Reyna Feldman, a twenty year old Jewish girl from the tiniest of villages in France, is on the run. Captured by German soldiers while trying to escape over the border, she's taken to an internment camp in Freiburg, Germany, where she meets SS Philli...
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Happy Monday!! With a busy Saturday, and then the Super Bowl (go chiefs), this chapter sat in my drafts for the entire weekend just waiting for some editing before it could be posted! Honestly, I wasn't so sure about it while I was in the thick of writing it, but I think it turned out how I envisioned it now that it's all said and done! Let me know what you think! :)
The cabin was in worse shape than she'd thought.
Climbing onto the porch, Luca extended a hand. She accepted it, stepping over the two middle steps that had rotted through with his help. The windows had been boarded up, a few of the shutters hanging haphazardly off their hinges. She followed close behind as he stepped through the doorway. A lantern sat on a table in the middle of the room, left there by Luca when he'd gone inside the first time. An orange glow lit up the walls around them, casting dancing shadows across the wood as the flame flickered.
She looked around. Other than a thick layer of dust coating every surface, the interior looked relatively untouched - far better that it's exterior counterpart. A small kitchen sat to their left, with a sofa and end table to the far right of the room. A square table with four chairs sat in the middle of the room, dividing the space up into two separate halves.
"How long do you think it's been since someone's been here?" She asked, running a finger along the table top, wiping a line of dust off the wood.
"Years," He replied, closing the front door. "Probably before the war." He slipped his rucksack off his shoulders, and she did the same, their packs hitting the hardwood with a soft thud. "We should see what's here," He nodded towards the room before them. "If there's anything we can use."
She nodded, watching as he unbuckled his bag and pulled out the flashlight.
"Where are you going?" Her brow furrowed as he turned back for the door.
"There's a shed out back," He replied, twisting the knob and opening the door. "I'm going to check it out."
She nodded again, ignoring the nervous pit in her stomach. The door closed behind him, and she turned around to face the room again. Something they could use. It was foolish to think there might be food here. If Luca was right, and no one had been inside this place in years, any food that had been left behind would surely be spoiled.
Picking up the lantern from the table, she headed for the kitchen anyway, opening the first cabinet she came to. Nothing. She opened the second. A few chipped plates sat stacked on one of the shelves, with matching glasses on the shelf underneath. The third only yielded a few droppings from some kind of rodent. She wrinkled her nose, not wanting to think about the probability they might be sharing the space with mice - or worse - rats.
Closing the cabinet door, she left the kitchen, retreating further into the cabin. She crept down the narrow hallway, peering into each room as she went. There was a bathroom behind the first door on the left - if you could call it a bathroom. There was no toilet, only a large metal tub she assumed was used for bathing, and a basin sat atop a dresser that took the place of a normal sink. At the end of the hallway, to the right, was the bedroom. A double bed was pushed against the far wall, with a night stand beside it and a wooden desk against the opposite wall.
