A Beauty Among Beasts Read online

  A Beauty

  Among Beasts

  By Melanie Gabrell

  Copyright 2018, Melanie Gabrell

  A Beauty Among Beasts

  Copyright 2018 by Melanie Gabrell

  All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  For my mom. Your life and love planted the seeds for my passion of reading and writing. Thank you.

  Chapter 1

  Anna

  Only the ghosts of the day prior lingered in Anna Klein's favorite bakery. She stood alone in front of the window, sinking like a rock into the snow, into the earth, where no one would find her. For Anna, the most disheartening thing about living in a small town in Nazi Germany was the frequency with which families went missing and the indifference in the faces of the townsfolk when another mom-and-pop shop closed.

  But Anna noticed. She noticed every time. But this one was more personal, and she didn’t want to believe it. It was likely no one would see the Brodbeck children again: Joe, Hannah, or even little Abby. While it wasn’t guaranteed they’d been taken to a camp—they could be out on a delivery—but in Anna’s gut she knew the chances of the latter were slim. Anna had seen too many shops close for the day, and never return, and any time a family went missing, everyone in town looked the other way. The truth was, people lived ignorantly among monsters.

  The monster within Anna was the worst—so she thought. She was upset to see her favorite bakery closed, though a part of her thought it was probably a good thing. She had way too much of a sweet tooth, and her dad often blamed her poor eating habits when she didn't feel well. It didn't help that the bakery was right next to her father's bookshop either, or that one of her oldest friend's families ran it.

  The fact that the missing sweets bothered her at all was a problem. That thought was so trivial, but she had trouble identifying her deeper feelings—the ones forming the pit in her stomach. Her monster refused to cry or talk about it, so it slowly ate away at her inside.

  Anna knew something was different that morning. It lingered in the cold air; a sense of foreboding emptiness. As she walked the short distance from her home to the store, she noticed the butcher wasn't in and hadn't been for a week… but it wasn't only the butcher. Quite a few of the local mom-and-pop shops in her little town of Essen, just outside of Dresden, were closed.

  Anna noticed people going about their morning business—the same faces she saw every day. They didn’t seem to have a worry in the world. But she knew they felt it too, deep down somewhere beneath the callouses. The snow over the cobblestones showed footprints, and quite a few resembled Anna's. They’d also stopped abruptly in front of their favorite shops which were suddenly vacant.

  Essen’s village shops sat in a large circle with a few outlets to side streets for the overcrowding of stores that had increased over time. In the central ring were the most popular stores; the ones who’d established an excellent reputation through generations of quality service and product. The amount of those that were empty was startling. It was beneficial, however, to the remaining shop owners whose doors had lines through their thresholds as they were starting up that morning.

  Anna looked in her father’s bookstore window. She knew the store would have no ghosts because she was the first one entering that morning—as she always was.

  Anna always arrived early to the shop in the morning because she liked to linger. There needed to be an hour minimum to look through the different books from new shipments; though the choices were smaller every day because of the emerging regulations from the Führer—a fact that always kindled a silent rebellion inside her. The bookstore was her childhood, and not just because she’d grown up in it. Stories were her childhood, and they were stories the young German children in the winter of 1944-1945 would never know.

  Anna fidgeted with the front door of the shop until it gave way and she walked inside. There were boxes piled up between the stacks her father had left for her the night before. She immediately began sorting through the closest one. The note on top indicated it was the belongings of someone who had passed, and the family did not want them.

  Anna opened the box and to her delight, discovered the books were old—they did not have the Nazi bacteria coming out of their bindings. No, these bindings were dusty … and beautiful. Her heart swelled. Worn books told the tales of another life and another time—before the Reich.

  As she dug through the box, one book stood out to her. It had decorative golden accents along the spine which contrasted the deep maroon fabric. The cover read Grimm's Tales. Anna lifted it carefully, afraid to damage the fragile binding. Though this book’s pages were thin, they were still in immaculate condition. Somehow, it had withstood time, but she was still careful as she tucked it under her arm.

  Anna locked the door behind her on her way out. Her father would be there in a little while to open the doors to the public. She walked into the street, pulling her hat down with her free hand as she felt her wavy blonde hair, which was suddenly icicled in the cold. This season had already proved quite brutal, even for Germany. The cold didn’t reach its peak until late January, but October was already breathtaking. It was unusual for the cold to settle so early. The air was brisk, so much so that her fingers were blue, and she could feel the chill deep into her soul. Quick steps kept her blood pumping and the heat in her cheeks.

  Sure, Anna thought, walking through the cold before school was a nuisance, but her father needed her help, and for that, it was no trouble. Plus, she got first dibs on books—and a little serenity.

  With the new regulations sent down by the Führer, her father was just starting to transition to the much smaller selection of Reich-approved literature on the shelves. Up until recently, being a small bookstore in a small town had allowed them to go unnoticed.

