The Nurse Behind the Gates: Completely heartbreaking and unputdownable World War Two fiction by Shari J. Ryan

Author:Shari J. Ryan [Ryan, Shari J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2024-05-20T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-FOUR

EMILIE

TWO YEARS AGO, DECEMBER 1940

Munich, Germany

The city is heavy with silence, frozen beneath a fresh layer of snow. There’s no stomp of marching boots, rallying parades of camaraderie, or laughter. There hasn’t been any semblance of laughter in more than two years, or so it seems. No one speaks to one another, every person on the street is a stranger, and even if they aren’t, no one lifts their head up long enough to figure out whether they know who they’re passing. To speak out loud means we must have an opinion: an opinion on this city, on the country, the war, the fairness, and unfairness alike. It’s easier to keep our heads down.

Typically, I walk home from class with Otto, but he had a surgical observation at the hospital today. He’s likely already home by now. The times when I walk home alone, my mind fills with memories of the days when this amount of quiet seemed impossible, given how loud us kids were together. Even though there were five of us, we always somehow paired off—Danner and me in a conversation or debate about a subject in class, Otto and Gerty arguing over scientific theories that neither of them knew anything about, and Felix with his head in the clouds, thinking of his next story to interrupt everyone with.

I miss my conversations with Danner. Sometimes it almost feels like he’s passed away because his departure left such a gaping hole in my life. But if he had passed away, I could still talk to his soul, and he might hear me. Instead, I know he’s somewhere a country away living a different life to the one he wanted and I have no way of reaching him. It’s been over a year since he and his family were forced to leave, and I haven’t heard from him since. I check the mail daily, but there’s never anything addressed to me.

Back in a relationship with Otto, I often feel guilty for thinking about Danner as much as I do. Otto doesn’t speak of Danner, and he doesn’t know that Danner made me promise to rekindle my relationship with Otto. Gerty and Felix talk about him whenever I see them. They talk about him like they just saw him yesterday. Time just keeps passing and nothing seems to get any brighter.

I turn onto my street and my eyes float to Danner’s house first as they always do. I’m quickly reminded that someone else has moved into his house with the pea green interior, curtains, and red and yellow bird ornaments dangling down each window. The Alesky family were never eccentric, they just blended in like the rest of us with their neutral color curtains and lack of flare for window treatment.

Everything in this little corner of the city is the same except for Danner and his house. A twinge of pain strikes through my chest as I force myself to look away and face my front door. The aroma of fresh

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.