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@gracie-j. I KNOWWW!!!! HE IS SO HORRIBLE!!!!! (Pfft, but who am I kidding!? He’d probably take it like a compliment, the Vile man. *sobs*) I don’t have an insult bad enough either. DX
YESSSSS!!!!!! *hugs both you and Riker tight* HANS BETTER NOT TOUCH YOU, RIKER, WE’LL MAKE SURE OF IT!!!!!!!
@freedomwriter76
MY RYKERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR… (I’d be tempted to be upset with how much pain my poor baby is going through if I didn’t appreciate how absolutely beautiful all these layers of tragedy are😂) Wonderful job, my friend! I love how this added layer of guilt plays in. BRAVO!!!!
Aadelheide seems so sweet!!! But not as sweet as Ryker. 😉
Oh my goodness… HANS. I DESPISE HIM.
@freedomwriter76 THE HORRIBLEST!!! (Yikes.)
YES!! I’LL COME AFTER YOU, BOY, IF YOU SO MUCH AS LAY A HAND ON ONE STRAND OF HAIR ON HIS HEAD!!!
the resident romance ghost; last seen within the pages of a gothic novel
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@gracie-j. YES!!!
YES, WE WILL PROTECT RIKER AT ALL COSTS!!!! XD
- Rank: Chosen One
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@lydia-s. Aww, thank you! (Haha, I feel the same way. XD) THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! I do my best! 😀
Aadelheide is very sweet. Still love Riker the most though. 😉
ME TOOO!!!! HE IS SO HORRID!!!! I HATE HIM!!!! (he makes a great villain tho…)
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@gracie-j. GIRL! I FOUND ANOTHER SONG FOR RIKER AND HIS DAD!!!! *sobs* The song is “I Love you Anyway” by Holly Starr. 😉
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@gracie-j. @lydia-s. @elishavet-pidyon. @lrose5. (since you said you were falling for Riker already. 😂) This takes place pretty early on in the book, right after Fin shows him the camp, and *cries* the gas chambers, specifically. 😭
Riker retched and stumbled backwards. Leaned against a building to steady himself as his body trembled from the shock of what he just saw.
They hadn’t even known what was coming. Those men, those women, those children, those babies…they had walked into the jaws of death.
And didn’t even realize it.
Riker had joined the SS rather than the Wehrmacht to escape the idea of killing someone. But in the end…he…he was still nothing but a murderer.
He still killed innocent people.
Thousands…maybe millions…of innocent people.
“Water?”
It took Riker’s swirling mind a moment to realize Fin was offering him a canteen of water.
“Thank you.” Riker said, soft, quiet, taking the offered drink.
“It’s not easy to see. But I thought you had a right to know what’s going on.”
“All those people…why were they arrested and taken here?”
“Some of them on political reasons, being communists. Others because they didn’t listen to Hitler. The others…most of them…being Jews…just because Hitler and every other Nazi, for that matter, hates them.”
“Innocent people have been killed,” Riker’s head throbbed with the reality of it all, “and I helped murder them.”
Fin’s gray eyes sparked with concern. “Riker, you didn’t know that this was going on.”
“It doesn’t matter…” Riker breathed, his hands shook, and his body still trembled from head to toe. “I still killed thousands…millions…of innocent people. They didn’t even know…they didn’t realize.”
“Riker, you can’t only blame yourself.”
“I could have done something! But instead, I…I…did nothing. I did whatever I was told and did nothing to object. I should have realized…I should have guessed something was going on! I was such…an idiot.”
Fin gripped his shoulders. “You didn’t know. We can’t stop what we don’t know about. You know what? Yes, people have died. But God has a purpose for you being here.”
“God would never have a plan for someone like me.” Riker closed his eyes and pulled away. Ran his hand along the scar on his left cheek.
The ever-constant reminder of the past he fought to forget.
“After everything I’ve done…never. Everyone was right, Fin.”
Fin raised an eyebrow. “Who are you talking about, Riker?”
Riker swallowed hard. “My community. My father. The church I went to. They all said it. Showed how much they believed it. Told me over, and over, and over again.”
“You can’t undo all the hurt you’ve caused, but Riker, that’s where forgiveness and redemption come in.” Fin whispered.
Riker shrugged. Handed Fin back the canteen. “There’s none of that left to spare on me. Like I said, everyone was right.”
