Friends on a Journey [Lahtinen]

[olivervontrapp]

Place: Berlin, Germany.
Time: 8:oo A.m.
Weather: Wet and cold.

One of his eyes opened. Then his other eye did the same exact thing. He glanced around finding himself in a damp, little room lying down in a stack of hay. What the bloody hell did he do last night? He pushed himself up to get a good look of the place. It was so dark that he could hardly see anything. Again, he asked himself, what did you do last night? He could hardly remember anything. Oh, right, Eero. He glanced down at his friend. He was determined to help this boy find his mother. He promised Eero that he wouldn't cross a corner without looking the night before they fell asleep in this damp room.

He pushed himself onto his two feet and began glancing around. He walked over to a mirror hanging near the door. He kept his eyes still on himself. He looked normal. He was still wearing his normal clothing and his features were all normal. So, nothing changed, eh? He asked himself mentally grinning. Good. He didn't want anything to change. He adored his status at the moment. It was basically called the status of freedom. He ran a finger through his hair and he noticed something very odd. He looked a tab' older that morning for some odd reason. As if he were aging.

That was when it had clicked. His eye pupils dilated. It was his bloody birthday today. He glanced down at Eero, slightly gulping. Oliver was turning eleven today. How could he not remember? Ah, who cared anyways. It was just a birthday. He slightly opened the door that led to the shack. "Guden morgen, Eero!" He kept his sheepish grin on as light entered the darkened room. Ah, it was good to see light again. He thought the sun had died or something. [Translations: Good morning, Eero!]

He wanted to start the journey right away. He could not wait any longer. He straightened himself up and glanced outside. Normal Berlin. Everyone was walking in different directions trying to go somewhere. It was oddly a bit sunnier today. Oh well. He liked sun. It was good to have sun once in a while instead of harsh snowflakes and raindrops falling on your pale cheek every once in a while. "Kommen!" He began making his way outside and onto the streets of Berlin where he would begin his long journey alongside his friend that day. [Translations: Come on!]

[eerolahtinen]

Eero had been deadly tired when he had finally found a place to sleep with the help of his new friend, Oliver. Exhausted as he was, he had still found it difficult to get any sleep at first and he had lain awake for a long time. He was not sure when he had finally fallen asleep and how long he had slept, but it was obviously morning when he woke up to Oliver's voice. A stream of light crept inside the shoddy wooden building and made Eero squint his eyes.

"Guden morgen, Eero!", Oliver called out chirpily and Eero frowned at the other boy. Eero picked up a straw of hay from inside the collar of his shirt and mumbled something in Finnish at his friend. He was still tired and felt sleepy, his head felt muddled. He did not know where all of Oliver's energy came from, but he surely would have liked to know. Maybe he could borrow some of that energy for himself while he was at it, too.

He stumbled up into a sitting position and picked up some hay from his hair, yawning widely. The boy looked around him and studied his surroundings in the scarce light that illuminated the shack. There was not much to be seen there and sleeping in hay wasn't the most comfortable way of resting, but it was more than enough right now. He felt better now that he had gotten some rest and remembered the Reichspfennigs that were in his pocket. They would buy them some food at least and Eero noticed how the mere thought of food made his stomach growl.
"Wir konnten etwas Essen heute kaufen", Eero noted as he climbed to his feet. He noticed how sore all of his muscles were and he stretched his limbs painfully, wincing as he did so. He combed a few fingers through his sandy hair to look even somewhat neat and then straightened out his clothes. Oliver was standing in the doorway and looking as if he could just explode with all the energy that was brimming inside him. "Kommen!", the boy said and was already out of the door.

Eero sighed and stretched again, but then hurried after his friend while still picking hay from his clothes. The day was sunnier then the day before and Eero was in a better mood than he had been for a long time. At least today he was not alone and he trusted that Oliver knew the city quite well. It gave him great comfort to be able to talk to someone, too. He took a few running steps to catch up with Oliver and settled walking next to his friend.

