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The earth was shrouded in a frosty night. A black, cloudless sky pierced by bright stars hung over the forest. During the day, the atmosphere here resembled the sounds of a zoo, but now everything around fell silent. The silence lasted until the troops broke in.
Usually, in the middle of the night, students were sleeping peacefully in their beds, after a grueling day of continuous classes and workouts. But not tonight. Tonight, they were awakened by the thundering crash of the bedroom door and the sharp command to assemble in front of the castle. Out in the courtyard, the boys stood at attention, listening to the pompous speech of the Gauleiter. He ordered them to hunt down the escapees who had managed to flee and hide in the forest. Every single one of the pupils at NaPolA anticipated that sooner or later they would be given a real combat assignment. Most of the boys welcomed such a turn of events. Their eyes blazed with manic fire, and they seemed ready to rush in search of the fugitives at that very moment, like a faithful hound on the hunt for a shot duck.
But Albrecht had always been a black sheep among his peers, much to his father's chagrin. In fairness, it should be noted that the elder Stein had long since given up hope for his son. Albrecht could not remember a single moment when his parents helped or encouraged him. His father never shielded him from bullies. Albrecht could never come home in tears and be accepted by a circle of loving people. Since childhood, he had developed a habit of escaping into books; they always provided him solace. He often dreamed of a future where everything would be different for him. Where everything would be alright. But as long as he was under his father's scrutiny, nothing changed. He crawled out of childhood broken, but it compelled him to become stronger.
And there stood Albrecht amidst the exemplary students, his face frozen in a mask of shock, painting mental scenarios of what awaited him.
Over the course of a single night, younger Stein found himself in a situation he vehemently wished to avoid. He vehemently didn't want to take the rifle. He absolutely didn't want to get into the truck. He absolutely didn't want to walk in this damned forest and look for captives. The young man tried his best to come up with a sabotage plan, but his brain refused to help him with it. Instead, he was overwhelmed by sticky fear and panic. And his legs mechanically continued to stride alongside the others.
Albrecht realized that there was no turning back when their improvised search group gunned down several wanted fugitives. He immediately rushed to one of the wounded boys, discarding his uncomfortable helmet and rifle along the way. In the midst of the stress, he desperately recalled his first aid lessons.
"Bandages, quickly!" he barked to the guys. His palms were covered in cold sweat and shaking as if he was being electrocuted. In blind panic, he didn't grasp that wrapping a bandage over a jacket wouldn't help. But he fiercely persisted in his futile endeavor, exerting all his strength to assist.
Friedrich opened his mouth in shock and froze in place, watching his best friend unsuccessfully try to bandage the wound on the chest of the shot boy. As if in a dream, he could hear the sounds of gunfire and aggressive barking dogs.
Desperately, Friedrich wanted to believe it was just a dreadful dream. That he would awaken now in his uncomfortable yet warm bed to Tjaden's snoring, and sigh with relief. And in the morning, if he doesn't forget, he will tell Albrecht about this nightmare. But he didn’t wake up. He came out of his stupor when the Gauleiter approached them. He felt a slight relief when among the 16-year-old boys appeared an adult, who surely knew what to do and how to fix everything. But he was in no way prepared for what would happen next. Heinrich deftly pulled his pistol out of its holster and shot the child lying on the ground.
At first, Friedrich couldn't believe the truthfulness of the scene he had just witnessed. Explanations raced through his mind at lightning speed. Perhaps it was a well-planned training exercise. Did they pass it successfully or not? And the lying boy had played the role of an escaped prisoner so convincingly, now it would turn out that he was wearing a bulletproof vest and the blood was fake. But why was he still lying there? On the edge of his consciousness, he thought that perhaps it was for the best for a victim with such a terrible injury to be killed immediately. After all, he wouldn't suffer from the inevitable consequences of a deep wound incompatible with life.
While these thoughts were running through his head, his face contorted in shock, and sparks of realization began to appear in his eyes that this wasn't just another training. It was a horrifying reality. His entire body shuddered in response to the profound horror of the nightmare he was trapped in. For the first time since he had been at the academy, he thought his father was right about these people.
Albrecht's trembling voice began to bring the blond man back to life as he answered Heinrich's question, 'Yes, Dad.’ Friedrich slowly turned his gaze from the already dead prisoner to his friend.
Albrecht's eyes held the pain of the world. His face was contorted from sobbing, tears streamed down his cheeks and dripped from his chin onto his bloodstained uniform. Albrecht looked into Heinrich's eyes with fear and disbelief, as if he were seeing this man for the first time in his life. He had long realized that his father was no angel. As a child, he had heard horrible stories about murders. But until that moment, he had never seen the animal nature of his father.
This scene gave Friedrich an overwhelming desire to distract Heinrich, who was hovering over his son with even more pressure. The elder Stein looked like a giant boulder, threatening to crush everyone beneath him.
"Mr. Gauleiter, we..." Friedrich said uncertainly.
"I thought we were on a first-name basis?" Gauleiter interrupted with a snake-like smile.
"Yes, of course," he urgently wanted to get away from Heinrich, because even breathing the same air as him was disgusting. Without hesitation, Friedrich put his arms around Albrecht's shoulders and insistently led him further and further away from the murder scene. From the place that divided his life into before and after. Without any resistance, Albrecht meekly walked along like a donkey being pulled by a rope.
Tjaden, Christoph, and Hefe looked at each other in confusion and followed them, not wanting to stay here any longer. With their heads down, they walked in silence, each thinking about something. But they were all thinking about the same thing. About the murder they had seen. The psyche of the young men was creaking like a rusty mechanism, trying to process the events of the night. In just one night, they found themselves in a different, unfamiliar world. Only yesterday, it was a disaster for Christoph that Katharina didn’t wink back at him in the dining room. Only yesterday morning, it was the end of the world for Hefe because he had run out of money to pay Christoph for his sisters' picture. Now they wished those situations would remain the biggest problems in their lives.
