The Prisoner

My brother asked me to write a story for his English class. The theme is WWII and it's about a POW

You never truly know where life can take you or how far you can push yourself to get home to the ones you love; when at any moment, the slightest retracting of a finger; the faint whispering of a hammer falling and---BANG! It’s over.

 I’ve been confined here in the solidity of darkness so long now, it is almost welcoming. The air surrounding me is damp and thick and although I’ve become accustomed, it makes every breath feel like lead in my chest. Shackled and chained, movement is restricted only allowing me to reach the top of my head and nothing else. Day and night have become intertwined with one another. How long have I been here just waiting to die? Weeks? Months? A Year? The question lingers in the deafening silence. It isn’t there long until the sharp, painful sound of opening rusted metal doors pierces the purgatory and tranquility like a barbarian thrusting his spear into his opponent. A stir of echoes swarm the room with German rubbish I can’t comprehend. The noise is followed by three Nazi soldiers standing in front of my cell, two with rifles and one fumbling with keys. He sticks the key in and twists, creating the sound of lock mechanisms tumbling. Opening the barred door, the gaunt kid who couldn’t be older than 22 approaches me and begins the unshackle me. For some reason out of pure instinct, I latch on to the nape of his neck and sending him crashing to the ground as I hurdle on top issuing a bombardment of punches to his face. Maybe I can do the unthinkable. Maybe I can escape this hell I’ve been dwelling in for so long. The thought not even in my mind a moment when a sharp pain caused from the blunt, downward motion of a buttstock hits me from behind turning the tables and sending me to the cruel coldness of the floor. It wasn’t until now that I noticed that, besides the three Nazis, I hadn’t been alone in this chamber. The figure had an overcast of shadow and as I began my ascent into unconsciousness, the figure stepped into the light. No! It can’t be!

            I, Steven Walsh, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

Daddy!

Hey sweetheart! What are you doing here?

Mrs. Miller said I could come see you swear in today if I was feeling well and behaved myself.

She did? Well that must have been quite difficult for my little trouble-maker. Come here you!

Hahaha Stop it daddy!

 

Daddy, how long will you be gone?

I don’t really know sweetie. Could be a really long time.

Are you going to hurt people?

Yes.

Why?

The men over there are really bad and so daddy has to go teach them a lesson.

Are they going to hurt you?

They’re going to try. But no one can hurt your dad.

 

Daddy?

Yes sweetie?

Promise me you’ll come back.

I promise, love.

 

I’m awoken by the shock of what I hope is cold water dumped on my, once again, restrained, limp body. But this time was different. My arms overlapped the frame of a wooden chair; my hands bound together behind my back by rope in a poorly made knot. Getting out of it would be easy but I decide it best to wait it out and let an opportune moment present itself.

The same three who had “freed” me from my sarcophagal chamber, were the same who stood before me now. Starting to show signs of bruising and swelling, the kid whom I had beat up earlier starred at me with an evil smirk as if to say “I’m about to get my payback soon. Just you wait.” Then, a door is opened and from behind me loud, deep thuds of a man’s boot hammered in my head. He has to be a high official because as soon as he walked in, the three men already in the room shot to attention and rendered a salute.

“Vell vell vell, vhat do ve got here? Looks like ve caught a stupid American. Now tell me, vhat vere you doing sneaking around my facilities?”

“You must be crazy thinking I’m going to tell you anything.”

“Tch tch tch. Vhat a shame.”

He snaps his fingers and the swollen faced kid walks up, grinning ear to ear like he just won a prize at the fair, and decks me about three times in the face.

“You can make this easier on yourself if you just cooperate vith us. Do vhat ve vant, and I promise you a quick death. Now I ask again, vhat vere you doing around me facilities?”

Sarcastically, “Just got lost. We had no idea where we were.”

“Mhmm. Is that so?”

He motions with his head to the guy to punch me some more. Now he clocked me a good one this time because once he had finished, I started hallucinating; seeing someone there I knew could have never been there in a million years.

Daddy.

“Sarah?”

Daddy why are you letting those bad men hit you? You said no one could ever hurt you.

“I know sweetie.”

“Vhat are you saying? Vho’s Sarah?”

Daddy you promised me you’d come home.

“I know sweetie. Just give me a little more time. I’ll be home before you know it.”

My crazed conversation must have pissed the leader off because next thing I know the stinging pain of the kid’s fist comes jutting back. And just like that, she had vanished.

“Vhat vere you doing here!!!”

“You want to know the truth? We smelled a mighty fine stir brewing and thought there were going to be some mighty fine looking women around here. Instead, all we found were you bunch of pansies. Now do me a favor, if you’re going to kill me just get it done with. If not, let me go you stupid ogre-sized pile of crap.”

He unholsters his pistol and attaches a silencer to the muzzle.

“I vas bluffing about killing you earlier. I vas just going to let you rot in that cell of yours until you died of starvation and disease. But you have severely gotten on my last nerve so I am going to grant you your first favor.”

He places the cold, unforgiving steel against my forehead. If I was going to do anything, it had to be now. Already in the process of untying my binds, I could have sworn I heard the familiar thundering sound of explosives from afar. Finger met trigger. A few seconds from now I would be lifeless but worst, I would be breaking a promise I made so long ago. But fortune favored me today because right as he was about to put me to eternal rest, the building shakes violently like the shifting of the Earths’ plates. A fog of dust clouds the room filled with the showering of debris and a hailstorm of brick. Taking advantage of the situation, I shoot up out of my chair and quickly disarm the Nazi leader, spun his body around placing his back to my chest and placed the barrel underneath the curvature of his jaw.

“Vell vell vell, looks like I caught a stupid German.”

The pull of the trigger ended his life. I then proceed to make, almost effortlessly, three well-aimed headshots to the remaining men. Cautious and steady, I make my way out into the bowels of the building, pistol at the ready. At the end of the hallway I’m in, interior met exterior allowing me to exit. After what seemed an eternity, I was finally free.

 

“Hey sweetie. How have you been? I hope you’re not causing too much trouble up there. Just wanted to let you know daddy made it back just like I promised. This might sound crazy but you were there guiding me, helping me make it back to safety. If it weren’t for you, I probably wouldn’t have made it.”

You never truly know where life can take you or how far you can push yourself to get home to the ones you love. Tears roll down my face.

“You were my little guardian angel. I miss you so much.”

 I placed the bouquet of flowers on Sarah’s grave.

“I love you sweetie. Always.”