Creative Writing Assignment 2

Johannes was sitting on the edge of the bed and sighed. Anke was curled in a ball on the other side of the bed, she had her back facing him as she laid there shivering despite being covered with the sheets. Every so often Anke would whimper in pain and upset. The bed creaked as he slowly got up. Johannes stood on the spot as he caught his reflection in the mirror. His dark brown hair was in desperate need of a cut, every time he brushed it out of his eyes it just fell back into place. His eyes seemed darker than normal. They were almost black, like his father’s eyes. Underneath his eyes, Johannes saw two deep purple circles from the lack of sleep. He was slowly turning into his father; the constant running away from everything was playing with his head. He didn’t know why he was angry.
“Get up,”
Anke whimpered as pushed her legs over the edge of the bed before she pushed herself up so she was in a seated position.
“Up, Anna, on your feet and get over here.” He said, making sure to use her fake name as the walls were so thin that anyone could hear them.
Anke shot up onto her feet and made her way around the bed to Johannes, scared to anger him further. She caught her reflection in the mirror and she saw a dark bruise appearing around her left eye. There was a rip in her dress shoulder where the buckle from his belt had hit her. The skin under the rip was bleeding. She flinched as he placed a hand on her cheek to tilt her head up to him. He saw that her blue eyes had lost their sparkle, they were glazed with tears. She was scared of him. He had seen the same look of fear he saw in her before but not in her. He had never seen fear written so obviously across her face.
“Anke?” he whispered as he tried to place a kiss on her lips.
“L...Let me go.”
She tried to pull herself away in tears.
“Snap out of it!”
He slapped her. The sound echoed throughout the apartment. Anke fell into the mirror on the wall before she slid down to the floor in tears as Johannes walked around her and out of the bedroom following the soft crying he could hear from the room next to theirs. Anke curled into a ball against the wall as she cried. The floor creaked as Johannes came back, holding a crying bundle of blankets. He watched Anke on the floor as he carefully peeled back the layers, revealing the blonde child hidden beneath them. The child stared at him before he turned the child around to face Anke.
“Susanna, I want you to remember this. This is what I don’t want you to become: weak, pathetic and useless but with us as your parents. I don’t think you stand a fighting chance.”

Anke kept her head down as she walked down the street, holding Susanna who was wrapped in blankets. Afraid eye contact would expose her for who she really was. Afraid she would be pulled away from the small blonde child in her arms, torn away from Johannes. Though for what it was worth, a work camp might have been better for her.
She’d left the building they had set up a temporary home in, needing to see something other than their mouldy four walls. Her body had been screaming out for food, they had no food, they never had food. Anke refused to steal food as they had no money, or at least no money she knew about. Morals were all she had that no one could take from her. She sighed as she felt the familiar squelch of water inside her boots. Her hair stuck to her face and body, she leant forward slightly as she walked in an effort to keep Susanna dry. As the rain got heavier, she hid in the first thing she found. She was sheltered from the rain but ended up being exposed in the phone booth, with images of her own face staring back at her. She had nowhere to run. Just staring at the image of herself made her worried that someone would remember her face; that someone would figure out what she is as the star on her collar stared back at her.
“What’s happened to you?”
The silence of the phone booth was shattered by someone hammering on the glass. The person wiped the glass so they could see in.
“We need to leave now. Now Anna!”
Her knees started to shake when she saw why they needed to leave. The posters were blaming her. Lying to people; saying that she killed the General, calling her dangerous and unstable.
She shook her head, too scared to leave the shelter of the phone booth.
“Anna, now! Some people came by the building, someone spotted us. We. Have. To. Leave!”
He opened the door and held his hand out to her. Her blue eyes looked terrified as she looked at him, she couldn’t decide if she had it in her to keep running with her. She saw a man walking towards them, he was dressed in some sort of uniform but she wasn’t sure if it was police or the SS.
