Flirting With the Wind

I was running in the forest, laughing as Hugo chased after me. The trees were passing by and I looked over my shoulder to see Hugo catching up. We made it to the grass clearing and Hugo managed to take hold of me from behind. His arms were wrapped securely around my waist as he lifted me up. I let out a squeak of surprise and Hugo let out a throaty chuckle. Somehow losing his footing the two of us fell onto the fresh green grass with both of us laughing. I stopped laughing and just lied down next to Hugo. He took hold of my hand and held it in his. Hugo smiled at me and I smiled back at him. For me being with him was heaven on earth.

I woke up feeling disoriented and sore. For a moment I thought I was back being tortured by Hellstrom and I panicked. Then I turned my head to the side to see Hugo and I immediately relaxed. Somehow I didn’t have the words to speak to him. What could I even say to him anymore? He looked back at me with his piercing aqua blue eyes reminding me of what I wanted to say.

“I‘m sorry Hugo.”
“Nein, you do not need to apologize,” Hugo responds with guilty eyes.
“I was so terrible to you, it wasn‘t your fault. I was just being a miserable bitch who wanted to make everyone else miserable,” I say.
“Mira the Lieutenant arranged for you and Jean to go to the American base so you can get proper medical attention,” he replies as he touched the side of my face.
“Will you be coming back?”
“I have to help with one more mission and then I will go back there to see you.”
“Please make it back,” I whisper softly with tears forming in my eyes. Hugo moved and sat on the bed to be closer to me.

“We‘ll see each other again soon enough,” Hugo states pushing the hair back from my eyes.
“We better, I don‘t like missing you,” I say touching his face. For the first time in a while I saw Hugo smile and I couldn‘t help but smile back at him. It filled my heart with hope and I convinced myself that everything was going to be alright then pulled Hugo closer pressing my lips onto his without hesitation. Nothing felt more right than being with Hugo. We broke apart for a moment, staring down at me Hugo looked like the happiest man in the world.

“We have to get going kid,” Jean Claude announces.
“Hugo you better carry her so she don‘t hurt her leg anymore,” Aldo adds appearing at the doorway as well.
“Is that really necessary?” I question. I never really liked people treating me with such care, I could walk.
“Mira, just once don‘t be so stubborn,” Hugo says with pleading eyes.
“Fine,” I mutter with a huff. Hugo smiled softly at me and carefully picked me up bridal style in his arms. I draped my arms over his shoulders and held onto him nuzzling my cheek against his neck. In so many ways I didn’t want Hugo to let me go. He carried me to the vehicle and began to set me down but I turned my head slightly with my hand on the side of his face to keep him close, my lips nearly touching his ear then whispered, “Te amo.”

“Ich liebe dich (I love you),” Hugo replies softly before he kissed my cheek tenderly.
“Take this with you.”
“Mira-”
“Its so you remember to come back,” I continue as I handed him the book he had kept for me all those other years. He simply nodded and I brought him into another kiss, hoping to savor the warmth he gave my heart.

Hugo stood and watched as Jean Claude drove us away from him. I watched until Hugo was only a speck in the distance and I felt my heart strings tug. One more mission I kept telling myself, one more mission and Hugo would be free to come back to me. Praying, I wasn’t asking for much, just wanted Hugo to return safely. I felt as though after all that happened to me in my life that surely some good was deserved. That wasn’t so foolish to hope was it?

We arrived at the American military base only to be accosted by the soldiers but when I spoke clear English without a hint of accent, they realized that I was indeed the Mirabel Shepherd that Lieutenant Aldo Raine spoke of. I was taken to the hospital with Jean Claude at my side. The doctors said I was lucky that I didn’t die, they fixed me up and gave me the proper medicine to help keep infection away. Of course they asked questions about the other scars on my body and all questions were answered with the same reply, “They‘re just scars.”

Three days passed and I was good to move around with the help of crutches. I hated having to wait for Hugo, it made me think back to the first time he left me. It was hard to wait but I had to believe he was coming back, my sanity relied on his arrival. Jean Claude waited with me on some days, helping me with my injured leg. We still both rose early, the difference being each time I rose wishing Hugo there waiting to surprise me.

“Hitler‘s dead! The war is over!” soldiers cheered early morning.

Hitler’s dead.

The war is over.