  The regulations, however, only applied to books sold in the store, and so he developed a new branch of the business in the private sector. He’d started spending more time seeking out individual clients to help build their private libraries, leaving the store management to Anna and her siblings.

  The problem was Anna's siblings were absent. Her slightly older sister (by six minutes to be exact—though not her identical twin) was able-bodied and present at the household, but Gwen still, however, denied Anna company on the morning trips to the shop. She was always claiming to be suffering an illness or calamity of some sort that required her to rest. Really, Anna knew, it was so she could spend more time getting ready for school.

  Anna’s younger sister, Effie, was four and she couldn't take a four-year-old to help run a bookstore, as much as she wanted too. There's no way her father would let that happen.

  But it was okay. She liked the solitude of the walks and the quietness of the early morning. They provided a sense of peace in her tiny chaotic world.

  Anna was quickly brought back to reality as the local officer waved to her, just like he did every morning. It was common to see patrols at all hours in Essen, though she noticed right away that one of the two officers that patrolled between her house and the store was missing. Struck with a thought, Anna turned away from her path, towards the lone officer.

  "Guten morgen. " Anna smiled. She wasn't much of a talker or a morning person and usually just waved, but something had hold of her this morning. "Do you know what happened to the shops?” she asked. “Almost half a dozen more are dark."

  H
e greeted her cheerily and she assumed he was just happy for someone to talk to. He was glowing in his uniform and appeared restless and ready for action. His name was Henry Tolkien—she knew him because he’d graduated from her high school just the year before.

  "Anna, how do you carry on in this cold? I only stand out here because I have to!" He laughed. "Many people were transported last night. I’m not sure what for. I wasn't on the job, but Walter, my partner out here these cold mornings, was."

  Anna knew Walter all right. Jerk. She wondered how Henry, who seemed like a nice guy, could deal with a man like that? But, then again, people like that were everywhere. Walter was just an infuriating embodiment of all of them.

  "Strange, though, Henry. I always liked our town and I miss how it used to be. It’s much friendlier than Dresden…" Anna gave a small smile and bid him a farewell. She had not gotten any answers and wondered if Henry knew what was going on with the relocations, or if he was blissfully ignorant.

  When Anna finally arrived home, there were letters sitting on the doorstep. The mailman, too, was always early. Her small town did not waste morning light.

  She shambled inside to put her things down and went back to get the mail. Shuffling through each letter eagerly, she found what she wanted—a letter from Wilhelm, her oldest brother. She grinned from ear to ear as she opened it.

  She missed him. He was her best friend. They were closer to each other than she was with her twin sister, Gwen. Will and their other brother, Alex, would have gladly helped with the bookstore had they not been recruited to fight in the war. Sometimes she remembered her mornings with Will. They walked together and opened the store, and it felt like even less of a chore.

  She’d heard rumors about the Americans and what they did to German soldiers, but she knew she couldn't trust much of the information she heard, especially not the rumors that concern Will and Alex. There were also stories about the German soldiers, but it was hard to say what was true with all the propaganda. As is the problem with ordinary folk, they only know what they are told, and Hitler had the devil's tongue. He would only make Germany great again by tearing it apart limb from limb and creating his version of Frankenstein's monster.

  Anna often wondered which was worse, the monsters of mythology or that of humanity. The monsters of myth were in her books, but humanity’s flaws stared her in the face every day. Nazism was everywhere—on posters, the radio, movies. Even the stamps on the letters she’d taken from the front steps had the Nazi mark.

  She, like everyone else, put on a face for the Reich, but she secretly wondered who else, if anyone else, felt the same.

  She noticed one of the other letters in the pile was from her father's promising new client. He had reached out to so many, without much of a return. Even just one positive reply could make a world of difference. It meant not a sale of one book, but dozens or even hundreds. Anna hurried to her father in his tiny office where he was bent over a book on his desk. In the light she could see his face was tense and a few gray hairs sprouting between his brown ones. She dropped the letter on his desk, and kissed him on the cheek.

  He saw the return address and opened the letter quickly. Anna noticed a glimmer of excitement in his eyes. She watched with anticipation as her father read the contents.

  "Anna, it looks like we have ourselves a deal!”

  Anna was not one for chaos or rigidity. She liked her walks because they were natural—peaceful. But school was harsh and artificial, and, unfortunately, while there, all she could do was peer out the window and daydream.

  Suddenly, something hit Anna in the head, and she turned sharply. Rudy. He grinned stupidly, his dark hair falling in his face, with his next paper ball ready to go.

  "You're being annoying, stop tapping your pencil," he whispered sternly.

  She wasn't even aware she’d been doing it.

  "I finished my work," she whispered back, more to her desk than to Rudy. Anna glanced at Mrs. Jager, who didn't seem to notice, and straightened her uniform skirt, which always sat uncomfortably.

  "Why don't you try doing your own work for a change, Rudy?" Gwen interrupted and in one swift motion spun around in her chair, her perfectly placed blonde curls bouncing, and stole his next piece of ammo.

