I couldn’t bear the thought of what he suffered through. Why was I living in a world filled with death and destruction? Why? “Oh, dear God,” is all I could mutter. Starving didn’t feel like much in comparison to losing alimb.
“I nearly died due to the amount of blood I lost, but after a month in the hospital, they released me and sent me back here for guardduty.”
I wrapped my arms around Charlie’s neck, pulling him down on top of me, clutching him with everything I had. More tears pooled in his eyes, leaving a warm, wet spot against my chest. “I fought to stay alive so I could come back for you. My eyes were opened to the destruction this world is living through, and I couldn’t leave you herealone.”
His words melded into the light breeze, and his lips dropped to mine, pressing against them with a force that ached, but I couldn’t manage to break away. I never thought I would see him again, let alone touch his lips or feel his body againstme.
“I love you, Amelia. I still love you. I love you more than ever, and I need to get you out ofhere.”
“Thank you,” I told him, still knowing there was no way to admit my love for him verbally. I truly believed he was only alive because I spared him of those deadlywords.
“We’ll take Lucie with us,” he continued. “We’ll care for her as if she were our own. She deserves at least that much. An innocent soul is easy to love and I will give that poor little girl what I can.” My heart thumped in my chest, knowing he understood the importance of keeping that beautiful baby safe. “Tomorrow night after the rations have been distributed, we’ll do it. I’m due to seek weekly medical check-ins for my arm, and the hospital is hours away. Therefore, I would need to leave guard duty atnight.”
“How will we get by the guards?” I asked. It seemed impossible, and as he told me before, no one had ever escaped. Anyone who had tried over the previous year and a half had been executed. However, I would be dead by the end of the week anyway, so I had nothing to lose by trying. My only fear was that if we were caught, Lucie’s life would be in jeopardy, as well. It was a chance we had to take, though. It would only be a matter of time before Lucie would contract an illness there at the camp, and she could die from that just as so many of the other childrenhad.
“Trust me,” he said. “I came back for you, and I’m not leaving withoutyou.”
I clasped my hands around his cheeks and pulled him back down to kiss him—my beautiful enemy who would commit a war crime for the sake of ourlove.
“I’ll never be able to repay you,Charlie.”
“You survived a year in Terezin because of a promise you made to me. You have already given me more than I could askfor.”
