We're All Mad Here [Cola | Bones]

[Pina Colada]

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[destati]

• • 
    “But I’m -not- Jewish! I’m German, just like you!”
    
    It was inevitable that she would be discovered — a Jewish girl hiding in Germany under the false guise of Fräulein Liesel Mauss. The fact that she hid in secrecy for ten years was inconceivable, if not downright unbelievable, but it was not her own will that created a haven for the past ten years; rather, she was fortunate enough to have biological partners who cared enough about her well-being to place her up for adoption, and even more fortunate to have been adopted by an affluent German couple.
    
    Gereon and Ilse Mauss, God bless the two of them. They were in their mid-forties when the girl’s biological parents requested their assistance, and they took her in without a second thought. Though they were quick to assure the biological parents — Liesel had long forgotten their names — that they had no love for Nazi ideology, the real reason behind their generosity lied in the fact that Ilse was not fertile and would never bear her husband a child. Nevertheless, they loved and raised the girl as if she were their own. They gave her their surname — her records would account her as ‘Liesel Sterger’ — but allowed her to keep her given name, for her name was both Hebrew and German in origin.
    
    The only problem was that she looked nothing like her adopted parents. They had fair-hair and blue eyes; Liesel had dark hair and brown eyes. They spoke German; Liesel understood enough German to survive, but she spoke Yiddish with a heavy accent. For these reasons she was confined to the house and only lingered outside when necessary, and when the family did venture outside she was not allowed to speak, lest her accent attract the attention of the Schutzstaffel. She continued her education through private tutors. She continued to live in borrowed time until she was seventeen.
    
    Her fortune lasted until one of her private tutors — the wife of an Obertruppführer — tattled.
    
    Gereon and Ilse were murdered for treason — for harboring a dummer Saujuden, of all things; a stupid Jew — and Liesel was forced on the next train to Buchenwald.
    
    
    
    The sound of the alarm woke her instantly. It amazed her that she could even fall asleep in a place like this, though she supposed no one could stay awake forever, not even after witnessing half of the stuff they had. It had been one day since she arrived in this hellhole, and so much had changed since she stepped off of the cattle cart. Her hair had been pulled out in great clumps due to blunt scissors. The numbers ‘73489’ were now permanently etched into her left forearm. She was no longer dressed in habitable clothes; instead, she had been given rags to wear, thin shreds of clothing that had been worn by other prisoners, so they were now dirty and uncomfortable.
    
    Liesel never complained.
    
    She followed the other female inmates as they left their housing — a pitiful excuse for housing, really; they were forced to share a bunk for three other females, sometimes four — to stand in line for breakfast. She had to force herself not to yawn. Liesel knew not what time it was, but it had to be early, as the sky was still dark and she could still see the stars. Four o’clock? Five o’clock? Somewhere in that time frame.
    
    They were given stale bread and coffee — which in reality was nothing more than lukewarm water with a few used coffee grounds thrown in— for breakfast. It was the first thing she had been given to eat since she was ripped from her former life, and while it looked appalling her stomach rumbled in hunger. She took the food in gratitude and found an area to herself. They were allowed to sit and eat their food before they begin their work, but never unattended. There were always a few officers and soldiers who patrolled the area. Liesel paid no attention to them as she nibbled on the stale bread, the rumble of her stomach increasing due to the sour taste and hard texture of the bread.

 

[Pina Colada]

• • Some people build things, they’re the creators of the world. While most wouldn’t include Aldrik Aloisi in such a group, he was quick to disagree. You see he was a user, a destroyer and the greatest creator. After all, one could not create something new without breaking down and desecrating the old, and what could not be outright destroyed must be dominated, preferably through the use of cunning and manipulation. It was a small detail people failed to consciously realize and it was for this reason that the young man did his job so well – he broke down the strafgefangene in his camp with ease.
    
    As supporters of Hitler’s campaign, the 14 year old’s parents insisted he participate in Hitlerjugend - Hitler's Youth - where he learned of the shortcomings of other races beyond his own and gained experience in military combat before going off to war. He, like many of the other boys pledged his loyalty to Hitler and the Nazi nation during that time. It's been over ten years and he hasn’t looked back since. Aldrik served his country with pride and would do so until the day he died.
    