It seemed too good to be true yet it had me smile because in my head that meant Hugo and I would be free of this war so that we could start over with our lives, together. I waited in the dormitory hoping that Hugo would find me when he arrived. When there was a heavy knock on my door my heart skipped a beat. I moved quickly towards the door smiling and carefully opened it.

“Hu-” I began to say but my words caught up in my throat when I saw the sullen face of Lieutenant Aldo Raine. He pulled a blood stained book out of his pocket and I recognized the title immediately. I felt light headed as I tried to find the words there wasn‘t much to say when the tears clouded my vision and I began pleading. “No, please, no.”

“I am sorry Mirabel, he didn‘t make it,” Aldo says painfully.
“Tell me everything that happened,” I order.
“Ya don‘t wa-”
“God damn it Aldo I deserve to know what happened after all the shit I‘ve gone through!”
“Alright.”

The things that I was told had be reeling. Aldo described the body of Dieter Hellstrom having Hugo’s knife coming from the neck. A part of me was happy that the rotten son of a bitch was dead but that part did not overpower the feeling of emptiness I felt because I no longer had Hugo. I couldn’t fathom what happened and I couldn’t even see much of a future now that Hugo was gone. After losing my family, being tortured and raped endlessly then having my child born a beautiful lifeless corpse, Hugo dying was my last straw. The room was silent and I wanted nothing more than to be alone.

“Please leave Aldo,” I say shakily.
“I promised Hugo I‘d get yew back to America,” he states. I ignored his statement not even wanting to think about having to go back without Hugo in tow. Remaining silent I didn’t even bother getting up from the bed to see Aldo out of the room. I couldn’t do anything, instead I just lied down in bed and slept, letting my own anguish filled sobs lull me to sleep.

I woke when the sky was dark and I slipped one knife into the back of my skirt. My strides were slow but purposeful as I moved out of the building and into the cold summer night. Everyone stared but no one talked to me as I moved along to the bench where I always sat and stared at the brick wall.
Sitting there I was unmoving and silent like a statue. My mind went to the story of the Happy Prince, I had finally figured out that I was the bird and the prince was Hugo. I was never planning on staying in Germany for long, it was almost as if I was just passing through but then I met Hugo. The cold winter was approaching but I still remained loyal and at his side because I loved him.

However my thoughts were interrupted when I heard someone approaching me. The footsteps caused the gravel to crunch beneath their heavy steps.

“Mirabel, I am glad you are here in one piece,” Hans Landa says appearing in my line of vision. I looked up at him, seeing the bandage that hid the swastika mark Aldo had carved into his forehead. Ever since Aldo told me what happened the gears in my head were turning.

“When I met you Mirabel, I thought you to be the most exquisite thing I had ever laid my eyes upon. I have gotten us a home in Nantucket where you can start a new life.”
“What exactly do you like about me?”
“Excuse me?” he responds.
“What exactly do you like about me?” I repeat looking up at him.

“You‘re very beautiful and intelligent.”
“Funny you say intelligent.”
“Why‘s that Mirabel?” Hans inquires.
“If you thought me intelligent you wouldn‘t think that you‘d actually get away with what you have done,” I state in a low eerie tone.
“All I‘ve wanted was you,” he counters.
“I am not to be had!”
“I could have given you a better life than some lowly sergeant-”

“Shut your filthy mouth! Hugo was more of a man than you could ever dream of being! He had honor and was loyal to those he loved right until the very end! You intercepted that letter I sent to Hugo and you sent that other one instead! You knew what Hellstrom was doing to me and you waited so that you‘d look like some sort of hero!” I exclaim standing up quickly and pushing him up against the wall. “At least own up to what you have done!”

“I-I-” Hans stutters as I pressed a knife against his neck. The pain that was in my leg was completely dissolved as all my focus was on causing Hans Landa pain of his own. Kneading the knife carefully I was sure that I caused pain but no death. A trickle of blood slid down his neck and his breaths quickened. My eyes were manic and I stared back at him.

“When you are at that nice little piece of property and you feel someone watching you, it will be me. You won‘t know when I‘ll come for you, just when you think I forgot I‘ll be there. Praying to God won‘t save you when I come for your blood. You will bleed for those you‘ve wronged, and for the child I lost. Nothing you do or say will change it. You wanted me Landa now you got it,” I say fiercely as I let him go and he fell into a heap. I began to walk away and stopped for a moment not even looking back at him, “I‘m going to break you and you will beg for mercy only to realize I have none left.”