Herschel's Log - Entry Sixteen

Herschel’s Log

Friday, May 16, 1941

            I honestly don’t even know what to say about what happened last night. It was one of the most terrifying things I had ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot. There are absolutely no words to say what it was like to watch Erich run towards those flames, powerless to stop him. I had no way of knowing that Gabe wasn’t in the music building, and when I realized that he wasn’t, and he went after Erich, I really thought they were both going to die.

            I can say this: I have hardly ever seen anything braver than what those two did. They ran into the flames to save each other, and Gabe saved Erich’s life. Watching it happen, I could only think of one other person I had ever seen be so brave. I thought of Kristen, watching how she refused to tell them where I was as they held her, beat her, in the street. Only one thing can make a person so brave, and I realized, as I watched the music building burn, that Gabe and Erich are on their way to having exactly that thing.

            It came as no great surprise to me that Gabe had kissed Erich. I could tell there was something there, especially considering the night Erich spent calming Gabe down from his nightmare. I was awake the whole time, though there’s no way I would ever admit that to either of them. It was actually one of the sweetest things I had ever seen. Erich has this whole other side of him that no one else really knows. He’s a good guy, deep down, and he would take a bullet for Gabe.

            The two of them are both in the infirmary now. The bombs fell on the far end of campus, far away from the dorms, so they were the only ones hurt. The whole school is calling them heroes.

Jim, Rebecca and I spent the whole night in the infirmary with them. Gabe woke up an hour after the fire, and they kept him there for the night, but he seems fine, besides some burns on his leg. But Erich’s arm looked practically burned off.  He was in the fire a lot longer, so his mouth is burned up from the ash, plus he bit through his tongue. They haven’t sent him to a hospital, because his only real injury is the burn, and the school is qualified to treat him. They had knock him out with chloroform, though, because he kept waking up and getting confused, trying to rip his bandages off.

Rebecca stuck around long enough to be with Gabe when he came to, and Jim and I went to bed around four in the morning, but Gabe wouldn’t leave. It’s noon now, and he’s still there with Erich. He won’t leave his side. For a long time, Gabe wouldn’t stop babbling about how it was his fault, because he had told Erich he was going to the music building. Rebecca got him calmed down. Those two are becoming such good friends; she was the one who put out the fire on his legs. Gabe still won’t leave, though.

They’re ending the term even earlier now. Knight announced this morning that there would be only one week after this. Next Friday will be final exams and the last day of the term. I don’t even care anymore. The way I see it, if we’re not safe here anymore, then we might as well go back to Poland, where I can actually make a difference. Rebecca still doesn’t see it that way, but I think she’ll come with once she sees I’m really going back.

I found a way home. There’s a cargo ship captain who takes refugees out of Poland �" a lot like the one that brought us here �" who has agreed to take us back in, for the rest of the money Papa left us. It won’t happen until June, since that was when I thought we would be leaving, but I don’t care. I’m going home.

I still haven’t had much time for writing, and now that I’ve started I don’t want to stop. When the term started, would write every day. Now I’m lucky to have one entry a week. I miss it. Believe it or not, my life really is a lot worse when I’m not writing.

Am I wrong to want to go back to the first few days of school, when the four of us were strangers and I was scared, and I wrote because I couldn’t talk to anyone, and I thought I would never, ever have to go back to Poland? I want to go back and do it all over again, to watch Gabe and Erich get closer, to stop Jim from ever getting within a hundred miles of my sister. Wellington’s has been our home; we have been each other’s homes. The thought of only having one more week here, with the best friends I have ever had, is making me want to cry.

But there is work to do back in Poland, work I owe my father and my friends. And nothing is going to keep me away.

Reviews

[Arianna]

i still think that gabe and erich are probobly the most adorable thing on the entire planet. :)