Being focused on helping Amelia was giving me a false sense of relief. While I knew I should have been trying to help more people, I also knew if I helped too many, I would be spotted and reported. Therefore, even though I was doing something that felt right, it didn't seem like enough.
I made it back to the Small Fortress, outside of the cells just in time to hear the shouting of orders, assigning the prisoners their jobs. It was my job to stand guard, make sure there were no wanderers after the prisoners received their directions. Still, I stood, watching over the confused prisoners, some dragging their feet, other's shuffling along.
It wasn't long before I spotted Amelia. She was holding her black, knee-length coat shut tightly over her chest. At first, she appeared lost while looking in every direction of the area that was enclosed by block units, but then there was a look of certainty within her eyes when she spotted the medical block. I don't know if it was relief she was feeling, but she didn't appear as terrified as she had been the last few times I had seen her. What was more important was that she didn't look ravished by the poisoned bread she was fed the night before. It was a miracle she was on her feet, moving forward.
"Crane, what are you staring at?" Sven, my nightmare in the daylight, shouted. "Don't go falling for one of those mongrels, you hear?"
His words scared me more than switching information on administration papers. If he were serious and thought I had eyes for one of the prisoners, Sven would be the first in line to do away with Amelia as an act to punish me. "You must be out of your mind," I shouted back.
"I was joking with you, fool. Don't worry so much. You'll die at a young age." There was no irony or humor behind his words. Everyone in this camp aside from us soldiers were likely to die at a young age—because of us.
1Thank you
Chapter 14
Current Day
The waiting room door opens, and Dr. Beck, Amelia's doctor, is standing at the door. "Amelia is through with her pre-op tests, and she is asking for you, Mr. Crane. She'd like to speak to you alone," he says, settling his gaze on Emma as if he's wondering if she'll be okay with me being alone with her grandmother.
After all, it appears as if Amelia and I are still strangers.
"How did the testing go, Dr. Beck?" I ask.
"Well," Dr. Beck says as he walks into the room, allowing the door to close him inside. "Everything went as well as to be expected with pre-op testing, but as I had mentioned to Emma before you arrived, being that Amelia is in her nineties, there is a chance the surgery will cause complications—possibly fatal complications. I need everyone to understand the risks involved."
The doctor's words feel like hands around my throat. I have come this far, and I have promised myself that if I could see Amelia just one more time, I would be a happy man.
That was a lie.
I want to see her every day for the rest of my life. How could I not?
"Thank you for your honesty," I tell Dr. Beck, standing to shake his hand.
"Of course, sir."
"I'll be right back Emma. Thank you for allowing me to have some time with your grandmother," I tell her.
Emma smiles nervously and quickly resets her focus on Dr. Beck, likely about to ask more questions.
I don't need to hear anything more from the doctor at this moment, however. I need to see Amelia.
The walk to Amelia's hospital room isn't long enough for me to collect my unruly thoughts, so I close my eyes and take a deep breath before entering her room. It's the third time I have walked in to see her today, and the third time my eyes have had to adjust. It's like I'm in a dream, walking toward my love with nothing in the way.
Nothing except for a broken heart.
Amelia has her eyes set on the television hanging from the corner wall. I tap my knuckles gently on the oak door. "May I come in?" I ask.
"Well, I asked for you, so obviously," she says with a choky laugh. "I thought you might have left to get some sleep for the night?"
"I have decided I'm sleeping here, or in the waiting area, rather. I'm not leaving you Amelia." My words sound ridiculous. Amelia has only been mine within my mind.
"Charlie, are you all right?" She is asking me if I'm okay when she is the one in a hospital bed with a heart condition that could end her life tomorrow.
"Amelia, I am fine."
Except, I'm not okay.Not only am I worried about losing her again, but I am also trying to understand everything Amelia said to me before falling asleep earlier.
"We have a daughter,"Amelia said. "Her name isClara. We also have agranddaughter, too—Emma, who you have met."
