Take Me Home

7. Chocolate

Axel's P.O.V-

Axel sat in his haystack, the blankets the girl had brought him spread over his body in an attempt to escape the strange chills that kept coming back. His freckled face was relaxed, his mind calm, for the first time since the mistake he had made. Axel reached forward, stretching out his hand and putting pressure on the splint. He wouldn't lie when he said he was impressed by the splint the girl, Freya, had made. As his fingers touched the area, he pulled back as he felt a sudden sharpness. Yeah, it was damaged. Broken.

He wasn't only physically wounded, he was mentally. He felt a sense of helplessness now that he was MIA, probably pronounced dead by his comrades. He had joined Hitler's Lufftwaffe (Name of Hitler's Air Force) at 17, turning 18 a few months ago. He had been through training to serve as a paratrooper. His primary job was to be the one to jump out of the planes and land in enemy territory, invading the land and moving as far into it as possible while trying to kill and destroy some of the enemy in the process.

It hadn't worked out for him.
He sighed, laying back against the haystack. His green eyes explored the loft of the barn he was in, resting on the small cat sitting near the ladder. He blinked, tapping the loft floor with his fingers, trying to get it's attention. The cat's ears flickered, whiskers twitching, but it ignored him.

He then began to think about Freya. He had woken up to see a pretty little English girl standing over him, concern all over her face. Axel had been shocked when she had begun to help him, then give him shelter. By the way she made it sound, he wasn't supposed to talk or leave because she was helping him and breaking the rules. He was expecting her to turn her in at some point. Maybe that's what she had left to do. He didn't know. He didn't exactly trust her yet.

Axel folded his hands on his laps and shivered. It was mid-June, he knew that. So he shouldn't be cold. It was probably just shock. He hadn't fully recovered from his ordeal yet...

Axel froze, hearing movement below him. The barn doors opened, then closed. Axel stayed still, taking shallow breaths until he saw a form appear at the top of the ladder and realized it was Freya. She stood up, brushing off some hay that had gotten attached to her dress, holding a large green book in her right hand. He watched her walk over to him, saying something in English he couldn't understand, but he figured it had something to do with the book because she was pointing to it.

Axel stared up at her, noticing the wide, white smile on her lips as she talked unknown language over the book she held, her blue eyes glowing as she brushed a few stray brown hairs behind her ear. Sitting down next to him, only a few feet keeping them apart, Axel fixed his gaze on her as she opened the book and began flipping through pages. She stopped on a page, eyeing words in the book.

"H-hallo." Hello in German, that's what she was getting at. Axel then saw the title on the top corner of the page. It was a german and english dictionary.

"Hallo." He replied, smiling a little, squinting his eyes at her as she laughed softly and continued flipping.

He held out his hand, asking for the book and she nodded and handed it to him. Axel opened it, seeing a bunch of English next to German words. He flipped through, memorizing words in his head. He would start small.

'Wie geht es dir' meant 'How are you?' in English, so he cleared his throat, turning to fix his green eyes on her blue ones as he asked the question, "How a-are you?" He just hoped he had stated it correctly.

Her eyes widened and then she smiled and nodded. He handed the book back to her, watching her flip to the G's in the book and look for a word. Soon, she put the book down, raising her head.

"Gut!" Good in German. She looked up, confusion on her face as she waited.

He smiled softly, taking the book back and looking for the words on his mind.

"This...Is...Going to take...a while..." He read slowly, then cleared his throat again and handed the book back, raising his eyebrows at her and she just smiled and began flipping through pages.

"ab-aber es wird... sich lohnen." But it will be worth it.

He nodded. It would be. But it would get frustrating if this was the only way they could talk. He decided he would study the book while she was away. He could probably learn English. He nodded at her and took the book, unsure what else to say. Looking at Freya, he gently shrugged his shoulders, raising an eyebrow and handing it back. Freya frowned, taking it back. Setting it down beside him, she gave him a questioning look.

Axel paused, then brought his hand to his stomach, rubbing it. He was still hungry after that loaf of bread. Hopefully she wouldn't mind getting him more. Her eyes lit up with understanding and she stood up, walking briskly toward the ladder. Axel narrowed his eyes, noticing she was kind of skinny herself. Not too skinny, but she wasn't as well fed as the girls back home were. He shrugged the thought away, watching her climb down.

He picked the book up, opening it to the first page. In German, it talked about something called 'English vowels and consonants,' and then, 'verbs, adjectives, nouns,' and a few more things. He read over some of it, trying to understand. He knew what nouns and verbs and all of that was in German, a German aircraft was considered a 'noun' in English. Axels eyes narrowed and he closed the book, waiting for Freya to return. He wondered why she even bothered to help him. He would ask when she came back up. Picking the book back up again he flipped through the pages, looking for the words he needed to form the sentence he would say in English.

He heard movement not too soon after she had left and soon enough she appeared again, a basket in her hand. He closed the book, lifting a hand to brush his black hair off his forehead as she approached. She sat next to him again, placing the basket between them. He grunted as he lifted himself off the haystack and into a sitting position, peering inside the basket. Another loaf of bread, two apples, a few oranges and carrots were placed in the bottom, and he saw a small napkin wrapped up, something in the middle. Curious, he reached his hand in and picked the napkin up, aware of the girls eyes on him as he unwrapped it.

Inside the napkin, there was a round, solid piece of dark brown chocolate. He looked up at Freya, who smiled encouragingly, then raised the piece of chocolate to his nose and took a deep sniff. The chocolate smell entered his nose and he smiled crookedly, bringing it back down and breaking it in half, offering the other half to her. She blinked and took it, smiling still, and taking a bite. He popped the candy in his mouth, chewing and tasting the treat.

"Thank you, Freya." He said slowly, turning his eyes to her and smiling gently, hoping the words had come out right. She raised her eyebrows and nodded.

"Your welcome, Axel." She said. He understood his name when she said it, just not the other two words. Assuming it was positive, he reached his hand back into the basket and pulled out an apple, staring at the red color for a moment before taking a bite and sighing in contentment as the flavor entered his mouth. Delicious.

He was aware of her watching him eat and from there it was mainly silence from the two as he ate and Freya watched. Then, there was a loud noise below and Freya stiffened, reaching forward and pressing her finger against his mouth before he had the chance to take another bite. She glanced down, then backed up as a deep voice sounded from below. Axel tensed up, staying quiet and still as an older mans voice called names. Axel met Freya's eyes, his own fear shining in them, Freya just stared quietly. The two stayed still, and then the sound faded as whoever was in the barn left.

Letting out a soft sigh, he looked away and then put the apple back in the basket. Freya stood up, motioning for Axel to 'stay' as she headed toward the ladder. Waving a goodbye, Axel focused his gaze on the cat, who had somehow managed to sneak over to him and curl up next to him again. Axel smiled, homesick but happy.

Freya had gone out of her way to save him, and he owed her. He heard her footsteps leaving the barn and he laid his head back, looking up at the wooden beams that held up the roof.

He found himself opening the book back up, reading the words and trying to learn English so he could talk to this girl.