Suddenly, Albrecht broke free of Friedrich's grip and covered his mouth with his hand, turning even paler. He bent down near the nearest tree, leaned on the trunk with one hand and began to vomit with characteristic sounds. Christoph was overcome with a previously unknown aggression. He started shouting for Albrecht to pull himself together. Although he really wanted it from himself, he inadvertently directed his anger at the innocent boy. Tjaden, Hefe, and Friedrich stood silently, staring at Albrecht as he slowly began to become hysterical.
"Do you realize what you just did? You shouldn't have shot," Albrecht whimpered as if at a funeral. He was horrified to see his bloody hand. The cries that were actually dedicated to his father began to pour out at the boys.
"Your father said they were armed..." Tjaden muttered, obviously not believing his own words.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" - Albrecht shouted at Friedrich.
"I don't look at you like that" Friedrich replied gently. It was the first time he had ever seen his friend look like that, so he was afraid of making things worse.
"I know exactly what you're thinking.... Don't look at me like that!» Albrecht's heart was beating so fast he thought he might die. He wouldn't mind dying now to solve the problem once and for all. With one foot, he was already cautiously exploring the ground behind him, about to run away.
Friedrich realized that the younger Stein was now surrounded by an impenetrable wall of inner suffering and would hear nothing. Instead of saying anything, he gently raised his hands in front of him, as if in surrender. Without looking away, he took a small step toward Albrecht. He was definitely not going to lose his friend in the night forest. But before he could take a step, Albrecht suddenly took off running into the darkness of the forest.
Weimer stared at the back of Albrecht, who was running clumsily, tripping over tree roots and old branches scattered on the ground. But miraculously, he didn't fall.
After a few seconds, Friedrich came to his senses and ran after him. Christoph tried to grab him by the sleeve of his uniform to stop him, but he pulled his hand away, unwilling to stand still. He felt everything inside him shrink, and his breathing became sharp and shallow. But the worst part was the feeling of loneliness and helplessness without Albrecht. He urgently needed him here and now. Without him, reality began to press with double force. Friedrich deftly jumped over stones and easily broke dry branches with his feet. If he could think soberly, he would thank his years of training for this.
Albrecht had turned into a decent runner, bending his elbows and swinging them to help himself accelerate. His tears were already dry on his hot face, his throat was burning from the cold air, and his legs were burning from running, but he kept going. Frightened, he looked back and saw a single white figure chasing him. He hadn't noticed the root sticking out of the ground, so he fell with a groan, braking with his palms. The snow stung his fresh wounds like sharp needles, but it was better than falling into the mud.
Friedrich jumped over the unfortunate root and grabbed his friend's wrist to stop him from running away. Albrecht stood up, ready to run on, but felt something slowing him down. He looked down at his arm. He had pulled it so hard that he almost dislocated the joint. Obviously, the fight was too unequal. Displaying miraculous dexterity, Friedrich grabbed his friend's other wrist, turned him around, and held him tightly to his chest.
"Let me go! Now!" Albrecht screamed, unable to move his arms, as if he were wearing a straitjacket, and began to kick his legs.
"Calm down!" Friedrich raised his voice a little.
"You calm down! Why did you come after me? Why didn't you stay with my father? You're such a nice company now, you're on a first-name basis with each other," the Stein did not stop.
"I couldn't leave you!»
"Why not? After our fight in my house, you did a good job of leaving me and enjoying the company of my father and his drunken friends."
"Oh, yes. I can just imagine the Gauleiter's face if I suddenly ran after his 'loser son'. Do you think he would have liked that? At night I came to your room, but it was locked!» Friedrich was almost shouting the last words.
Albrecht undoubtedly wanted to say something else clever, meaningful, with a dose of anger. But he only managed to open his mouth and exhale heavily. He felt like he had no more strength to break out, so he began to lazily look at the winter scenery in front of him. They no longer heard the shouts of the soldiers and the barking of dogs. The loudest sound was the noise of their heavy breathing.
Friedrich managed to successfully suppress Albrecht's impulse to resist, so he no longer held his friend with an iron grip, but Albrecht no longer wanted to run. He could feel Friedrich's chest rise and fall with deep breaths, and his warm breath tickled his hair.
"It's not right that we are taught to shoot young unarmed people.» Albrecht began after a pause.
"It's not right.» Friedrich agreed.
"It's not right that I feel safer in your arms than in my mother’s.» he didn't know where these words would lead, but he was determined to say them.
"For the smartest guy I know, you're pretty blind,» Friedrich replied with a slight smile.
“I don’t follow,” Albrecht arched one eyebrow in surprise. He wanted to turn around to see his friend's face, but he didn't want to break the warm embrace, so he remained standing as before. This response amused Friedrich. For the first time, he felt more cunning and possibly smarter than Albrecht.
"I always choose you. Don't think it's just words. You see me doing it," Albrecht was silent, waiting for his to continue. "Do you think I come to your editorial office every night for no reason? I try to spend every free minute with you.»
Albrecht wanted to trust someone so badly. To have someone in his life with whom he didn't have to be constantly on guard. He freed one hand and clenched the rigid fabric on the blond's sleeve into a fist. Friedrich buried his nose in the dark hair and hugged his friend like a teddy bear. This finally relaxed Albrecht. He closed his eyes, pressed his back against his friend's chest, and leaned his head back on Friedrich's shoulder.
They both just didn't want to move. Each of them got the peace they had been striving for. Even if it was short-lived.