"Denken Sie, dass wir versuchen sollten, meine Mutter heute zu befreien? Ich habe keinen Plan noch, dennoch. Haben Sie etwas gedacht, Oliver?", Eero asked and glanced at the other boy. He hoped that Oliver would have come up with at least some ideas, he still remembered the menacing fence around the camp and the guards that kept constant watch over the prisoners. Maybe the fact that they were still children would help them achieve their goal, crazier things had happened.

Translations:

"Wir konnten etwas Essen heute kaufen."
"We could buy some food today."

"Denken Sie, dass wir versuchen sollten, meine Mutter heute zu befreien? Ich habe keinen Plan noch, dennoch. Haben Sie etwas gedacht, Oliver?"
"So, do you think we should try to free my mother today? I don't have any plan yet, though. Have you thought of something, Oliver?"

[olivervontrapp]

"Wir konnten etwas Essen heute kaufen."

Oliver nodded. He noticed how Eero had caught up to his pace. It was a pretty good start. Oliver had a great sleep last night but he didn't exactly know about Eero. He must've had a harsh night, he heard a few moanings and such. He must've had a few bad dreams or something along those lines. He kept himself at a steady pace so that Eero could catch up. He wanted to roar all his energy out. It was urging to jump out. He tried his best to keep it all in but he knew it would end up to horrid things. He ran a hand through his hair again and watched his footsteps. He didn't want to end up bumping into anyone at the moment. He absolutely did not need any of that.

"Denken Sie, dass wir versuchen sollten, meine Mutter heute zu befreien? Ich habe keinen Plan noch, dennoch. Haben Sie etwas gedacht, Oliver?"

He glanced at Eero. He had millions of plans. He made up lots last night. He slept quite late and unsurprisingly woke up quite early. "Ja." He gave the other boy a simple reply, embracing a smile. "Ich habe viele Pläne gemacht. Wir konnten entlang der Westküste Berlins reisen. Es ist größtenteils, wo die Konzentrationslager sind. Dort konnten wir all und jedes Konzentrationslager entdecken, bis wir den richtigen finden." He paused, slightly sighing. "Und Wenn wir Ihre Mutter nicht finden. Wir konnten der Stadtrand Berlins reisen und zu Auschwitz gehen, wo es andere Konzentrationslager gibt. Es gibt auch viele andere Konzentrationslager auf dem Stadtrand Deutschlands selbst wie Holland. Wir können dorthin gehen. Ich verspreche, dass ich mit Ihnen gehen werde, wohin auch immer Sie Eero gehen." And that was most probably the biggest oath he had ever made in his lifetime of living on earth. [Translations: [1] I've made lots of plans. We can travel the east coast of Berlin. That's mostly where the concentration camps are. We can discover each one and see if we can find your mother. [2] And If we don't find your mother. We could travel the outskirts of Berlin and go to Auschwitz where there are other concentration camps. There are also many other concentrations camps on the outskirts of Germany itself like Holland. We can go there. I promise I'll go with you, wherever you go Eero. .]

He then pick pocketed Eero and walked over to a stand selling bread. He gave the man a few Euros and the man placed two pieces of bread in Oliver's hand. Oliver nodded and walked off, he gave Eero one piece of bread. "Essen Sie alles davon in diesem Augenblick nicht. Sparen Sie einige für später." He simply suggested. He then followed a woman, who looked pretty fat and rich. All of a sudden, he snatched a few Reichspfennigs that were absent mindly falling from her purse. He walked back over to Eero and placed them in his pocket again.[Translations: Don't eat all of it right now. Save some for later on.]

He then continued on his trail towards the forest that headed towards the east cost of Berlin. "Kommen!" He yelled towards his friend gesturing him to follow. He began walking through the bushes and hedges that grew in the woods. He pushed himself through trees and long, leafy green plants of Linden. He could've swore he had spotted and Edelweiss. But didn't those grow in the Alps? Edelweiss was always his favorite and will always be his favorite. He loved hiking. His friends used to go hiking with him every week-end..but now, he didn't exactly know where his friends were. All of a sudden, he had approached a long row of wired fence. That was it. The Berlin Concentration Camp. He stood in front of it, peering in.

