Hush Little Baby

Follow the lives of three siblings during WWII Germany.

Hush Little Baby

Story by Shunny Houston

 

     "Shut him up! Now, before they hear us! Hurry"

      "I'm trying, but he's hurting. I can't do anything about that. We can't help him. What do we do?"

      Ada was using her bloody hand to cover the mouth of Alderic, who was screaming at the top of his lungs. He reaches down to his leg, trying to free it from the grasp of the overturned vehicle that was holding him so tightly. He screams in more pain as Ada pulls, trying to help him with not much success.

      "Uric help me," She screamed, warm tears streaming down her young cheeks, falling on top of her younger brother's face, blending in with his. "We have to do something!"

      Uric, the eldest brother of the three stood in confusion, his mind racing back and forth, trying to figure out what to do. How can I free my brother? How can we get away?

      The sounds of machine guns echoed in a distance, saturating the night sky with cries from the wounded. Uric looked around feverishly, looking for something to help free his younger brother from the vehicle that landed on his leg after a stray grenade exploded by it.

      Alderic continued to scream from the pain, his leg crushed due to the amount of force on his leg. Ada continued to pull, trying to free it, only to cover herself in more of his blood, soaking it into her clothes.

      Around the corner, a squadron of the Nazi army defended their camp from the American threat, shooting blindly into the night, stray bullets racing through the air, hitting signs, brick walls and even people who found themselves unfortunate enough to be caught in the crossfire.

      Uric rushed to his younger brother's side, looking at the 8 year old's face which was covered in blood and in excruciating pain. He turned his head to look at the armored car resting peacefully on top of his brother's leg. He then got up and ran towards the fighting, rushing to the side of an abandoned building to sneak a peek.

      "Where are you going?" Ada cried, watching as her brother ran to the side of a building and peered into the street, trying to keep his presence concealed. Alderic continued to shout and scream, his cries growing more violent. From behind the building, Uric saw the fires dance in the street, merrily skipping on top of cars and over barricades. Uric saw silhouettes of soldiers running around, some colliding into each other, others taking cover behind fallen piles of bricks or under collapsing buildings. He watched as men attempted to toss torches at one another, causing the fire to stretch out, forcing them further back, and closer to the location of his younger siblings. He tried his hardest to determine which army it was, as both were his enemies, but the cover of the night made the task impossible.

      Alderic, unable to form words,  continued screaming, pushing the vehicle with his small soft hands, wanting the pain to go away, wanting the car to leave him alone so he could continue running with the only family he has left. Ada covers his mouth with her hands, fear and desperation filling her head, forcing more tears to escape from her eyes. She looked up to see Uric running back to her, his small 12 year old arms flailing wildly through the dimly lit street.

      "How close are they? What do we do?" Ada shouted at her older brother. Somehow in her head she knew that he could make it better. Mom and Dad had entrusted their safety to him before they sent them running into the night. Uric looked around, desperately searching for a way to save his brother.

      Another stray grenade exploded behind them, 100 feet from their position, sending concrete, rocks and scrap metal soaring their way, smashing parts of their little bodies. Ada was hit in her left eye, causing it to bleed. Uric, who had been standing up next to them was blown off his feet, accidentally landing on Alderic’s trapped leg, who began to uncontrollable throw his body in all and any possible direction, yelling and crying as loud has his tonsils would allow.

      Ada crying from the pain of being hit rushed to cover Alderic's mouth, urging him to be quiet, dropping her head to his chest, sobbing into his shirt as he lay on the ground. Uric quickly picked himself off his brother's leg, gazing as his brother screamed and his sister cried in defeat. He then turned around to the car and tried to pick it up, failing to move it even a little.

      "ALDERIC PLEASE STOP CRYING!" Ada screamed in between her cries. The gunfire was growing louder as the soldiers retreated closer and closer towards them. Uric furiously began pounding on the car, punching its hood with his fists and palms until they drained a bloody stream from his knuckles. In his head, he thought he could cause the same amount of pain to the car that it was causing to his brother.

