This is War - Pikachoo & Kyux

[Pikachoo]

Lucy hadn't realized that her situation had been this grave until other Jews had begun to be collected and sent away to a destination that she knew they wouldn't return from. Most of the friends she attended school with had been gathered together by the Nazis and she hadn't seen them despite them being gone for a long period of time. She had thought that the only restriction would be the curfew that she curtly obeyed each night, but slowly but surely, the girl realized that they weren't going to stop there. The sixteen-year-old had thought that the war would occupy the Nazis away from them, but she was way wrong. They wanted to eliminate them all and at that point, her family had decided to go into hiding.

It wasn't easy hiding a family of four, but her father's boss had squeezed them into a trap door in the center of his shop and they had stayed in the cramped space for about four days. While her older brother, Claus, complained about his aching knees and swore at the Nazis for reducing his family to such conditions, Lucy sat next to her mother with her arms wrapped around her cold, bare legs. Her mother hadn't spoken a word since they entered their uncomfortable hiding place and by the way she awkwardly sat, she didn't seem ready to speak out either. Her father, however, had his eyes glued to the door and ignored every word his son grumbled. Every morning, his boss would come and give them a basket of food and water to last them the entire day or accompanied one of them to the bathroom. For the past four days, he had always been on edge. Every little noise scared him. The noises scared Lucy as well, especially when she heard a hand grip onto the bronze handle of the trap door. It was as if they expected a Nazi every time the door opened and truth be told, they did. Even those in the best hiding spots were caught at some point.

Claus had stopped his childish whining the second he heard footsteps approaching their small door. His skin flushed and he pressed himself against the wall, trying to space himself from the opening as much as possible. Lucy bit her lip and didn't dare to scream; If it was a Nazi, she wouldn't want to give them away that quickly. The parents didn't squeak either. Their faces had been removed of all color four days ago. But all four of them had their eyes directed to the door when it casually opened and a head poked itself into the square space.

"I hope you enjoy having something other than bread as a meal. I was able to scrap out something special this time." The shopkeeper's voice had turned the family to stone. Words had evaporated from all of their mouths and they didn't know if they felt relieved or infuriated at the little scare.

But Lucy lifted her hands up and latched her fingers onto the basket, "Danke." She uttered softly, holding the basket against her chest and moving her icy orbs away from the man's face. The German girl was still shaking from head to toe as she sat back down and laid the basket on the ground. She had noticed that inside the basket, assorted candies, fruits, vegetables and a small bin of cold turkey had been added to the mix of various types of bread and four cups of water. She felt bad for not saying anything else to the man, but she was still afraid. Afraid of ending up like her childhood friends.

Once the basket had left his hands, the shopkeeper gravely nodded his head to the four and slowly closed the trap door in the middle of the floor and padded into the back of the shop. As he walked across, he could faintly hear the sound of marching and he knew at once that it was the Nazis. They had always patrolled the streets nowadays and so far, none of them had entered his shop. They mostly targeted suspicious folks who walked down the street or those who never left their home. He had tried to make it less obvious that he was housing a poor family of Jews in his shop and so far, it had worked.