[eerolahtinen]

Eero matched his step to Oliver's and smiled at his friend as they walked onwards. Some of Oliver's enthusiasm had rubbed on Eero and he started to think that this day just might be a wonderful adventure like Oliver seemed to think. He was still nowhere near as filled with energy as his friend was and Eero could only sigh and stare at the other boy in amazement. Oliver sure handled his parents death bravely and he obviously was not the least bit scared of having to find a living on his own. Eero wished he could have been as cool-headed as Oliver was.

Oliver told of his grand plan of going to different concentration camps to look for Eero's mother and Eero could only blink as he listened to the other boy. It seemed like they would have to travel a long way and the whole idea felt just too big for two kids. Eero had seen the map of Germany and it certainly was a lot bigger country than Finland. And Finland had felt like a huge place, too, Eero had seen only a small fraction of it. Of course, he had never really traveled anywhere before moving to Helsinki and then to Berlin and it made Eero wonder how long it would take to travel to every place in a country the size of Germany.

Eero sighed and seemed to hesitate as he pondered the options. How would they travel? They certainly couldn't walk all the width of Germany and travelling by a train or a car cost money. But maybe they wouldn't have to travel very far, they might find Eero's mother from the camps near Berlin? It seemed like a reasonable idea. Why would anyone go through a lot of trouble to transport someone far away when there was a prison just next door?

The boy bit his lip and glanced again at Oliver, he seemed quite sure of his plan. Maybe he would just have to trust his new friend, he knew the country much better than him anyway. He had promised to help Eero find his mother and Eero believed the boy was speaking from his heart. It made Eero smile at Oliver and he nodded, letting go of his nervous thoughts for now. It certainly helped when Oliver quickly bought some bread for them and Eero started munching on his meal happily. He didn't remember when he had last eaten fresh bread, it was so delicious!

Oliver led him out of the city and into a rural area. Eero had long since finished his bread when they started dodging around trees and making their way slowly through the underbrush of the forest. For a moment Eero thought that Oliver had surely lost his way in the forest, but suddenly the imposing wired fence was before them. Eero held his breath for a while and blinked as he studied the camp. He could see several guards and each corner of the camp was guarded by a tall tower. Loudspeakers had been set on a tall post in the middle of the camp and he could see several spotlights that could be used to illuminate the camp when needed. People in ragged clothes, prisoners apparently, were walking around and doing different tasks, some of them seemed kind of pointless. One man was just chipping at the dirt with a pickaxe near one of the buildings and Eero didn't see what use could come out of that. He peered his eyes and tried to see if his mother was among the prisoners, but it was hopeless. There were so many people and none of them looked like his mother at all.

The boy sighed and carefully approached the fence. He could feel the electricity in the air and he stepped quickly back. The wire had an electric current running through it.
Eero frowned and shrugged at Oliver. "Was denken Sie dass wir tun sollten? Finden Sie vielleicht einen guten Platz und graben Sie? Oder vielleicht sollten wir uns überzeugen, ob meine Mutter hier erst ist? Ich weiß wie nicht.. Es gibt so viele Wächter hier, sie werden uns fangen."

Translations:

"Was denken Sie dass wir tun sollten? Finden Sie vielleicht einen guten Platz und graben Sie? Oder vielleicht sollten wir uns überzeugen, ob meine Mutter hier erst ist? Ich weiß wie nicht.. Es gibt so viele Wächter hier, sie werden uns fangen."
"What do you think we should do? Maybe find a good place and dig? Or maybe we should make sure if my mother is here first? I don't know how.. There are so many guards here, they will catch us."

[Christopher J. D'Dario]

Due to the members no longer being on the site, this will be moved to the Archives.

-=[SeeJay]=-