    Before entering into the Waffen-SS as lieutenant, Aldrik had been a soldier on the field for three years, fighting in both Germany and much of France before a bullet to his leg left his femur broken. While the doctors had been able to remove the bullet and splint his leg, the shattered pieces of bone that remained prevented him from doing any long term combat. As a result, he’d been sent here where he worked his way up the ranks until he no longer had to act as guard to the Jews who filled the lager, rather he oversaw the guards themselves to make sure they were in order and organized the paperwork for his camp and the detainees. Of course, he was a man of action and being confined to his office bored him on occasion so he made rounds in the camp when he felt so inclined.
    
    However, it wasn’t boredom that had him donning his hat and leaving his office, a paper in hand. It was one Liesel Mauss. Aldrik read what little there was in her papers, noticing the brief note about her parents with disdain. He’d been familiar with the Mauss surname but not with the family themselves. He couldn’t imagine why they would throw their lives away for a simple Saujuden, why they would taint their family name. It was inexcusable. He supposed it was of no matter to him now that they were dead.
    
    The descent into the encampment was a short one as he could see the going ons of the inmates from his window, nevertheless he could feel the numbness in his ears and face in the time it took him to get there. However, being the hot blooded man he was, the feeling was enjoyable to his normally warm skin. Spotting one of the guards near the entrance to the mess hall he ordered him forward.
    
    “Lieutenant.” Aldrik handed the man the paper before folding his hands at his front.
    
    “Tell the Rapportführer to locate her.” The officer nodded his assent as he looked down at the name, recognition lighting his features.
    
    “Ah, you want the Black Sheep.” Aldrik didn’t say a word though his expression made the question in his eyes clear and the man elaborated.
    
    “She was the odd one in her family and now she is the odd one among her own kind. I can take you to her myself if you want.” Aldrik extended his hand to lead the way with a small smile, a slight limp marring what would be considered a smooth gait. He’d forgotten how fast news spread when you worked in the guard. To know that a little Jewish girl had managed to cause such a stir in the lager made him curious. Was she some blonde abomination or had her story simply served as entertainment for them?
    
    The smell of sickness and smoke followed them through the camp until they came to the area where their uniforms were made and cleaned. The smell of fabric, soap, and wood took up residence there as women and children sat side by side in endless rose sewing various pieces together. If Aldrik remembered correctly, it was one of the few moments they were able to rest their feet during the day.
    
    “There, by the window.” The guard pointed to a hunched over figured three rows down working at a sewing machine and he nodded as the other returned the papers.
    
    “You can return to your post.” Aldrik walked silently across the room until he came to stop in front of her station, noticing that his presence garnered a few looks, many of them varying from fear to anger to incomprehension. He knew some of them remembered him from when he first started out there and where happy he no longer did daily patrol.
    
    Standing at his full stature of 6’2”, he looked down on her for a long moment, slate blue eyes taking in the clumped black hair and long fumbling fingers of the girl before him. Her pale face was tinted with dirt and her eyes sunken from fatigue; even so he could still see she was what most would consider pretty with her big eyes and full lips despite being a Jew. He couldn’t see much of her body but he couldn’t say he cared one way or another. She didn’t seem like the type to last long in the lager. Looking at the piece of paper he said her “name.” He wanted only to extend his welcome.
    
    “Number 7348…9, formerly known as Liesel Mauss.” He folded his arms. “Tell me – and mind you keep sewing – is it hard?” He watched her with a look of concern. “Being a citizen one moment and filth the next. For those traitors to give you such false hope is the ultimate betrayal. Fortunately for you, I’m here to help you learn your place. I’ll make you into the person you were meant to be, the person everyone here knows you should be.” Aldrik’s arm made a dramatic sweep across the room, gesturing to the rest of the inmates before he clasped his hands together. “It’s only the right thing to do is it not?” He leaned forward, his eyes intent and voice low. “Is it not?”