635798

The war might have been ending, but 635798 definitely wasn’t getting any better. As the two of us were sleeping that night, a harsh scoff echoed throughout our room. I jumped up from my spot on the floor and looked around alarmingly. When the scoff sounded off again, I grabbed my rifle and pointed around the room. My eyes haven’t adjusted to the dark so I didn’t have a clue as to what I was about to shoot. The trigger clicked the same time I heard a tiny whimper.

“Wolfgang.”

I turned towards the voice, ramming my knee into 635798’s bed. Grabbing it, I set my rifle down and took 635798’s hand.

“Look.” She guided my hand to her pillow. By now my eyes have adjusted. I saw the blood she coughed up. There was so much that 635798 couldn’t lay her head down.

“I’ll ask Siostra Katarzyna to get a new one,” I said. “Borrow my pillow for tonight.”

“There’s. There’s another. Another thing.”

“What is it?”

635798 lifted up her quilts and pulled her legs to her chest. I put my hand over my mouth, blocking my puking sounds. Blood seeped through the bed sheets and I caught some on 635798’s nightgown.

“What the hell happened?” I asked.

“Time of month,” 635798 said, almost nonchalantly. “First t-time getting. Getting it in. In months.”

I mentally slapped myself. How could that have not come to mind? But what did 635798 expect me to do? I had no knowledge when it came to these things. I’ve made it my goal to ignore Aalyshah’s complaints and that goal has been accomplished so many times.

“Um… I’ll signal Siostra Katarzyna,” I said, inching away slowly.

Minutes later, the nun made her way upstairs with the needed supplies. She headed over to 635798’s bed with a lantern in her hand. 635798 was curled in a ball, crying. Siostra Katarzyna tore the quilts off the bed. She stared at the bloodstain in disgust but quickly disregarded it.

“Cramps?” the nun asked.

635798 nodded.

“Wolfgang, help her into the bathroom. Bring these supplies with you.” Siostra Katarzyna chuckled at the look on my face. “Don’t worry. She’ll know what to do.”

I carried 635798 into the bathroom. I sat her on the toilet after closing the door behind me. There were noises behind me. I didn’t know what 635798 was doing since I had my back to her.

“Sorry you had. Had to see that,” 635798 mumbled behind me.

I shrugged, not knowing how to reply.

There was a cough and what sounded like a choke. 635798 gasped. Her heaving worsened but I couldn’t tell if it was from her illness or nerves. I took the chance to look, regretting it as I did. In 635798’s left had was the wrapping of her supplies and the bloody undergarments. Her right hand was opened, and 635798 stared at it with wide eyes and an opened mouth.

“It’s. It’s a deep. A deep red.” Her voice was barely audible. She shook, losing control of her breath. “The darkest.”

Her shaky hand came my way. She was correct. Usually, the blood she coughed up was light, like the inside of a watermelon, and it was only enough to fit in the palm of her petite hand. This time, the blood was a deep crimson. Certain spots matched the shade of red Americans used for their flag. The darkest parts were as dark as red wine. There was enough blood to cover 635798’s whole palm but also all five fingers.

I looked up at 635798’s frightened, pale face. For the first time since we’ve first arrived in hiding, I noticed she wasn’t getting better at all. Her cheekbones were just as prominent as they were when we left Auschwitz. Her arms and legs were still skinny poles. I could see her bones shape inside her skin and the patterns her veins created. Her ribs created a ladder against her chest and her spine was almost a back fin. Her shoulders pointed sharply and they couldn’t keep her clothes up. The brunette hair atop her head was always filthy with sweat no matter how many times it was washed. Her skin felt like Hell against mine, the temperature still rising.

“Let’s wash this off,” I said.

635798 coughed again, splattering more red wine blood. Some went onto the floor. The rest landed on my white shirt. 635798 whimpered.

“I’m. I’m so. So sorry.” She jumped off the toilet and onto my lap. As she cried into my neck, I rubbed her back, her pointy spine tickling my palm. 635798 suddenly grabbed the collar of my shirt. “Oh God.”

“What?” I asked.

I should’ve gotten 635798’s hints of trying to push herself away, but I didn’t. I held on. Before I knew it, 635798 was hurling over. Within seconds, I was covered in her puke that contained all the soup she has been eating. 635798 was about to wipe the remains off her lips but she puked again, covering herself and my lap. The wretched smell of someone who hasn’t brushed their teeth in days substituted the original, clean bathroom aroma. 635798 got off my lap. She sat back helplessly, covered in blood and puke.

“Bath time,” I said.

I walked out of the bathroom to tell Siostra Katarzyna our agenda. All the sheets were pulled off the bed and all that was left was the mattress. The nun was about to remove the pillow from its pillowcase when she noticed me. Her thin, gray eyebrows crunched together, confused.

