Kurt's Prayer For A Friend

[Lauren]

Kurt was afraid, but he wasn’t just afraid for himself in this strange base. He was also afraid for his new friend, a woman whom the soldiers had simply dumped naked and wrapped in a blanket on a cot in his cell one day.

The woman was so weak, and she couldn’t even open her eyes or talk to him to tell him what she needed. Kurt knew what she needed. She needed to be in a hospital with people who actually cared if she lived or not instead of this cell where the soldiers came in and beat him everyday.

He sat beside her and he held her hand often, talking to her in a soothing voice as he told her about his life back home in Bavaria with his family in the circus. He often found himself laughing at a fond memory and on a few occasions, he saw the corners of her mouth tilt upwards in a smile of their own.

When he told her about the dream he had about the Lady, he found his mind wandering back to the rose, hoping that it was still resting in its box back in the cathedral in Boston. He also missed his Rosary terribly. One of the guards had snatched it away from him his first day here and he was without it ever since.

Sometimes, he heard snippets of what the soldiers were talking about. He heard them talking about plans with Creepy Kurt and how they were going to take him away in two days. This worried Kurt greatly because he was afraid of what the soldiers would do to his new friend once he was gone. On more than one occasion he was forced to fight a frisky soldier off who had been missing the feel of a woman’s skin.

On the last night he was with his new friend, he sat down beside her and he looked around their cell slowly, sighing softly as he looked down at her. Her hair had grown back at a rapid right, now it was like a flowing ebony river that he kept over one shoulder gently.

He took her hand gently and he brushed away a strand of hair from her face.

“Well, tomorrow they are taking me away. I do not know what they have planned for me, but I am not worried about that.” He told her quietly. He closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them again, he was looking skyward.

“I do not know whether you have a belief in God or not, but I suppose you will not mind if I pray for you will you?” he asked, looking down at her. He sighed softly when she made no response and he let go of her hand, sliding off of the bed and kneeling down, clasping his hands together as he rested his elbows on the bed.

“Oh Holy Mother, please give my friend here some of the protection that You promised to give to me. I am worried for her You see, and it would mean a lot if You were able to keep her safe from harm.” He prayed, looking to the ceiling of the cell.

He tilted his head to one side as he felt a gentle hand rest on his shoulder. He listened intently to Her words and he nodded slowly, crossing himself first and then with his thumb, he made the sign of the cross on his friend’s brow.

“You will be safe now.” He told her with a smile. “The Lady told me so Herself.”

The next morning, Kurt was woken by a club smashing down on the small of his back. With a startled howl of pain, Kurt fell out of bed.

“Time to get a move on, Creepy Kurt!” Norris laughed, grabbing him by his hair and forcing him to his feet.

Kurt looked over at his friend, and he smiled faintly as he looked back at Norris calmly and pushed him back a bit.

“I can walk just fine.” He said calmly. “Or do you wish to trouble Stryker with another lie about why I was beaten?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow slightly.

The door closed with a hiss, leaving Yuriko all alone in the cell.

That night, the very same soldier whom Kurt fought off the first time came in ready to have his fun with Yuriko. He opened the cell and walked up to her side, ready to take her. His hand touched her shoulder and he screamed and reared back. He looked at his hand in wonder and saw that it looked like it had been lashed at with thorns. He quickly left the room before anyone else came in.

Yuriko’s lips twisted faintly in a smile, knowing that her friend’s prayer had been answered.

What she could not see was a ring of white roses around her cot, the thorns covered in the soldier’s blood.

The roses were swept away by Stryker weeks later, but for that time, Yuriko was safe under the prayer her friend had recited for her when he could have prayed for his own safety.

[thylacine]

Cool.

[Zuno]

Loved the ending