Empty Roads (Oliver)

[Stephen Colly]

Place – Allied France
Time – 14:00

The sun shone high above the shinny helmets of three soldiers as they made their way along a dusty track towards the front line base near the Allied front lines. A car sped along the road behind the men and stopped just as it reached them.

”Anyone want a lift?” came the driver, a sandy-haired Corporal in his early 20s.
One of the men shook his head, the other two nodded and got into the two backseats, ”Sure you don’t want one Stevey-boy?” asked the Corporal, ”No, I’m alright thanks, prefer to walk.” he said, waving the car off as it sped away up the road.

The young soldier was now alone on the dusty track, his rifle over his left shoulder, his eyes squinting into the sun. After a few more strides of walk, he now wished he’d accepted the ride of the car but the car wasn’t able to be seen it had gone off so quickly, so Stephen just trudged along, his boots hitting the ground and sending dust onto his uniform.

The track was now empty; fields full of crops were now on either side, swaying in the slight breeze. Stephen glanced down at his watch to check the time. He didn’t have to be back at base for another 45 minutes or so, so could walk as slowly as he wanted.

His hair underneath his helmet was getting rather sweaty so he undid the strap and took it off, letting the air get to his hair…he stared up at the sky, and then back down at the road, standing still for a minute.

[olivervontrapp]

He began muttering the engine sound as he began running around through the fields pretending to be an aeroplane. Young little Oliver was wuite bored that morning. His father had took him to France because his father wanted to have a word with one the Generals there. Oliver had no idea what it was about, but it seemed like they were having a meeting or something like that. Oliver couldn't care less. He felt quite hyperactive that morning, speaking of which, he was always hyperactive.

He had gotten out of bed quite early in the morning and had no breakfast at all. Why was he so hyper? As he continued to run and play along, he couldn't help but see a shadow of a figure ahead. It looked like a soldier's shadow. Oliver paused through his footsteps. He kept his gaze on the shadow ahead. He wondered whom the person was. He wanted to explore more. He wanted to find out more.

He spoke English quite fluently - although he had a very heavy accent. It would be best to speak English at the moment because he did not know what sort of language the people spoke here. His father said something about French but Oliver didn't speak a word of French. He approached the shadow, almost bumping into it. It was a man. He kept his gaze up at the man with his scarlet green eyes.

"Um, sorry sir. I-I'm sort of lost." He quietly stuttered trying his best to loose his German accent.

[Stephen Colly]

Was it just Stephen or could he hear an aeroplane sound coming from somewhere? He was ready to instinctively fling himself to the ground if the bomb or whatever was coming would fly over but no…the aeroplane sound didn’t sound quiet like a real one…it sounded humanist.

He heard footsteps and turned around almost knocking into a little figure, a boy staring up at him.
He spoke with a stutter, his accent sounded rather odd…what was it with Stephen meeting young people? First it was Adelheid, second there had been that little Jewish boy of Niamh’s, next…this one. He wondered how the little girl was doing, he hadn’t seen her since him and Mac had taken her to buy some toys to play with…that had been what? Four to five months ago? Her careers had said she had disappeared from them when Stephen had gone to check on her one day…it was a great shame, she was the supposed daughter of his friend Rhys Bevan…late Rhys Bevan he should say.

”What’s your name?” Stephen knelt down little so he could be at the boy’s eye-level, he stared at him…there was something odd about the boy but he wouldn’t keep thinking that…he was a child of what? 10 years old…maybe older?

He glanced up and down the road, no one was coming just yet so he could have a nice conversation with the boy…if he wanted to have one that was…Stephen wouldn’t be able to help the lad, he was slightly lost at where he was as well. The only place he knew how to get to was the Allied base as it was down the road…but to anywhere else he was clueless.

[olivervontrapp]

”What’s your name?”

Oliver gulped. He spoke nothing. He was terribly scared. Not only that, it felt freezing cold that afternoon. He glanced down. He was just a child. Of course he was scared. He was standing in front of a stranger for goodness sakes. "O-oliver Von Trapp." He muttered, but his words could be heard quite clearly. The wind swished and danced with his brown hair as he kept his gaze down on the ground.

