Part Four

Part Four

The sudden jolt of the train woke Leo from his peaceful sleep. He had been dreaming of his family, all reunited and safe, travelling along with him to England. He awoke with a gasp, his eyes flickering open, trying to adjust to the light. At first, he found it difficult to remember where he was. Then reality began to dawn on him and his face dropped with the realization. So he really had left his mother, his family, behind.
“Welcome back, young one,” said someone from beside Leo. Leo turned to face the speaker, startled when he realised it was the same boy he had seen on the platform who had been without a mother.
Leo blushed furiously and replied, in a slow, timid tone, “Hello.”
The boy looked Leo up and down and sighed. He turned away and reached into a small bag he had beside him, drawing out a small tin foil box. “Here,” he said, thrusting it towards Leo. “I’m honestly not hungry, and it looks like you could do with some food.”
But Leo shook his head. “No, I couldn’t. It’s yours.”
The boy rolled his eyes again. “We’ll split it, ‘kay?”
“Are you sure?” Leo stuttered, taken back by the boy’s generosity.
The boy shrugged. “Yeah, it’s fine. Like I said, I’m not hungry.” He pealed back the foil to reveal a thin jam sandwich. He picked it up and carefully broke in half, passing Leo the larger of the two halves. “I’m Yehudah,” the boy said in between mouthfuls.
Leo gulped down a lump of jam before replying. “I’m Leo.” He chucked another handful of the sandwich into his mouth as the boy, or Yehudah, smiled at him.
“How old are you Leo?” He asked.
“I’m twelve. Since yesterday.” Leo couldn’t help the flood of tears that now spilled down his cheek at the memory of his birthday – his first one since the war had began.
“Oh,” Yehudah said. He seemed shocked.
Leo brushed away some tears and looked back up at Yehudah. “What?” He asked.
“I thought you were younger,” he explained, then shrugged. Leo felt his cheeks burn as the boy continued, “Well, I’m fourteen.”
“Fourteen?” Leo asked, pulling a small chunk off of his left over bread. “I thought you were older.” He explained. He propped himself up and rested his arm on his suitcase. “Before, when I saw you on the platform, you looked so…” He searched for the right word. “Brave. So brave. And strong. And… where was your mother? Didn’t she want to say goodbye?” Leo suddenly sat up straight, keen to know the answer to that question.
Suddenly, much to Leo’s surprise, the boy winced and ducked his head. “Uh, no, not quite. Mother would have been there with me if she could have been.” He looked up again, staring at Leo, his eyes ablaze with fresh tears. His jaw set and his lips pursed as he continued. “My mother was brutally murdered a few nights ago while my father and I were out. She refused to tell the officers where we were and so they shot her. And the neighbours had watched.” His voice with bitter with remorse.
“Why didn’t the neighbours do anything?” Leo asked, shocked.
Yehudah looked at him oddly and shook his head. “Incredulous,” he murmured. “Don’t you know anything?”
Leo shook my head. “Well,” I added quickly. “I know some things. But mother refused to tell me about the Germans. Said it was a touchy subject and she didn’t think I needed to know about them anyway, since I was moving to England and could no longer be affected by them and their horrid commander.”
To my surprise, Yehudah laughed. “Well, that explains it then.” He leant in closer to Leo, his voice lowering to a whisper. “No one argues with the officers and comes out alive.”
The cool chill Leo felt run down his spine had nothing to do with the night breeze sweeping in through the window. “What do you mean? Why? Tell me more?” He begged, his eyes eager.
So Yehudah explained to Leo everything he knew about the Nazi officers and Leo found that he had never been more terrified of anyone or anything in his life, and he was suddenly very glad he was going away from them. He wanted to go as far away as possible, but for now England would do.