Thread: A Light in the Darkness (Madam Mim & Sync)

Stealing is better than dying, Miri admitted with a shrug. But it's also good to have provisions just in case we can't find any when we need them. I'll pack a bag tomorrow night and test its weight then go from there. But I'm stronger than I look. She gave him a small smile and squeezed his shoulder. We're going to get through this, Gunn. All of us. God wouldn't abandon us in a time like this. Still, she sighed and pushed her hair out of her face. God had already abandoned those poor souls at Dachau, hadn't He? She refused to think about it too much, not right now when she needed her faith the most. You should get some sleep, she said at last. We both should. In a few days we've got a long journey ahead of us. With another small sigh she leaned in and kissed his forehead affectionately. I'll see you in the morning, Gunther. With the morning came the bustle of the family getting ready for work and school. Eli and Oren were no longer allowed to go to school, but one of the teachers of the Hebrew school before it had closed still held surreptitious classes in the basement of an abandoned factory. Once they were off, hiding their books under their coats, and Abner had gone to open the back door of his boarded-up shop for business, Esther and Miri set off to work at the tailor's, leaving Gunther alone with Shoshona. Frau Heinz put him to work as best she could, keeping him in the kitchen at the back of the house, away from the windows, tidying up and helping her prepare meals. She tried to make polite conversation, but what was there to say? She couldn't ask after his family, as she knew more about their whereabouts than he did. She couldn't ask about work Abner had filled her in, in the vaguest details possible, on why he had abandoned his post and from his hints it sounded horrifying. Gossip was a devil of small minds. So she chatted amiably about her own family, catching him up on what had happened since he had been gone though most of it wasn't news to him anymore. She had always liked the boy next door, but the state of the world these days had made it impossible not to feel awkward when talking to him. Blessedly, Miri and Esther returned early in the afternoon with their armfuls of work to do. This was the one thing that had worked out the Reich wanted Jews to be seen as little as possible, and Jews wanted to be noticed as little as possible, so whatever work could be done in the privacy of their own homes was. Unfortunately, the work they had brought home was sewing more armbands onto more uniforms. More officers were arriving, it seemed, to Briennerstrasse. Miri sat in the sitting room with the curtains drawn, lips pursed as she sewed with small, even stitches. The worst insult to a Nazi would be to make her work better than any gentile's, forcing them to admit that Jewish labor was better than anything else they could find. You'll get wrinkles, Esther warned from her seat by the fire, glancing sideways at her sister. They'll be wrinkles well-earned, Miri replied stubbornly, not un-pursing her lips or unpuckering her brow as she glared at the armband. I hate red. Well get used to it. They certainly seem to-- Esther broke off and they both looked at the door when there was a firm knock, followed by a man's voice announcing himself as an SS officer. Miri looked to Gunther and gestured wildly for him to hide as her sister made her way to the door.