Her world burned to the ground. The flames licked her dreams and charred her creations and stole her family. A swastika billowed somewhere in the smoke. She watched, her tears glistening with the reflection of the dancing light. The spite and venom in the eyes of the world sparked this fire. Their hate ate at her, threatened to engulf her world. The hardships she’d been through were untold; the underworlds she’d treaded through were yet uncharted. She’d been to hell and back, in her brave lonely way, and she never wanted to take that trip again.
You don’t have to, he told her, grasping her hand in his. You won’t.
She thought his promises were empty, this man who came out of nowhere, alighting down into the charred fields, carried by a red umbrella. As empty as the sky he came from, a heaven filled with nothing but clouds.
Beyond the clouds, he promised, there is sun. He squeezed her fingers and pulled her free from the ground. She clasped his fingers tightly in hers, afraid he would let go. She could barely make out the outline of the concentration camp below them. It was a long way down if she fell, almost as long a fall as it had been to hell.
I’ve got you, he said. Look up.
They broke through the clouds and her face was awash with sunlight. The brilliancy of a blue sky blinded her, and the freezing air pricked her nostrils and cheeks like icy kisses. Then they floated through a damp cloud, the raindrops beading his eyebrows and beard with tiny crystals. As the miasma cleared, she felt firm ground beneath her feet. She looked around to see a green field stained amber by the glorious streaks of a sunset. Happy cries and laughter embraced her, and she looked around to see an earlier dimension of her life. Voices warmed her with its love.
I’ll be seeing you, the bearded man said. He gripped the handle of his red umbrella and floated away.
"Angreek87"
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