“Anna, I promised your dad I would look after you. I promised I would keep you safe no matter what. We need to leave. Think of Susanna.”
Anke put her hand on his and nodded at him.
“We run for Susanna, nothing else.”
Johannes shook his head as he looked at her.
“We run because we know the truth. People need to know it.”
Anke held onto his hand as they walked down the street, pretending that everything was normal, pretending they were functional.

They’d gone full circle, ending back up where they had run away from. They had run away from their problems over a year ago, only to face them head on once more. In reality it was a stupid risk to undertake. Johannes had found them an abandoned apartment. The whole building was abandoned, almost decrepit with its rotten floors and mouldy walls.
Anke was laid on the floor not moving, Susanna crying in the corner. Johannes wasn’t in the apartment; he’d stormed out after punching the wall next to Anke. The room was slanted as she opened her eyes, she couldn’t quite figure out where she was, or why Susanna was crying. She’d pretended to be seriously hurt, just to get rid of him. Slowly, Anke pulled herself across the floor to Susanna. The second Anke touched Susanna’s hand; the tiny blonde child ceased crying.
“I know Susanna, I know. It’s scary out there but it shouldn’t be scary in here. I’m here and that is all that matters, I’ll walk to the ends of the earth for you. I’ll even swallow my pride for you,” she whispered, as she pushed herself into a seating position so she could hold Susanna.
Susanna grabbed a fistful of raggedy blonde hair, pulling Anke’s head forward so she could place her head against her mother’s. Anke laid on the floor, with Susanna on her chest. Tears formed in her eyes as she laughed whilst looking at her daughter. Laughter was the only emotion she had left; it surprised her that she still knew how to do it as the last time it had happened everything was perfect. The General was still alive, she wasn’t scared and her parents hadn’t been torn from her. Fear wasn’t written in her DNA then.
She looked up at Susanna, the dark eyes staring back at her.
Anke heard a creek lower down in the building as she forced herself up, keeping Susanna as close as possible. Standing on her tip toes, she carefully made her away towards the doorway, making sure not to step on certain blackened floorboards. She heard footsteps getting closer as she gave up being silent and just ran up a flight of stairs. Voices echoed throughout the building, the sounded almost demonic, giving chase through the building. Terrified of what would happen if she stopped for a moment to get her breath back, to rub her aching limbs, to reassure the blonde infant. The footsteps where getting louder, quicker. The voices turning into shrieks and wails. Four walls cornering her in, caging her in like she was a dangerous animal. To them that is exactly what she was, she was subhuman.
“No! No! No! Where is it?”
Anke smacked the wall trying to find the elusive door that Johannes talked about. It was meant to be their one means of escape if they were found. Up onto the roof and down the drain pipe, dangerous but it would work. It had to work being caught by the SS or Gestapo would mean she had reached the end of the line and not just for Anke, everything would be found out and Susanna would be taken away as she was still considered German and acceptable.
“No, he said it was here! It has to be!”
She curled up into a ball against the wall, still cradling Susanna in her arms.
Silence echoed throughout the building. The floorboards continued to moan and wail as she lifted up her head.
“Get up.”
Oh, it was worse. So much more worse than the Gestapo or the SS, at least with them her misery would end quickly, especially if she ran. Then it would be a metal pellet to the back of head, quick and almost painless. Her eyes and nose burned as they were intruded by the floral cloud surrounding the woman stood in the doorway. She recognised the dark pin curls, the dark fur shawl, and the opulent jewels adorning the woman. It was Johannes’ mother, Eva Schmitt. She looked like Johannes, only sterner. It wasn’t for her silhouette; she’d be mistaken for a man in a wig. Anke’s mother used to refer to her as Mr Schmitt, the wife of General Schmitt, the thought put a slight smile on her face for just a moment.
“Anna, get up!”
Anke slowly got up, staring at the dark eyes that tormented her. She raised an eyebrow at him.