He then glanced back up at the man. His father had told him not to speak to strangers but it seemed that Oliver had no choice at the moment. "I-I can't find my father." He slightly stuttered. "I think I lost him." Yes, it was true. Oliver did lose his father, but he knew that he would find him sooner or later.

"I've come from Germany." He said in a child like German tone of voice. He placed a small smile on his face while keeping his glance on the man in front of him. He seemed quite nice. Others were quite cold.

[Stephen Colly]

The boy was a child; he was just a child that had gotten lost. ”Nice to meet you Oliver.” he smiled softly at the boy, not wanting to frighten him even if he did have a German sounding accent, he surely wouldn’t produce a gun from thin air and shoot Stephen…surely not.

”You can’t find your father? Where did you last see him?” Stephen asked, staring the young boy in the eyes, watching his movements. When the boy said he had come from Germany, Stephen straightened up and looked down at him. The boy had a small smile on his face.

”I don’t know this area very well so I wouldn’t be able to help you find your father, I may know people who would be if you are that desperate…why have you come all this way from Germany?” he asked, frowning slightly.

[olivervontrapp]

”Nice to meet you Oliver.”

Oliver smiled toward the man. He never went a day without smiling. He liked to smile. It was just him. "Nice to meet you too, sir." Yes, he did use the term sir when speaking to the man. He knew best to respect at the moment - for, he did not exactly know the man. His lips slightly trembled. The man reminded Oliver of someone. Someone very close to him. It just didn't ring a bell though.

”You can’t find your father? Where did you last see him?”

Oliver shook his head, now staring deeply at the ground beneath him. "No, sir. Actually I Don't." He muttered in the clearest voice he could make. He still had quite a squeaky, German accent and it wouldn't go away. Oh, why wouldn't it go away? - Oliver asked himself in his head. He then glanced back up at the man with his blue eyes. The man looked a bit more serious this time. It was quite odd. Anyways, it felt like an odd moment too. Was there something wrong with him being German on these lands. Oliver had very little knowledge. Although, he knew the horrors his father had commited in the past few years. Killings of innocent people. Oliver tried to block those thoughts out of his head but they just wouldn't go away. It was horrid.

”I don’t know this area very well so I wouldn’t be able to help you find your father, I may know people who would be if you are that desperate…why have you come all this way from Germany?”

Oliver shook his head again. He wasn't that desperate to find his father any time soon. Actually, to be honest, he was trying to get away from his father. He hated spending time with him. It always ended up into politics. Oliver disliked politics and the whole social issue that was going on in Germany. It was disgusting and pathetic. That's what Oliver thought otherwise. He noticed the frown on the man's face. Oh god, the frown. "I-I think - " He paused there, gulping. "Actually, sir, I don't know why we've come here." Again, he tried to keep a respectful tone of voice on.

[Stephen Colly]

Manners. The boy had manners and looked sweet. A boy with manners and sweet was a perfect connection. Stephen couldn’t help but smile warmly at him. ”I’ve met someone else like you, German I mean…” he thought about the little girl…that poor little girl, he really hoped she was alright.

The boy’s lips trembled and Stephen put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. ”Hey, don’t tremble like that, I’m not going to attack you with this gun.” he jabbed a thumb at his own shoulder where a gun was slung over, loaded with three bullets, those three bullets would not go into this boy’s heart or any child’s heart as long as Stephen lived…he would never kill a child, never.

Maybe Stephen should take the boy back to base? Like he had done with the little girl but that had ended in trouble and he didn’t want that. Stephen shifted himself a bit so that it was more comfortably for him as he watched the boy, awaiting an answer.

”You don’t know why you have come here?” Stephen’s frown deepened as he moved his gun a bit. ”Well, I hope you haven’t run away from your father? That’s a bad…” he stopped suddenly, he had run away from his father, from his home a year or two ago and look what had happened to him…

Stephen changed track quickly, ”Do you want some chocolate? I have some.” he pulled out the bar one of the citizens of Paris had given him when he had marched through there a few weeks back. He had kept it in his pocket away from the other men. He handed the bar to the boy, ”You look hungry. Go on, try it. It’s French.”