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@smiley I always feel so bad for him and Riker 😭
Awww, tysm!!! I really loved making this one 💖
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@freedomwriter76
Beautiful aesthetic! And I love I Believe It Now.
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@joy-calle thx! And yesss, it’s an amazing song!!! @esther-c @godlyfantasy12 here’s the mentioned Leon scene I talked about a bit agoooooooooo!!!! 😭 @elishavet-pidyon @koshka I know how much y’all love Leon 💖 @mineralizedwritings @smiley @lightoverdarkness6 @euodia-vision @keilah-h when y’all get back ❤️ @anyone-else-lol-XD
Sooooooo, I just wrote this chapter and scenes in my 1st draft of Freedom’s Fire, quite inspired by a scene from another book I recently read.
So without further ado, here it is (and the next scene I’ll likely share from this WIP will have Riker’s mama in it, yayyyyyyyyy!!! 💖💖💖)
TRIGGER WARNING: LIGHT TORTURE/PUNISHMENT/MENTIONS OF ABUSE (nothing graphic)
They’d already been working from dawn.
Backbreaking labor, as if they were no more than animals.
Fury bubbled in Leon’s chest.
The sunlight beat down, but with the harsh breeze of November ripping right through his uniform, Leon shivered.
He plunged the shovel into the rocks when a shrill whistle pierced his ears.
The evening work detail was finally over.
Isaiah stood up straight and wiped his sweaty brow with the back of his hand. “With four men from our detail missing due to illness…”
“Abba, we didn’t meet our quota, did we?”
Isaiah firmly gripped his son’s shoulder and squeezed it, tight. “Everything will be alright, Yosef. God will come through…no matter what happens.”
God wouldn’t do anything.
Leon’s jaw clenched.
God had made it clear where he stood.
Leon roughly put his shovel in the wheelbarrow and took Isaiah and Yosef’s and put theirs in the wheelbarrow as well.
The guard on watch duty nudged Yosef’s back with his club. “Get into line, filthy Juden. Schnell!”
Leon moved as fast as he could, but not so fast as to seem like he was running.
He had to be careful.
Always had to be careful.
He, Isaiah, and Yosef stood in the middle of the large group of lined-up men that were a part of their work detail.
Leon stood on Yosef’s right, Isaiah on Yosef’s left, with Yosef in between them, the position they often took.
A guard stepped up onto a small mound of dirt to stand above the men in striped uniforms, looking down in contempt. “This group’s quota was not met. Quota’s must be met for the Fatherland’s bright future! Don’t you want to be free? To be free, you work! When you don’t work your hardest, punishment must commence!”
He motioned to a few guards and kapos, and with sadistic smiles, they began to pick men out. Every other man, skipping one man in between, sparing him the said punishment.
Yosef’s face turned a deathly pale when his gaze settled on the guard who had put himself in charge, who wielded a coiled whip.
Leon watched them pick each man.
The man on Leon’s right would be one of them picked…Leon would be skipped, as would Isaiah.
But not Yosef.
Yosef was right in the way.
“Yosef, move.” Leon whispered into his ear.
“Leon, are you alright? You know we can’t-“
“It’s not that, Isaiah,” Leon interrupted, “Yosef, you and I need to swap.”
“Huh? W-why?” Yosef asked, already trembling from head to toe.
He’d seen things like this before, Leon knew he had…Yosef had been in this disgusting place longer than him, after all…but Yosef was still a child, and he was shaking from head to toe, even if he didn’t yet realize that he would be picked.
But it was unlikely that Yosef would move on his own…he was trembling too much.
Leon glanced at the guards and kapos.
They were still picking men in the groups in front of them, and wouldn’t see any movement, and neither would the guard with the whip, who was already uncoiling his whip and starting on the first prisoner.
“Sorry, I don’t mean to hurt you.” Leon whispered, and he grabbed Yosef’s arm, partially swinging him around, and took Yosef’s position, putting Yosef where he had previously been standing, placing himself in between Isaiah and Yosef.