“Johannes said you both needed help. I’m only here for the child, it’s not fair she has to suffer for what you two have done,” Said the woman as she made her way towards Anke.
“I didn’t do anything! He can’t protect himself, you know that because you let him suffer at the hands of your husband whilst you sat there doing nothing!”
“You know exactly what you have done. Judensau.”
Johannes could see the anger raising in Anke by the way her lips pursed, her nose wrinkle and her stare harden. No one had called her a Judensau in a long time but she still found offence in the word. Even he found offence in the word.
“Don’t call her that! Anke doesn’t deserve that. If you are going to call her that then that is what you think about Susanna and about me because I love them both!”
“Then you teach her how to talk to Germans. Otherwise I am taking the child with me. Don’t think I wouldn’t hesitate about turning you both in even if you are my son. If you want help Johannes, you do it on my terms, especially after you murdered my husband.”
“Murder is a bit strong–”
“Anke! Don’t!”
She groaned in frustration that she couldn’t voice her opinion. She knew it was ‘proper’ to not voice her opinion but it was suffocating.
“Come now, both of you. You need a good wash and a good plate of food.”

Anke sat in the bath staring at the silver tap, the warm water felt alien against her skin. The water soothed her swollen joints. It gave some relief to her battered and bruised body. Barely any of her pale skin was visible under the patterns of purple, blue, red and yellow that covered her body.
Before the hiding Anke had been slender but now she was starved, her ribs poked out and her spinal cord could be seen if she leant forward. When she got out of the bath she picked up the white threadbare towel, Eva had just found the oldest towel she could. It was the one she used to dry the dog with. It bothered Anke but not as much as the fact that Eva would give her meals on the plate she served food on for the dog. Eva had found her a dress, it was a hand me down from a friend, it was a little big but it was better than her previous dress. A potato sack would have sufficed more than the summer dress she wore.
Susanna was still fast asleep in the bed. Eva was in the kitchen or the living room, she was somewhere, probably plotting to get rid of Anke. Johannes was sitting on the floor outside the bathroom. He was shaking, he’d been crying, he looked dishevelled with his ripped collar and messed up hair. Since being back, he had gone back to his uniformed look of suit, shined shoes and perfectly combed hair. She noticed four deep, bleeding scratches as she knelt down next to him. His hands were bruised and bloody. She pulled out a handkerchief out of his pocket before pressing it against his face without questioning it. She never questioned it.
“She attacked me. She’s never attacked me before. She just used to stand there and watch.”
She just sighed, dabbing the scratches as the downstairs floor creaked.
“Eva? Eva, the door was open. Are you in?”
Anke frowned; Eva has been down stairs cooking earlier. Johannes was worried as he looked at her as she got up to go and see who was down stairs. She made her way down stairs to see who it was. She took baby steps down the hall towards the kitchen.
“Who are you?”
She turned around. The grey uniform was the only thing she saw, not his face, his camp or any of his patches.
“Anna, Anna Traber, sir.” She gagged trying not to vomit up her words.
“Why are you here? This is Eva Schmitt’s home.”
He frowned as he heard Susanna starting to cry upstairs.
“I’m Johannes partner, sir. Eva has taken us in after we decided to move back Berlin, with our daughter.”
She pressed her knees together to stop her shaking being visible. Johannes came down holding Susanna in his arms.
“Do you know where Eva is? I check on her twice a week after Herbert was murdered by a Judensau.”
“My mother went to the market this morning. She said she was going to meet Frau Baaz as well. I’m sorry for your wasted trip. I’ll let her know you called,” Said Johannes as he gave Susanna to Anke.
The officer nodded before he started to leave. She sighed as she looked at Johannes, as she rubbed Susanna’s back.
“One more thing. Anna, could you show me your papers?”
“Of course. Johannes, could you get them? They are upstairs, with our other documents. She needs a drink, do you mind if I go into the kitchen?”
