Bad Dreams [Otto]

[Heidi]

Country: City of Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Current Time: 01:12
Weather Conditions: Cold, windy night, with some rainfall. The thermometer keeps reading 12 degrees Celsius (53.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

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Her heart was pounding madly in her chest. She was frozen to the corner, hugging her legs as she stared on in horror. Her skin was mottled with cuts and bruises, the monster before her having thrashed her around in its jaws moments before. There was a large, oozing bite mark on her right arm to prove this, which burned like the fires that swirled all around her. She trembled furiously, whimpering as the beast got closer.

"Hallo, Adelheid..." the monster growled. It was lupine in form, with teeth as long as a grown man's middle finger, hunched over and saliva dripping from its mouth. One side of it was covered with thick, reddish fur, while the other was nothing but burnt, rotting skin. A single, fierce eye of blue stared into her own, filled hunger and bloodshot. Its long, blackened claws reached for her, deep growls echoing up from its throat. As it walked, the ground shook, the body of Herr Claude dragging along behind it, covered in bite marks and his throat torn out. The fires were getting closer, and its prey screamed, hoisted into the air by her shoulders as the monster opened its mouth. It aimed its jaws for the little girl's own throat....

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Heidi woke up with a scream. The blankets in her bed felt like the monster's paws around her body. She cried out, flailing her arms and kicking wildly, rolling around as she did so. So hard did she struggle, Heidi suddenly found herself at the bed's edge, and before she could stop herself, she fell. There was a small crack as she landed on her still-healing ribs, and the girl screamed again, suddenly clutching at her side. Somewhere else in the house, there was a sudden barking, and the sound of nails clacking loudly against the floor.

Although she hadn't dreamed much the past few days - the only thing she could recall was her forest dream - disturbing ones had begun to plague her. Each night, they had been growing more and more vivid, although she hadn't woken up screaming like she was now. The "werewolf" that had been her tormentor, her captor for what seemed like an eternity, had come back to haunt her in her sleep.

The barking came back again, this time louder than before. There was the sound of something sniffing and whimpering, and the sounds of a dog panting. Heidi, not in the best mindset at that moment, feared it was the monster from her dreams, and aimed a kick at the thing. A yelp came forth as she made contact, followed by more barking as she tried to free herself, her injured ribs still aching.

[Otto Wolff]

The quiet and steady tick-tock of the old clock was the only sound coming from Otto Wolff's home office. Earlier it had been accompanied by the rustle of papers and the scribbling of a pen, but the exquisite ink pen was now resting on top of the papers as Otto himself had fallen asleep in his comfortable chair. His dark suit jacket was resting on the backrest of his chair and the man was left wearing his suit pants and a white shirt, a tie and a pair of black suspenders.

He had not yet fallen into deep slumber, so his sleep had been dreamless and light. Very suddenly something aroused the man from his dream and Otto twitched in his chair, opening his eyes quickly and blinking. He realized he had fallen asleep but could not say for how long. To him, it had seemed as if he had just closed his eyes for a moment, but obviously more time than that had already passed. It took him a small moment to gather his bearings again and to understand what had actually woken him up. A dog was barking nearby and it took a few more seconds for Otto to realize that the commotion was coming from inside the apartment. A girl screamed and more barking ensued, the sounds making their way into his office from another room.

Otto bolted up from his chair, banging his knee painfully on the desk in the process. He could hear Luger barking in distress to alert his master that something was wrong and needed his immediate attention. With a small limp and quiet cursing, Otto kept squinting his eyes as he hurried into the hallway and towards Heidi's room. For a moment the image of Heidi attacked by Luger lingered in his mind, but the thought vanished quickly. The dog knew that the small child was part of the family... well, in a way she was. Temporarily, Otto reminded himself. Still, there was no reason for the dog to attack the little girl, so something else must have been amiss.

The door was already slightly ajar and Otto pushed it open quickly, his hand already reaching for the light-switch on the wall. As the lights clicked on, Otto could see that the little girl was down on the floor next to her bed, tangled up in her blankets. The Doberman was barking wildly at her, keeping a safe distance from the child for some reason."Luger, schweig still! Sie werden durch das ganze Haus erwecken. Raus mit dir, raus!" Otto commanded the dog sharply and Luger fell silent right away. A small whine formed in the dog's throat. In the dog's mind he had only been guarding the small human and he could not understand why Otto was not thanking him for a job well done. Still, the dog slunk out of the room slowly and sat down in the hallway near the door, just in case.

Otto blinked at the little girl, it was obvious that something had distressed the child greatly. Bad dreams, most likely? He could not remember suffering from such serious nightmares at Heidi's age, but maybe running away from the SS and having to live with people strange to her, had caused the girl to grow so stressed. With a sigh, Otto was soon crouching next to the girl, trying to unravel the blankets from around the girl. "Beruhigen Sie sich, Heidi. Ich bin hier jetzt, Luger erweckte durch mich, er war über Sie besorgt. Alles ist ganz richtig. Hatten Sie einen schlechten Traum?" the man's voice was hoarse from just waking up, but low and strangely reassuring. In all honesty, Otto's mind was still far too muddled to try and be too calming on purpose, but he had the habit of talking in a low and steady tone of voice, regardless of the situation.


Translation:

"Luger, schweig still! Sie werden durch das ganze Haus erwecken. Raus mit dir, raus!"
"Luger, quiet! You will wake up the whole house. Out with you, out!"

"Beruhigen Sie sich, Heidi. Ich bin hier jetzt, Luger erweckte durch mich, er war über Sie besorgt. Alles ist ganz richtig. Hatten Sie einen schlechten Traum?"
"Calm down, Heidi. I'm here now, Luger woke me up, he was just worried about you. Everything is all right. Did you have a bad dream?"