“Leon, what was that about?” Isaiah whispered, a bit of irritation hinting his tone.
Leon stared straight ahead, feeling both Isaiah and Yosef’s eyes on him. “…You’ll see.”
The guards finally reached their row, and Yosef’s face, if it even could, paled even more.
Isaiah whispered rushed prayers beneath his breath.
The man on Yosef’s right was picked, as Leon had known.
Yosef tightly closed his eyes and waited, likely for him to be picked next.
Except he didn’t have to wait in fear. The guard passed him by and grabbed Leon’s arm instead.
Just as Leon had planned.
The guard dragged Leon away, and Leon gave Isaiah and Yosef a small smile.
Leon was shoved into the group of men that had been selected for punishment.
The first man was already bent over and being punished, whipped for “failing”, counting each lash in German as it hit his bare back.
Leon’s eyes closed.
His fists clenched.
‘When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.’
From the book of Psalms. A peaceful Biblical book, full of poetry, full of promises, full of safety and rescue.
But none of those things helped any.
None of those things changed the fact that God had abandoned Leon.
None of those things changed the fact that God had let Aadelheide die.
Leon wanted answers, but God refused to answer.
What, was Leon not doing it right?
Did God want Leon to fully trust him without giving him answers?
Did God despise him for not going to church, even though Leon actually couldn’t?
‘For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.’
It didn’t seem possible.
It didn’t seem true.
Leon felt alone.
He felt abandoned.
Forsaken by a God that he thought was supposed to love him continually.
Isaiah…Aadelheide…Yosef…Bruno…Louisa…so many people he knew, they said God was good; they said he cared. They said he saw his children when they suffered.
But if that were true for them…true for so many…if God was good to them…then what about Leon?
Many people, they would never understand.
They would never understand what it meant to be treated like dirt, less than dirt, actually, under someone else’s feet.
They would never understand what it meant to realize that the God you thought loved you…the God you trusted…the God you believed in…abandoned you in one of the most horrible places on earth.
And as he listened to a fellow man cry out and scream in agony, what Leon had fought for so long consumed his heart that once clung so desperately to faith.
Hopelessness sank in.
Leon’s fists clenched at his sides.
He wouldn’t trust God.
He wouldn’t trust the one who had abandoned him and Aadelheide.
He wouldn’t trust the God that could have done something yet did nothing.
God had turned his back on Leon.
And if God was going to turn his back on Leon…Leon was going to turn his back on God.
~*~
Riker removed his uniform cap and slicked back his dark brown, wavy hair, a quick yawn escaping his lips.
He’d been up past three in the morning, still working on making sure the family was secure and safe in their new temporary hiding spot at Ezekiel’s church.
Taking Fin’s place within the Violet Iris resistance group took away all of his free time, but Riker wouldn’t complain, nor did he have a reason to.
People needed his help. He couldn’t and wouldn’t abandon them.
Riker put his cap back on his head and let out a deep sigh. He began walking, only trying to distract his mind and keep his body awake.
He couldn’t sleep. Not yet.
He had to visit his parents and sister tonight. Not to mention the fact that he knew what would happen if he dared to fall asleep on duty.
Fin’s position had been given to Hans, and Hans had implemented harsher discipline, for both personnel and prisoners.
Some of the guards and officers grumbled, but they made sure Hans wasn’t around when they did so, and most of them tried to avoid it.
Suffering made men stronger. Suffering made Nazis, and thus Germany, better.
Or so they claimed.
A sound cracked through the air. It rang in and deafened Riker’s ears. A loud voice, almost a scream, sounded just the second after, counting something off.
Riker followed the sound, unable to pull himself away.
Another crack.
Another count, almost screamed, completely yelled in agony.
Riker’s feet stopped right in their tracks.
Punishment being delivered. A whip cracking through the air only to meet a man’s, a prisoner’s, bare back.
The whip cracked through the air…yells and screams of agony sounded…and a lifetime of abuse flashed before Riker’s eyes.
He wouldn’t let someone else face cruel and unjustified abuse.