      "MOVE! GET OFF OF ALDERIC! GET OFF HIM!" Uric continued punching the hood of the car before falling to his knees, tired and broken. His breathing began to choke him as his throat tightened with each breath. He tried with all his might to hold back his tears, but as with the car, he did not possess enough strength to do anything. He banged his head against the hood of the car, his forehead smearing the blood that ran down from the spot where he punched it earlier.

      "Mom... Dad..." he cried, squeezing his eyes shut, trying to seal the world around him out. Suddenly he heard voices, men's voices. Ada and Uric both looked up bewildered to see soldiers standing by the corner of the abandoned building where Uric ran to see how far away they were. The soldiers, too busy holding back the enemy did not notice the cries of Alderic just a few hundred feet away. Shocked, Uric jumped up, searching for anything that could free his brother while Ada pressed her hands on his mouth to mask his shrieks.

      "Please be quiet. Please be quiet. Please be quiet. Please be quiet."

      Uric ran around the car, tripping over upturned stones and loose bricks laying in the street, falling on his hands and face multiple times only to get back up and search for his brother's key to freedom. Finding nothing, he ran back to Ada and Alderic's side and began recklessly tugging on his brother's trapped leg, initiating greater pain.

      "STOP YOU'RE KILLING HIM!" Ada screamed, pushing Uric away, only to have him shove her back and continue to try and free his younger brother. Ada fell back and hit her head against a large rock. Uric, pulling violently on his brother's leg began to cry again as his brother pounded on his back, yearning for him to stop.  Ada looked at the rock she had hit her head on and picked it up and carried it over to Alderic and raised it over her head. Uric continued to pull and jerk on Alderic's leg, the soldiers continued to shoot not far from them. She closed her eyes and slammed the rock down on Alderic's head, knocking him out. Uric turned to see his brother's head gushing with blood and to see his younger sister looking bewildered at him. He then turned to look at the soldiers shooting not far from them. Wanting to free his brother from his pain, he grabbed the rock and smashed it into Alderic's head until Alderic stopped moving. He then stood up, grabbed his sister's hand and ran off into the night.

 

Author's Note

I hope this story moves you. I'm in the process of adding/switching words to make the tale more powerful.

Reviews

[A. Amos]

Your creativity shines in this well written story, I can strongly feel you will shine like a star and your above story telling is very amazing. I was hooked in the tale, some suggestions which I send you in message. I can see and feel you are mind blowing talented, believe in yourself and your work, don't look here or there keep writing and one day my friend the whole world will read you...remember me that day:)

[Shunny Houston]

Thanks for your review! I will remember you! I'll check my message and make those corrections asap. I'm not as talented as you, i'm just creative that's all.

[A. Amos]

No I'm learner myself and you are talented my friend, already send you message check

[Nusquam Esse]

Quiet a dark tale, but it is something that is disturbingly real. I am sure we have all heard tales of babies which were killed for the sake of the many, simply because their sobs were about to reveal a group of people. It is no cut and dry issue; and as much as we would like to condemn the killing of an innocent child, it becomes a much more difficult call when to not do so ends with the death of everyone, including that child. Good job!

[Mother_Yolk]

Very few errors, but overall, I found the story extremely capturing! In the midst of war, there are some very hard decisions and sacrifices to make. Whether it is to leave a family member behind, or free them from physical pain. You were able to do this in such a beautiful and descriptive way. And the characters are so young! But that way, you can't help but feel even more pity for them and it draws you into the story even more... Just goes to tell you how terrible it was back then and how lucky we are right now. I totally get the meaning of the title now haha. This is an amazing story, mate!

[Shunny Houston]

There were errors? Looks like I got some more editing to do. Thanks for the review! Glad you liked it.
I wanted one of the characters to whisper the title before the did what they did at the end, but I couldn't find a way to work that in there. Thanks for the review!

[Mother_Yolk]

No problem, mate! There could've been no errors at all and it coudl've been me just reading it wrong! I'm very sorry! I have been out of an English-speaking country for a lot of my life, so my English might have gotten worse. D:

[Shunny Houston]

I had some errors. I completely wrote this without planning and off the top of my head. I usually edit while I write which is a bad thing to do, but you learn all types of shortcuts in school.
The fact that you read this and haven't spoke english in a while comes as a greater honor to me, thanks a lot! I really appreciate you taking the time to review this. Thank you thank you thank you. Gracias