[Heidi]

Translations:

"Es tut mir leid, dass... Ich meinte dazu nicht...." = I'm sorry...I didn't mean to....

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"Luger, schweig still! Sie werden durch das ganze Haus erwecken. Raus mit dir, raus!"

Heidi froze. The sharp, commanding voice caused her to feel more trapped in her nightmare than she already was. She whimpered, giving a small sob, feeling the edges of her eyes sting. From the footsteps, she pushed herself away, and curled up tightly as they got closer. It was only until the voice came again, hoarse but soft and gentle, that she realized it wasn't the monster's. And, that someone had turned the lights on her room.

Hesitantly, she pulled away some of the blanket from her face. A tired, familiar pair of eyes were staring down at her - that of Herr Otto's. Heidi sniffled once, then again, followed by another little whimper and a quivering lip. Her eyes screwed shut, and she began to cry, feeling her face burn with embarrassment. She had woken Herr Otto up with all her struggling and panicking.

"Es tut mir leid, dass... Ich meinte dazu nicht..." the child said between sobs. The girl didn't want Herr Otto to think something was wrong with her; he might call a doctor, like Herr Jonas had, and Doctor Strumfelder might come. Then, the doctor would take her away again, and hurt Herr Claude, too, since he had shot Herr Claude in front of her before. She also didn't want to make Herr Otto mad, because he might hit her, like Doctor Strumfelder had as well. Heidi had seen him happily drag Luger by the collar before - what if he did the same to her as well?! She couldn't fend him off - she wasn't strong at all!

Her side was hurting more than before because of the crying. It was normal for people's sides to ache after they cried, sometimes, but the pain felt like bees were stinging the middle of her ribs repeatedly. She rubbed at her sore side a little, but flinched as the action caused a sudden spasm of hurt.

[Otto Wolff]

The girl shrank away from Otto as the man got closer and her lower lip quivered for a while before the child started sobbing. She kept her eyes shut tightly and a strange, powerless feeling took hold of Otto. He really did not have much idea how to cope with a crying child. He had been quite distant from his own parents and Otto's father had brought up his children with hard discipline. More than once Otto had gotten his fair share of bruises as a child and he felt horrible thinking that he had done the same thing to his own son. Otto truly had not been any better than his own father, no matter how many times he had vowed to be nothing like him. He should at least try and find his fatherly side, for the sake of this little girl if nothing else. She had been through enough, having to live in an orphanage and being dragged into a line full of Jews.

"Es tut mir leid, dass... Ich meinte dazu nicht..." the girl said, her words being constantly cut off by her sobbing. Otto sighed and stared at the crying child for a while. Come on, Otto, it can't truly be that difficult? The man moved his hand slowly, hesitated for a while and then set it gently on the girl's shoulder, giving her a small pat. "Aber, aber, Heidi. Kein Grund, sich Sorgen zu machen, ist es nicht Ihre Schuld. Aber es war nur ein Traum. Es gibt nichts, um Angst vor in hier zu haben," the man said in his low voice, arching an eyebrow at his own incompetence. What a reassuring way to calm down a scared child... Pat her on the shoulder, that should work.

He might have not been the perfect father-figure, but he certainly had a knack for noticing things. He could see the girl pressing her hand carefully against her side and Otto wondered if the child had hurt herself falling from the bed. The action made the girl flinch and Otto squinted his eyes. Children could take quite a bit of bumps and they did not feel any worse off with small cuts and bruises. The fall from the bed was bad enough to cause any serious injuries, but the girl was obviously in some amount of pain.

"Verletzten Sie sich, Heidi?" Otto asked slowly. "So, ich bin überzeugt, dass es nichts zu Ernstes ist. Ich glaube, dass es noch ein echter Fall vom Bett bis den Fußboden ist, ist es kein Wunder, wenn Sie sich verletzen."

The man was already clearing up the tangle of blankets from around Heidi. "Jetzt bin ich kein Doktor, aber ich studierte wirklich Medizin in einem jüngeren Alter. So, Arzneimittellehre, um genauer zu sein. Wo schmerzt es? Gerade auf Ihrer Seite? Werden Sie mich ansehen lassen?" Otto was talking mostly to just calm the child down, he did not think that Heidi in her frightened state was listening to his words much. Still, he was hoping that Heidi would at least stop crying and realize that there was nothing to be scared of.


Translations:

"Aber, aber, Heidi. Kein Grund, sich Sorgen zu machen, ist es nicht Ihre Schuld. Aber es war nur ein Traum. Es gibt nichts, um Angst vor in hier zu haben."
"Now now, Heidi. No need to be sorry, it's not your fault. But it was only a dream. There's nothing to be afraid of in here."

"Verletzten Sie sich, Heidi?"
"Did you hurt yourself, Heidi?"

"So, ich bin überzeugt, dass es nichts zu Ernstes ist. Ich glaube, dass es noch ein echter Fall vom Bett bis den Fußboden ist, ist es kein Wunder, wenn Sie sich verletzen."
"Well, I'm sure it's nothing too serious. I guess it's still quite a fall from the bed to the floor, it's no wonder if you hurt yourself."

"Jetzt bin ich kein Doktor, aber ich studierte wirklich Medizin in einem jüngeren Alter. So, Arzneimittellehre, um genauer zu sein. Wo schmerzt es? Gerade auf Ihrer Seite? Werden Sie mich ansehen lassen?"
"Now, I'm no doctor, but I did study medicine at a younger age. Well, pharmacology to be more exact. Where does it hurt? Just on your side? Will you let me take a look?"