≡ Broken ≡

Sonia put her tray down beside Adalhard's, just like she had done for the past three months.
     "Oh how I ling for a good cup of strong coffee and cream," she whispered in Adalhard's ear, as to not let the guards hear her.
     Adalhard nodded in agreement.
     They ate there small meal of mush quickly and in silence. Adalhard and Sonia were always the first to finish, and always the ones to finish their assigned work  first.They always made sure to spend their open time helping Alex, the priest, to finish his work, and then they would sit and talk. Alex of the God and the Bible. Adalhard spoke of the books he had read, and Sonia of the songs she had sung.
     "Adalhard, Alex shh! Listen!" said Sonia.
     It was dark outside and all was quiet.
     "I don't -" Adalhard was cut off.
     "There!" said Sonia getting up and walking to the door of the nearest barrack and pressing herself to it.  She heard nothing behind it, and so she continued on to the next, but stopped in the middle between the two buildings, her big brown eyes getting even bigger.
     "What is it?" inquired Alex also quietly getting up and walking over to where Sonia was standing frozen. Adalhard followed him.
     Adalhard didn't wait to be told what to do he yelled, "Hey! Hey you! Stop!"
He started to run towards the man firmly holding the womans wrist. Adalhard tackled the man and the he briefly had the wind knocked out of him. Adalhard didn't wait for him to get it back, he imediately turned the man over onto his back and pinned him there.
     "What are you doing!" cried the man.
     "Shut up!" commanded Adalhard.
     "I should ask you the same thing!" said Alex's critisizing voice.
     "Oh don't tell me you don't have the same physical needs as me priest! I know that tramp didn't hang around with you for nothing.
     Sonia stormed up to the man and slapped him hard across the face and then took him by his ear and dragged him up so that he was looking straight into her eyes.
     "How can you say that to me!" she cried in a horse voice, tears gleaming on her cheeks in the moon light. Then she slapped him again.
     "Oh Sonia be real don't you tell me you haven't been with these men!" sneered the man.
     Sonia went to slap his mouth again, which was already severely redened, but the burly man caught her wrist and twisted it.
     "Enough!" cried Peter.
     Both the big man and Sonia looked at him, the man releasing his sister and Sonia backing away from her brother. Sonia walked back to her friends and stood, head held high, next to Adalhard.
      "Go, and do what you will sir," stated Alex and the group of three turned and walked away from the sight, helping the injured woman up as they went.
     "You are dead to me Sonia!" they heard the man call after them.
     No one but Adalhard saw Sonia flinch at the cutting words of her own brother.
     The next morning there was no breakfast, and during the daily work Sonia fainted, know what they would do to prisoners if the stopped working, Alex picked her up and Adalhard offered the rest of the already small amount of water to Alex and he splashed it on her face, she woke instantly and Alex told her quickly to get back to work, and she did just that. Men and women died like flies over the few day of smaller or no meals. Typhus hit severely and yet still Adalhard, Sonia and Alex worked on. Until Alex fell ill, and died, he was burned with hundreds of other bodies. Finally there was a new transport truck that came. But Sonia had fallen ill and Adalhard refused to leave her. Only eight hundred of the original thousands were loaded onto that truck and taken  away. The soldiers had given up trying to control the number of bodies and had stopped burning them. Days past and Adalhard and obviously gotten Typhus, Sonia had already died, but he would not leave her body.
     Adalhard breathed hard he could barley stand, his brow was hot with fever and sweat rolled off the end of his nose. He slowly and painfully lifted Sonia's corps to his shoulder and carried her to the only empty place in the camp. It was truly an image on broken man in a dead camp walking alone and falling to the dusty ground. He tried to lay Sonia out beside himself and one last time looked at her peaceful face and kissed he cool mouth then lay alone looking at the gray sky. Adalhard finally rested,he let out his final breath and thouhgt of the great discovery he was about to make. He, Adalhard was about to discover the greatest mystery.