get him…

He went across the endless green pastures until his eyes finally caught sight of a building. It was a farm.

He tensed as he approached it. It was too calm to foreshadow something good. He inspected the barn first. There were a few cows and sheep inside, nothing abnormal there.

He didn’t loiter for too long, although he longed to rediscover the feeling of being a farm boy. He made his way towards the house and stopped right before the main door, sticking his ear against it to try to hear any sound that would be proof of human presence there. But he couldn’t hear anything… Should he knock on it to make his presence known? He wasn’t sure about what to do… He thought for a bit. Well…he wasn’t in civil life anymore. Right there and now, he was a soldier, a pilot on a mission fighting for his survival and trying not to get caught by the enemy, so there was no room for civilities he guessed.

He tried not to make a noise as he opened the door and started to inspect the house. There was no one in sight as he went into the different rooms. It looked like it had been abandoned not so long earlier. But he could be wrong. Maybe the people living in it were just out to run some errand.

Suddenly his stomach growled and he wondered whether he could find some food to appease it. After looking for a while, he found none.

Next thing he knew, he was face to face with a boy and a girl. The girl was holding a fork and didn’t look very friendly. He took one step back and raised his hands slowly. But the girl took one step forward. The boy was looking more shocked and surprised than anything else. They looked alike so they must have been related to each other.

“I’m no enemy,” he rushed to say and then started stuttering as he looked for the few French words that Jørgen had taught him. “Je…Danois…Ally. RAF…”

But they didn’t look much convinced….The goosebumps were back again. He glanced away as he looked for something else to say.

“Prouve-le !” The girl suddenly shouted, making him start. Prove it

“Jo, calme-toi et regarde son uniforme,” the boy chimed in, his voice controlled and analytic. “C’est pas un uniforme allemand. Il dit la vérité.”
Calm down and look at his uniform. It’s not a German one. He’s speaking the truth.

Her gaze still fixed on him, she slowly lowered her fork as the seconds passed, and his shoulders relaxed a bit. At least she wasn’t going to kill him right there on the spot.

Nothing happened for a while. They were all silent and still, staring at each other, Karl wondering about what was going to happen next.

“On va le garder ici quelque temps,” the boy ended up saying in the same way as earlier.
He’s gonna stay here with us for a while.

“Mais tu es fou ! C’est trop dangereux !” she said as she dropped her fork.
Have you lost your mind yet?! This is way too dangerous!

“Mais c’est encore plus dangereux pour lui de le laisser errer dehors.”
But it’s even more dangerous for him to leave him to wander in the open.

The two French blokes exchanged a knowing look.

“Je sais…”
I know…

An awkward and tense silence filled the room for a long moment.

“Jo. Je n’veux pas te mettre en danger. Va chez ton amie Marguerite le temps que ce soit réglé.”
I don’t want to endanger you. Go take shelter at your friend’s Marguerite until everything's settled.

“Mais-”
But-

“Fais ce que je te dis ! Fais-moi confiance pour une fois ! Moi et les gars, on va gérer ça.”
Do as you’re told! Trust me for once! The guys and I are gonna handle that.

She looked skeptical while the boy was fiercely determined.

“Vas-y,” he added in a lower voice after a while as he was holding her shoulders. “Allez.”
Go there.

She looked like she didn’t want to leave him, but the boy’s gaze was insistent, although there was a hint of despair lingering in his eyes.

“Fais attention alors, d’accord ? Je supporterai pas qu’il t’arrive quoi que ce soit. Je me sentirai coupable pour le reste de mes jours.”
Be careful then, ok? I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to you. I would feel guilty for the rest of my life.

“T’en fais pas. Ça ira. Je te promets.”
Don't worry, it will be fine. You have my word.

She was still looking worried, but the boy took her hands in his and squeezed them. They kept staring into each other’s eyes for a long while without speaking a word, and Karl’s heart was breaking at the sight. His mind imagined how it could have been him with his own sister. She sighed at last.

“Je vais prendre quelques affaires.”
I’m going to take some stuff.

She sounded resigned as the words left her mouth. He nodded as she disappeared from their sight. They just stood there awkwardly, staring into space ahead of them, although Karl caught him glancing at him. She was back after a while and as they were staring into each other’s eyes once again, she suddenly hugged him and he held her into a tight embrace. He heard her sniff as the boy ran a soothing hand on her back.

“Je n’ai jamais aimé les séparations," she said.
I’ve never liked parting ways with anyone.

Karl felt he was about to cry. He was truly feeling like a real intruder that didn’t belong here. If anything bad happened, it would be his fault.

“T’en fais pas. Ce n’est pas un au revoir. Allez. Si tu pars pas maintenant, tu n’partiras jamais.”
Don’t worry. This isn’t goodbye. Come on. If you don’t leave now, you never will.

He let go of her, although reluctantly, and she had to pull away from the warmth of his embrace.

“T’as raison.” You’re right.

She got ready to go but then her eyes were drawn to Karl’s gaze.

“Désolée pour tout à l’heure…” Sorry for earlier...