“About what?”
Riker bit his lip. Glanced around, his gaze finally falling on the guards who were leading more unknowing, innocent people into the chambers.
“I am nothing more than a mistake.”
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Oh, and a few things. 😀
1. Fin is one of my absolute favorite characters in this book. 😂 What do y’all think of him so far?
2. For background, I was listening to Man or a Monster by Sam Tinnesz when writing most of this. 😉
3. Does Riker’s guilt feel realistic, or does it feel forced? 😊
@freedomwriter76 IT WAS PERFECT!!! The guilt is totally real, and I love Fin!!!
the resident romance ghost; last seen within the pages of a gothic novel
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@gracie-j. Aww, thank you so much, girl! <3
I was hoping it would be realistic! And YES, FIN IS EPIC!!!! 😀
@freedomwriter76
Wow. *sobs and hugs Riker* Riker’s guilt does NOT feel forced at all. SO REAL. I don’t really know who Fin is but I’m loving him so far!You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.
C.S. Lewis
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@lrose5. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! 🥰🥰🥰
I was hoping his guilt would feel real. 😅 Haha. None of y’all really know him yet. 😂 But I absolutely LOVE HIM! But basically, he’s an SS officer that is in charge of Riker but becomes more of like a friend/mentor. He tries to share the Gospel with Riker (he has an interesting past…if any of y’all, you and @gracie-j and anyone else, want to hear it…😉) and is just so sweet and caring and compassionate. And…he’s helping Jews escape. 🤩 Secretly, of course. 😉
@freedomwriter76
Ohh AWESOME!! Yes i wanna hear it! XDD Me likey Fin!!!!!You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.
C.S. Lewis
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@lrose5. Yeah. He’s epic. 😉
Okay! XD Here we go! 😀
Fin was the oldest of 7 kids. His father died in the First World War and his family fell into poverty. His mother, after her husband’s death, literally broke apart. And, due to health conditions, she couldn’t work. Fin dropped out of school and went to work in a factory to provide for his mother and siblings. He was only a teen, by the way. *sobs* But fast forward, Fin’s siblings all eventually married and had families of their own. But Fin stayed and took care of his mother. (There’s his caring spirit…) So, he never married. (and by the time of the book, he still isn’t married) When Hitler rose to power, Fin, like many, thought he could actually bring better back to Germany. He wanted better, mostly for his mother. He and his mother were very close. But in 1937, she died. He was broken, and he sold the house he and his mother lived in and joined the SS. He was transferred to a Concentration Camp after his training, and did it all gladly, thinking he was doing what was “best for Germany”. At this point in his life, Fin wanted absolutely nothing to do with God. But fast forward 3 years. He was doing what he was doing well and got to where he had been promoted to a much higher rank. One day, he was assigned the duty of firing squad. He was doing it, and eventually he got to a Jewish man that, unlike everyone else, had turned to face him. He said: “God forgives you…” Fin raised his pistol towards him, thinking how he wanted nothing to do with God, when the man continued by saying: “And so do I.” As you can imagine, that shook Fin to the core. XD He couldn’t finish his job and had to rush off. He wondered how that man, as Fin literally AIMED A PISTOL at him, could forgive him, right then and there. And thus, searching began. *claps* He went to many of the Jews in the camp, and a few others, but mostly Jews, since the man had been Jewish, and asked how he could do that. Most of them wouldn’t talk to him and also didn’t have an answer. But…a small group of Jewish men, women, and even children began to talk to him, teaching him about forgiveness, sin, and they were Messianic Jews, so…they told Fin about Jesus. They showed him love, compassion, forgiveness, mercy, grace, and simply put, showed him Jesus. In a way he had never seen. The reality of his sin stared him in the face. One day, Fin finally fell to his knees in surrender and repentance. He didn’t know what God had planned, but he was tired of being so alone, and those people had proved to him, in their own special ways, that there was a God who had given all of heaven for him. For a little while, he struggled with guilt, and he still regrets what he did. (that’s why he understands how Riker feels. *wink*) He began helping Jews. Now, he’s a strong Christian man, an SS officer saving Jews, and a man who is ready to give anything and everything for the God who saved his life.
I know that was long, but his past is very intricate. XD Congrats if you read through all that, lol. XD
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He has a redemption arc, that is for certain. 😉
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