  "Or Anna can give me hers to copy," he said while batting his falsely innocent blue eyes and giving her a cheeky grin.

  "You really think she wants to do that?" her sister retorted. Rudy remained silent and Gwen shot Anna a brief victory smile before turning around.

  Rudy grunted and stared at his paper.

  How does she do that? Anna wondered. Gwen always spoke up for Anna when she couldn't—which was ... always— because Anna avoided confrontation at all costs. Chances were, without her sister’s help, she probably would have given Rudy her work to make him go away.

  "Five more minutes," Mrs. Jager called out lazily from the front desk.

  Anna was distracted, as usual. But this time, it wasn't so much the disinterest in math, or the beautiful falling snow outside, it was the empty desk across the room.

  Anna couldn’t help but think about her friend Joe and his missing family. It wasn't just Anna who Gwen stood up for, it was Joe too—and any other little guy who needed it. She was a regular superhero. But on that day, Anna wondered where they had gone.

  What happened to him?

  He had a family—two little sisters. His parents had left a year ago, had someone finally come for him, too?

  It sent chills down her spine.

  "...Anna?"

  "Yes, Mrs. Jager?" She felt her face become immediately heated as she sat up straight.

  "I know it's your last year here, but please try and pay attention. No daydreaming."

  Anna looked down at her desk. Okay, maybe she tended to daydream, but she did all her work. There was nothing to complain about. Besides, she wasn't daydreaming that time. It was something serious. Had Mrs. Jager honestly not noticed? Half of the desks in her classroom were empty.

  Perhaps I'm the same, she thought, numb to it. But Joe's empty chair seemed to mock her. She wondered if Gwen noticed them as well. Suddenly the classroom door opened. “Joseph Brodbeck.” Mrs. Jager spat out his name like a curse word and a few classmates sniggered. “What’s your excuse?”

  Anna’s fears disappeared in an instant but were replaced rather quickly by anxiety.

  “My sister was sick, Mrs. Jager,” Joe said and walked to his desk.

  “Sit down.” Mrs. Jager didn’t so much as look at him again. She waved him away with her hand like a buzzing fly.

  Anna caught Joe’s eye as he sat and smiled at him encouragingly. They had been friends since kindergarten, the three of them—Joe, Gwen, and Anna. Only, in the last few years they’d become more distant. Things had changed between them and she couldn’t fully explain why. The best answer was that they were growing up and realizing they were different. But there were other things, too. The political climate quietly influenced them, introducing the monster, the society of fear, and a king to rule over it.

  The visible differences were Gwen's new friends who shared her fashion sense and Joe's increasing familial responsibilities. Anna, though? She hadn't gone anywhere or done anything. Sure, she started putting in more time at the bookstore, but that was because she had the time to put in. She also knew her dad could use more help. It just happened at the same time. Anna didn't dwell on it, but she became much better friends with her books—just like the one peeking out from her backpack.

  She pulled her new book out slowly and placed it on her lap. Mrs. Jager was lecturing and not watching the back corner of the room, so Anna laid her hand on the cover. She’d hid book’s title as best she could underneath some paper wrapping. This book was the exact type the Nazi’s found perfect for firewood, and she was sure that anyone, especially Mrs. Jager, would not hesitate to take it away.

  Anna understood that the dark content and non-Nazi-esque ideas of her new book could be an issue, but she didn't like the
edited versions. Even the math textbook on her desk had a picture of Hitler on it, and all the new fairytales featured him as a character.

  Hitler was not a fairytale character, as much as they wanted to pretend he was. Germany had real history and culture that was starkly different than what they were trying to shove down everyone’s throat.

  “Turn to page 23…” Mrs. Jager drawled on and Anna absently flipped through her book. She hated math, but she skimmed over the page to make sure she could capture some of it if she was called upon.

  As she grazed the content, she picked up words and images—a Swastika here, a German reference there. Even math class discussed race through the numbers. The only contentment Anna could find to take herself away was in the quiet serenity of the snow outside. But she became too complacent and didn’t notice as Mrs. Jager took slow steps in her direction. Finally, she heard the last few clicks of the teacher’s heels and immediately felt her heavy presence.

  “Give that to me now, Anna.” Mrs. Jager held out her hand and tapped her foot impatiently.

  Anna felt her face grow hot. “It’s just a book, Mrs. Jager.”

  “It’s a book you are not supposed to be reading during class.” She pointed to the textbook on Anna’s desk. “That’s the one we are looking at.”

  Anna reluctantly handed the book to her while the whole class watched. Even Gwen couldn’t help her, though she kept making wide eyes in Anna’s direction, silently scolding her.

  “Thank you, Anna. Now if you don’t mind, please start us off on Chapter Three - Mathematics in Real Life: Probability and Genetics.” Mrs. Jager brought the book back to her desk and placed it in the top drawer on the right-hand side. Anna was relieved that Mrs. Jager didn’t look passed the cover.

  Chapter 2

  David