She did sound and look sorry, so it could only be an apology, but he only nodded in return. After a last look at the boy, she made her way out, and suddenly he had a bad feeling in his gut.

It was awkward and quiet for another while, but at last, the boy turned his attention to him.

“Désolé…” Sorry

He looked like he couldn’t find anything better to say, aware that the situation could easily mean trouble for both of them. But…it got him thinking…was he really willing to help him?

“Je m’appelle Clément, et elle c’était ma soeur jumelle, Joséphine, mais tout le monde ici l’appelle Jo.”
My name is Clément, and the girl you've just seen was my twin sister, Joséphine, but everyone here calls her Jo.

Karl blinked at him blankly. It was already starting to bring back these same memories again, ones that weren’t too bad at least, but that made his heart ache desperately to go back to a place where he couldn’t.

“Erm…” the boy was thinking hard. “Moi,” he pointed at himself, “Clément. Et toi ?” He asked as he then pointed his finger at him. And he instantly understood, of course. He was no fool.

“Karl.”

The boy nodded.

“Enchanté.”

This must have been their way of saying “nice to meet you”.

“Same here.”

As they were observing each other, he suddenly felt weak. His legs felt like jelly and he fell to his knees before the boy, Clément, could react.

“Hé !”

In one second only, he was by his side, holding him and making him sure he wasn’t going to collapse. Why was it happening so suddenly….?

The boy was helping him up as he tried to think of a reason. Well, his plane had just crashed down and he could have died… Was he starting to lose his memory?

“Viens, j’ai un lit où tu pourras t’allonger pour te reposer.”
Come. There’s a bed where you’ll be able to lie down to get some rest.

Karl followed him as best he could as his mind was getting more blurry with every step he took. It was laborious to get him to lie down in that bed but the boy succeeded in the end, and as soon as he was, his eyes were fluttering close on their own and he lacked the strength to struggle. He drifted off to sleep for God knows how long and when he woke up, the first thing he saw was the boy sitting close to the bed. He smiled at him as he showed him some bread.

“Maintenant tu vas pouvoir manger un peu. C’est important pour reprendre des forces.”
Now you’re going to be able to eat a bit. It’s important to gain some strength back.

He stood up from his seat to get closer to him and helped him sit up. It was reminding him of things he wished he could forget, like many others, unfortunately.

He ate as if he had been starving for months, but maybe it was only anxiety?

“Tu viens d’où exactement au Danemark?”
Where are you from exactly?

He understood “Danemark” and could only infer he was asking which place he was from in Denmark.

“Copenhague ?”

“No. Not København. Fanø.”

“Ah… Je connais pas…”
I don’t know where it is

Awkward. That was the only appropriate word to describe the situation. Not that he could blame anyone for it.

“Fais-moi voir si t’es pas blessé. T’as mal quelque part ?”
Let me see if you’re not wounded. Are you hurting?

They stared into each other’s eyes and he couldn’t help noticing how he really seemed to care about him, just like Aiden had…

French was a nice language, he decided, although being very different from English and its melodious accent. It was charming in its own way. Come to think of it, maybe he had already had that thought when he had met that French bloke who had managed to run away from occupied France. He couldn’t even remember…

All of a sudden, a certain thought crossed his mind that made him wonder: What about the boy’s parents?

Shouldn’t they be here with him if they worked at the farm?

“And your parents? Where are they?”

Even if he probably couldn’t understand English, the words left his mouth before his brain had time to stop them.

The boy, Clément, looked shocked and caught off guard. He left after staying silent for a while and Karl regretted asking. He may have lost them in circumstances he’d rather not imagine…

But he relaxed a bit when he saw him come back. He was holding a basin in one hand and a ragged cloth in the other. He sat in the same spot as earlier, but he still looked like he didn’t want to talk about it. He dove the cloth into the basin and pinned it as the triplets were falling back where they belonged.

Did he intend to wash him with that?

He wasn’t feeling feverish, so he couldn’t think about anything else to do.

He started rubbing his face with it and Karl just let him do without a word. Karl’s heart begged for pardon as he looked like he was struggling to hold his tears back.

“Mon père est parti pour rejoindre la Résistance et ma mère était malade. Alors elle est partie pour se faire soigner dans un meilleur endroit…”
My father has left to join the Resistance movement and my mother was sick. So she’s left to be taken care of in a better place.

He didn’t need to speak French to understand that they had left, leaving him with only his sister, and he was alone with him who shouldn’t even be there. He and his sister couldn’t look after each other anymore, and he only wished he could fly back to England as the guilt ate up his heart.

They were both distracted as they heard a dog bark suddenly. It was curious, he had noticed no dog outside or in the barn for that matter… Now he could only wonder what was happening…

They exchanged a look that foreshadowed nothing good and a chill crept up his spine. He saw the way Clément tensed as well. He noticed the dog wasn’t barking anymore.

“Les Allemands…” his voice was a mix of panic and despair. The Germans

He didn’t need to understand either this time as well. His whole body was shivering as his heart raced dangerously. That was it.

They were coming for him.

Hello everyone!
So maybe you had seen that coming....
Have a good weekend/a lovely Sunday and take care ❤️