Doppelgänger

Chapter 1 - Birth

22nd July 1911

The moon was glowing brightly against the midnight blue sky, its bright white light was like a beacon against the dark background,  standing out much more than the thousands of tiny glittering stars that joined it in the night sky. 

Scarcely any lights shon through the windows of the buildings that lined the streets of Weimar, the majority of the city dwellers slept peacefully in their beds after spending the Saturday evening drinking and forgetting the troubles of the working week.

In contrast to the peace of the city, elsewhere in Weimar, pained screams echoed off the walls of a small house.

The agonised screams rippled from a pair of dry and cracked lips, set against a pale and sweaty face. The face was contorted into a grimace of effort and agony, the blue eyes held inklings of fear and dread. Long, golden-blonde and curly hair stuck to the almost grey and moist skin, which a tall dark haired man gently brushed aside.

The dark haired man, Klaus, held his wife's clammy hand in one of his own - the other resting on her shoulder comfortingly. He had a slight worried frown on his face as his dark brown eyes stared at the doctor down between his wife's legs, while a nurse stood next to him.

"Ein letzter schieben, Frau März!" The doctor instructed from down at Klaus' wife's legs.
("One last push, Mrs März!")

Mrs März panted heavily, shaking her head in refusal. She felt as though every ounce of energy she had in her body had been used, every muscle ached like she'd run ten marathons back to back - now she had to somehow find another bounty of energy to push an infant out of her body? She couldn't do it, she just couldn't - she was exhausted.

Through heavy pants and tears, the exhausted woman protested tiredly.
"Ich kann nicht!" She choked.
("I can't")

Klaus squeezed his wife's hand encouragingly, looking at her with a look of plea. He rubbed her shoulder and spoke enthusiastically, "Ja, du kannst! Ich glaube an dich, Anna! Ich weiß, dass Sie es tun können, mein liebchen..."
(" Yes, you can! I believe in you Anna! I know you can do it, my dear...")

Anna released a small sob of anguish, she knew she had to get the baby out of her but she really didn't see where she could find the energy from. Clenching her husband's hand tightly and taking in great lung fulls of air, she released another strained scream as she scraped the bottom of her energy reserves and pushed as hard as she possibly could in her fatigued condition. 

Klaus gripped Anna's hand tighter still, he gritted his teeth slightly as it felt like Anna was going to crush his hand in her iron grip. His eyes widened in amazement as the shrill cries of an infant soon filled the room, he turned to Anna with an elated expression and placed an ecstatic kiss to her cheek.

Anna panted in complete exhaustion, she fell back against the headboard of the bed she lay on and smiled tiredly at her excited husband.

"Es ist ein Mädchen!" ("It's a girl!") the doctor announced with a smile, while the nurse wiped the baby's face with a damp towel and making sure its airwaves were clear, before handing the bundled up baby girl to its mother.

Anna looked down at the swollen and slightly red face of her newborn daughter, who cried loudly in her arms. Anna smiled down at the baby, stroking a hand carefully over the very scarce blonde fuzz on her daughter's head. Her heart melted at the small baby girl in her arms, she'd never felt such an overwhelming amount of love for anything or anyone before - she loved her husband, but this was different.

Klaus watched his wife and newborn daughter with an extreme amount of pride, his dark eyes welled with tears and he placed a hand over his mouth in disbelief of the perfect little bundle in Anna's arms.
It was 11:46 P.M. and the gruelling labour had lasted hours, but as Anna and Klaus looked at their cherubic daughter they knew it was all worth it.