Schatzi

18

Thank you so much for 1k reads. Please continue to read these chapters and vote and comment because comments make me so happy and I'll reply because I've got no life lol. But yes, thank youuuuu!

It was another few days before Eli woke up, properly that is. His mum was at his side the whole time, cleaning his wounds and burns as best she could, trying to get him to eat and drink when he was half awake, too out of it to talk to her or even realise what was going on, but able to swallow when she pressed a spoon or mug to his lips.

It hurt so much, just watching and barely able to do anything while her son was in such a bad way. There was only so much she could do, and although she reached out to several doctors, none of them would help. Several just ignored her. She then tried to reach out to the out of work Jewish doctors she knew, but received no reply. She'd noticed it had become harder and harder to get in contact with her old friends. It was like they'd disappeared off of the face of the earth.

So it was just her and Eli, with his dad shut out in the rest of the house. Her husband had a lot of issues with Eli which she knew about, and she didn't want him being anywhere near him while he was in this state. Most of the time him being back was just something she had to deal with because Eli didn't live there anymore, but when he was at home, she kept his dad out of the house or as far away from him as possible.

She was sitting by his side as usual when she heard the change in his steady breathing. A hitch, and then a deep sigh as he turned over to face her, lying on his side. Her eyes flicked up to his face and she smiled softly, expecting this to be just like the other times when he wasn't really properly awake, but he smiled back at her, parting his lips to speak.

"Oh, oh baby, shh," she whispered, quickly pulling him into a gentle hug. "It's okay, you're safe,I promise you're safe now."

"Mum..." Eli whispered breathily, leaning his head on her shoulder.

They didn't say anything for a long time, just sitting there and holding onto each other tightly.

Eventually, Rachel pulled away and wiped the silent tears from her cheeks, sitting up straight but continuing to grip her sons hand tightly.

"Where am I?" Eli mumbled, looking around, expression slightly panicked.

"Just your old room," his mum assured him quickly. "At home. Do you want to explain what happened first? Or should I tell you what's happened since?"

"I'll talk," he said, sitting up in his bed, tucking a lock of hair behind his ear. "Peter and I had argued, and I stormed out. I saw the smoke and everything coming from town so I went to see what was going on." He paused and shook his head, swallowing hard. "It was like something out of a book. Everything was just on fire, and things like that don't happen in real life! They were just destroying everything." He stopped again and looked up at his mum with tears in his eyes. "I tried to save him, I really did. I went into the shop, and I tried to get upstairs but I couldn't get through. I'm sorry, mum. I really tried!"

"No, no, no, baby, it's okay," she said quick, brushing away his tears. "Your uncle? He's alive. He got out of the window when he saw them setting the fire to the shop. Don't stress about that, darling, because he's okay."

"O-oh..." Eli mumbled, nodding. "That's good," he added, giving her a weak smile.

"Yes, yes, it's very good. Keep going, Eli. Tell me what happened."

"Well, I got back out once I realised I wasn't going to be able to get up, and save him, but not save him I guess, because he wasn't there, but you know what I mean. But yeah, I got out, and I was on the street. I was..." he hesitated, trying to remember that night. It still felt like a dream. "I was crying. I was outside and I was crying, not really looking around. I don't really remember what happened except they attacked me. And they just kept kicking me and I was on-"