“What happened to you?” Siostra Katarzyna asked.

“Six puked. I think her stomach is starting to bother her now. Is she ever going to get better?” I asked.

“I don’t know, to be honest,” Siostra Katarzyna said. “The medication dein Vater sent is running low. The two of us didn’t expect her to be sick this long.”

I sighed. “Well, do you have an extra nightgown for Six? She puked all over herself too.” I heard 635798 hurl as I said this.

Siostra Katarzyna nodded. She opened a drawer in the nightstand and retrieved what I needed. This nightgown was luckily black. I brought it into the bathroom, again closing the door. 635798 sat on the floor, surrounded in more of her puke. She heaved as she cried. She didn’t bother to wipe away the tears running down her face and to her lap. I knelt down in front of her, wiping her face.

“Shh, shh. Don’t cry,” I whispered.

635798 shook her head. “Why can’t. Can’t I feel. Feel better?” She rammed herself into me and choked a muffled cry into my neck.

“It takes time,” I said unknowingly. “Let’s just… Let’s get you out of these clothes and into the tub.”

I turned the water on and helped 635798 out of her nightgown. I made sure to keep it away from the clean one. I scowled at the red marks have stained her body. Mengele’s hot water experiment unfortunately lingered on her skin still. I tried to ignore the marks as 635798 struggled to climb into the tub. She left crimson handprints across the porcelain. Her legs gave way underneath her and I caught her before she plopped to the floor. Once she was settled in the water, she pulled her knees to her chest and coughed onto them. Her cries came back as she stared at the painted skin.

“It’s okay.” I cupped water in my palms and made a stream over her knees. The blood strained the water red.

Once everything was situated, I took the time to strip everything off of me. 635798 stared curiously as I stood there in my underwear. She looked me up and down, almost surprised. A cough stopped her gaze.

“What?” I asked curiously.

As I knelt down again, she shook her head violently.

“Haven’t you ever seen a guy with his clothes off?” I joked, although I knew the answer.

Just as I predicted, 635798 shook her head again.

I chuckled. “C’mon. Let’s clean you up.”

Surprisingly, 635798 didn’t protest when I started to rub her skin with a cloth. This job was for Siostra Kataryna. 635798 tensed when I ran the cloth over her chest. She stayed still as I cleaned her stomach. The puke came off easily.

“Bend over a little. Might as well scrub your back,” I said.

635798 did as she was told. I could feel each vertebrate of her spine under the cloth. Her breathing became easy when I reached her shoulders. Her body wasn’t tense anymore.

“All done,” I said.

As the water drained, I wrapped 635798 in a towel and carried her over to her spot on the toilet. She changed into her new undergarments and nightgown. Meanwhile, I was scrubbing the blood off the bathtub. I didn’t want Siostra Katarzyna to have a heart attack during 635798’s next bath.

I turned around to find blood on the floor. Luckily, 635798 didn’t have any on her.

“I’ll clean it up later,” I said. “Let’s go back to bed.”

Siostra Katarzyna was gone with all of the sheets so 635798 got situated in my spot. I lied on my back next to her on the hardwood floor. After muffling a cough, 635798 grabbed my hand.

“Cold?” she asked.

I shook my head and then remembered her eyes didn’t adjust well in the dark due to her partial blindness. “No.”

I heard a shuffle and then felt 635798’s head on my chest.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“You’re warm,” she said, feeling a slight decrease in her shaking.

I put my hands under her armpits and pulled her closer to my head. She rested her forehead against my neck and her hand on my chest. I kept hugging her. As she fell asleep, I stayed awake, looking up at the ceiling.

635798 was dangerously ill. Her fever was high, she had the shakes, blood spewed as she coughed, and now she was throwing up. No medication was healing her. Whatever this was weakened her system. She couldn’t walk or change by herself. She needed help with daily needs. If it wasn’t for my help or Siostra Katarzyna’s, 635798 would be lying in bed all day most likely dying.

Don’t think about that.

I looked down at 635798. My sides shown from under her skinny frame. Her stomach didn’t make the constant up-down rhythm against mine as she breathed. It went along with her heaves. She sucked in and her stomach would freeze where it was for almost too long. Then she let her breath go, her stomach freezing and pushing against mine. The next breath would be too fast and then the next one would be almost longer than the first. She twitched every so often on top of me. I pushed it off as a nightmare instead of a side-effect of her illness. She never snored, but her breathing was loud due to the fact it was mostly through her mouth.

I fell asleep with my body shaking along with hers.

The room was dim when I woke up that morning. 635798 was still on top of me but so were other things. For some reason there was a violent tremble. I wiped the sleep from my eyes. It still took a few seconds for me to realize what was going on.

I woke up covered in blood and puke and 635798 having a seizure on my body.