He followed her into the kitchen so she could give Susanna a drink. Anke was trying her best not to show that she felt caged and terrified of him. To Anke, centuries had passed by the time Johannes came back down. He held out her papers to the officer who smiled at Anke.
“Anna Isolde Traber. My daughter is called Isolde, it’s beautiful. Remember to tell Eva that I visited.”
When the door slammed shut, he sighed.
“I thought he knew. I thought he was going to kill me.”
“Thought he knew? Knew what?”
He didn’t know what to say as he looked at her. He didn’t want to upset her or anger her by telling her the actual truth.
“Where is your mother?”
He closed his eyes, taking several deep breaths. His hands curled into fists, his knuckles turned white. His started to bit his lip, his face twisted as if he was in pain, holding back his secret.
“Johannes? Where is she?”
The silence was painful as Anke stared at him. Frustration was getting the best of her, lying to ordinary people was one thing, lying to an officer was another thing.
“Where is she? Where is Eva!”
He trembled as he opened his eyes. They were dark, darker than she had seen before. His eyelashes shone with tears as he took a deep breath before opening his mouth.
“I’d do anything for you and Susanna, you know that? I love you both so much it hurts.”
“Johannes? What have you done?”
He smirked slightly as he took her hand, dragging her into the lounge. Eva was laid on the floor; the cream carpet was strained crimson. She didn’t move. Even if she could with her limbs sticking out in different directions would have made it impossible. Anke couldn’t understand how she hadn’t heard what had happened. How did she not know that Eva had been here and dying?
“I got rid of the problem Anna. It’s never going to bother us again.”
Anke saw the dead stare in Eva’s eyes. It was the same dead stare that haunted her since Johannes shot his father. Since seeing Eva, Anke had put her hand over Susanna’s face not wanting her daughter to be haunted by this too.
“No…No Johannes, you created another problem. You’ve killed the one person who was willing to help us. Once that officer sees this, he’ll find out I’m a Jew and I’ll be killed or sent to a work camp! Why would you do that to Susanna?”
He raised an eyebrow and looked at her confused. It wasn’t the reaction he had expected. He thought she would be glad that Eva was gone.
“I thought you’d be glad that she was gone. Like you were when I murdered my father for you.”
“I was glad he was about to kill me! He had me on the alley floor and was threatening to put a silver bullet through my skull because he found out I am Jewish. He found out because you wanted to leave the Hitler Youth! You stupidly told him that you wanted to leave because I didn’t agree with it and mentioned about my Star of David necklace! You did this! You pushed yourself to kill your father and your mother!”
“She treated you like you are worse than the dog!”
“And I never complained because she wasn’t going to tell anyone what I am. She gave me clothes, warmth and food. She did more in three days than you have done in 15 months! I don’t even know who you are anymore. Who are you? This isn’t my Johannes!”
His nails dug into his palms before he left the room, slamming the door behind him. He stamped as he went up the stairs. She sighed as she knelt down next to Eva, holding Susanna against her chest as she tried to assess what had happened to Eva. Would there be a way to lie her way out of this one?
“Miss Traber? What happened in here? I heard commotion when I left.”
The officer was stood at the door. Anke moved so he could see Eva.
“She was like that when I came in. I thought she’d gone out. I don’t understand.”
She turned around, tears streaming down her face.
All she had was hope. Hopefully a damsel in distress act would work.

Author Note: Some who read this will know that before I wanted to be a journalist, I wanted to be a writer. Especially as I apparently have a name suitable for a novelist and to be on the New York Times. I have written this for one of my assignments for University. I took a creative writing module this sememester. Some may also notice that you can't highlight text or copy it. This is to protect my work, I have recently seen that someone has taken the work of several bloggers and tried to pass it off as their own. I do think I am a littler safer than they were because I am not a beauty blogger, but I would rather not risk it though at the same time I want put my work out there. I just don't want someone else to take the credit for my work.