The trees are always rustling and the wind whispers across the flat streets of Berlin. The moon is out but I can’t see it due to the fog rummaging through the vast dark sky above. The bombs are still blowing up and show no signs of stopping, the ground still shaking with every blast.

My mum said, “it’s not good to be here anymore and that we're going to England first thing in the morning”.

I replied with a simple “yes ma’am.”

I am often recognized by the people of my hometown as a very well raised, respectful man. Speaking of my mum I should give you some insight on her, she’s a spy for the British Army and me, well honestly I just want to be like her. The work she’s doing is dangerous and to a young 19-year-old man, dangerous is awesome. I strive to help her and the homeland, whether its retrieving files from behind enemy lines or getting the tea from the supply truck. Nightfall was coming and we return to base to fly home tomorrow.

When I got home I was very exhausted but couldn't sleep so I stepped out back for some fresh air. It was starting to get late and I knew that I needed to get some rest, but just as I was about to go back in, I heard some trees moving and twigs cracking like a wooden baseball bat. I was very cautioned about going to see what the horrid sound was but my curiosity always gets the best of me. It was dusk and not much light was in the pine-filled forest. I heard something groaning like it was slowly dying. I hid behind a tree for what felt like forever until the panic groaning and heavy breathing calmed. I looked in the direction of where the sounds were coming from and I saw a man. “What in the world is a man doing out here?” I wondered. I ran over to him and because if there was one thing my mum taught me, it was how to treat wounds. I asked “Sir, are you okay?” but the part that made my spine crawl was that he didn’t just say, he screamed “Heil Hitler”. I was so confused on why he said that until I seen the blood splattered patch on his fatigues. I bolted to my feet and sprinted back to my house tripping over twigs and branches or anything keeping me from practically taking flight. I got home breathing heavily but my mom was asleep and I was supposed to be as well so I gathered myself, my brain running wild, on the back patio. I go back in and as soon as my face hit the pillow, I was gone.

The next morning I felt the urge to go back out there and check if what I saw was really what I saw. I went back out there and sure enough, the Nazi was still there. He looked so bad and he looked dead but his chest was moving so I was sure he was just asleep. “He is a man, a human, I can't leave him here to die,” I thought to myself. The  Nazi is slowly recovering but his legs are still far from usable. He can’t even stand with the help of a tree or me. I am still lost on whether to trust him or not. He is a Nazi, a killer of millions, a follower of Hitler. He seems just as scared as I am.

I cut him free from his parachute a few days ago, he just stared at me with fear and confusion. I thought very much so about telling my mum but I don’t want to see the man get hurt or become a POW because that is simply hell on earth. I have learned some German slowly from him as well as his name. He says his name is Heinrich and that he was drafted into the army forcefully. He thinks what Hitler is doing to the jews is terrible. I felt sorry for him so I continued to bring him food every day and soon enough we were running low ourselves at home.

Mum has been very curious about why I am not home as much as I normally am and when she asks, let's just say I am not a good liar so that has made it even worse. Yesterday I came home and she was rummaging through my room looking for any signs of something going on outside of her knowledge, all she found was a couple of cans of food and water. It’s what she didn’t find that is haunting.  She didn’t find my Wörterbuch (German dictionary), and she knew where everything in my room was all the time, she knew everything that was happening all the time. She was around ALL THE TIME. I don't know what to say, everything is happening so fast, do I tell her and get in trouble or do I take the risk of lying to someone that is an expert themselves. She screams at me knowingly I am up to no good; I decided to just tell her and hope that she sees what I see. She did not.

All she said was a faint “ what?” and she croaked “why?”.

Although this was a very simple question and I had a response I couldn’t speak. I was stunned by the horror in my mother's eyes.

I have been in the blues so much since mum found out I was helping Heinrich. His wounds were so bad that I couldn't leave him there, that would be so inhumane. I’ve decided I didn’t want to be a British soldier after all and that hurting other people was something I didn’t want to do.  I felt so discouraged but I still wanted to help him rather than leave him out there to die. I made my decision to go back out there and keep helping him even though my mum said if I ever did something like this again, she would report it to the authorities.

I decided to go back out there just one more time now that Heinrich has fully recovered. He obviously couldn’t walk normally but he could walk enough to get himself around. We talked for a little bit, or at least the few phrases we taught each other and what I could pick up out of my Wörterbuch. I told my mum I was going to the shop and that I’d be back in a few and I was scraping the edges of ‘a few’. I was getting worried about the time and didn’t want to get caught but I figured I had just a few more minutes before I never seen Heinrich again. A few minutes had passed and it was time, so I said my goodbyes with a sluggish body language as Heinrich read off of me. When I was turning away Heinrich grabbed me and gave me one of the only hugs I had received from a man in my entire life. I hugged him back and felt my eyes water but knew I had to act strong so I held it back. I knew this was the end so I held on a little longer forgetting all about the time. My heart sunk as the heard the faint sounds of footsteps coming from multiple directions behind me. I ripped from Heinrich turning around to see my mum and the MP. The horror and disappointment in my mum's eyes were excruciating.

I heard the MP’s say “there they are!!”

I turned and looked at Heinrich and he ran as fast as he could and I followed into the forest. Never looking back and never going back.