Riker forced himself to move, marching up to the man with the whip that delivered the punishment. A guard, not an officer, sporting the same sadistic smile Riker saw on so many of the guards and officers.
Prisoners and guards parted the way for him, and many faces paled.
The man with the whip paused, but his face didn’t pale when he looked up at Riker. Rather, he smirked. “Care to deliver the punishment instead, sir?”
“Drop the whip, now. Don’t deliver a single other punishment, and that’s an order.”
“We need discipline, sir…we can’t just let the pigs-“
“Drop the whip and deliver no more punishment.”
“Sir, they-““Deny my order one last time, and you will be reported for disobedience and insubordination against a senior officer. You will face disciplinary action if you do not drop the whip,” Riker leaned close, his voice carrying a threatening lilt and a threat he wouldn’t act upon, but a threat the guard assumed he’d follow through with, “and I will send you to the East.”
Sent to the east to fight on the front lines against the Soviets…every German soldier’s nightmare come true.
The guard’s face flashed a deathly pale, and the whip clinked onto the hard ground.
Riker nodded in semi-approval. “Good.”
His gaze strayed, and only then did he realize who the man was that was being punished…the man who Riker had heard screaming out each lash as it fell in German, who was now breathing heavy, obviously struggling to stay conscious.
Leon.
Riker turned to the guard who had been holding the whip, who was still almost as pale as a corpse. “Take the prisoners to the evening mess and let them eat their rations,” he faced the other guards around, all of whom were of lower rank than Riker, and all of whom were also pale, “and all of you go find something else to do afterwards. Now.”
They quickly obeyed, quickly getting the prisoners in line without using their clubs and marching away.
Riker picked up the striped shirt he could only think was Leon’s off the ground. He bent down beside Leon. “I’m getting you to the barracks. Someone can help care for you there.”
“You again?” Leon groaned, but when Riker helped him to his feet, he didn’t protest.
Leon stumbled, but Riker caught him. Leon hissed, and Riker moved his arm, holding onto Leon where he hadn’t been whipped. “Here,” Riker held out the shirt, “take this so I can help you.”
Leon took the shirt and didn’t say a word. He gritted his teeth with every step, and Riker half-carried him to the barracks.
Not like Leon weighed much…if anything, it was dead weight.
Riker walked to the barracks, Leon leaning against him, mostly carrying Leon.
He knew Leon hated him…but he had to help.
Even if Leon didn’t appreciate it or want it, Riker would do his best to help him.
@freedomwriter76
Love it!! 💗 Also that’s really good for first draft stuff!
"And so I left this world just as I had entered it. Confused."
@freedomwriter76 Ahhhhh I love it!!!! It’s so sweet, poor Leon 🥺
I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.
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@esther-c @mineralizedwritings @starshiness Thx y’all!!!! 💖💖💖
@freedomwriter76
Love the board!!
Aww, Leon!! 🥺 Poor Baby 😭😭😭
And Riker!!! 🥰😭🥺
They’re both so sweet 🥺🥺🥺
Great scene girl! I love it sm 🥰🥺
#HugRikerSquad
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@lightoverdarkness6 Awww, girllll, tysm!!! So happy you like it!!! 💗💗💗
@freedomwriter76 You’re so welcome girl!!! Yes, I love it!!! 🥰🥰🥰💖💖💖
#HugRikerSquad
@freedomwriter76
0_0
*Sniffle*
*Screams of fury*
YOU MONSTERS! VILLAINS! POLTROONS! HOW DARE YOU TOUCH HIM!
*Mutters under breath*
First Grand Historian of Arreth and the Lesser Realms (aka Kitty)
Fork the Gork@freedomwriter76 Love it! But poor Leon 😭 I just want a happy Leon chapter
“Nothing says autumn like slurpin’ apples.” -my uncle
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@koshka @freedomwriter76 @whalekeeper @loopylin @smiley @euodia-vision @esther-c @zemira @mineralizedwritings @keilah-h
anyone on?
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