by: lovethelifeulive
Spoiler! :
Part 1 of 2
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December 7th 1943:
I hid behind the curtains of the stage.
The crowd clapped loudly for me. I wondered,
Who would pay to watch a ballerina dance during a war?
I couldn't even pay for myself. Living in a tiny apartment, owned by the government, with my sister, who was a nurse for the people of Kiev.
And while everyone was working for the war, I was dancing for the men and women, who either couldn't care less about the war, or were on Hitlers side. Or on Fridays, young boys secretly come to watch me dance. Young boys who came back home for a few days before they had to go back, just to be blown to pieces. I adjusted my tight tutu, to my satisfaction.
I turned my head toward the full-length mirror. The girl staring back, was nothing like me. Brown hair, tucked up into a tight bun. It was usually down and wavy. Heavy make-up around my eyes that stuck to my face, was there to make my regular brown eyes and big Jewish nose seem prettier. My full lips were evenly spread with red lipstick.
I wore a bright magenta tutu and leotard. The hem of the tuto had beautiful sprinkles of gold and so did the leotard, but with swirls of sparkles.
The orchestra under the stage had began to play.
I always felt nervous before the concert, if the audience were to find out who I was, I could be out of business.
Not only that,
I could be sent to a concentration camp...I could be killed.
I felt a lump in my throat.
My older brother, Daniel, was only twenty-six when he was murdered. He had a beautiful wife, they had been married for four years and had a gorgeous baby girl. They were taken to a concentration camp in Poland only last Summer.
From what we have heard, he was trying to save his wife after the little baby died of malnutrition. They ended up beating him to death and we have no information about his wife, Svetlana.
I blinked the water in my eyes away and listened to the music.
Sucking in my stomach, I stood up with my toes pointed under my pink ballet slippers.
As the violins began to play faster the deep red curtians flew back and I leaped out into the spotlight, streching my ballet tights. The audience clapped for me as I did Fouette, I turned my body quickly on my toes. My right leg kept me balanced was kept in a turning motion where the other leg was extended and brought close towards the knee of my balancing leg to obtain speed. I danced across the stage, doing twirls and splits. I melted into the music, and calmed down a little.
Two hours later, I ended the performance like I always did, with a Grand Jete.
My signature ending was a long jump made by starting on one leg and landing on the other. This involved doing full leg splits in mid-air during the jump with your arms extended diagonal to each other.
The music ended and cheers exploded in the building. I caught the flowers the Nazi soldiers threw at me, rose petals spotted the stage.
I bowed and the curtains closed, but I stood there, still in a bowing position, with my eyes closed, not listening to the clapping, just catching my breath. I couldn't wait to get home, to see my sister in the small kitchen. Cooking warm soup, on the small stove. Baking bread, in the small oven. Waching the dishes in the small sink.
I couldn't wait to see my little sister, nineteen years old, only two years younger then me.
I let a tear escape, the little drop ran down my cheek, I felt my make-up start to run.
This is all unfair.
The the situation we where in was difficult. And there was almost no way out of it.
Unless we moved to Switzerland.
But we barely had enough money to support ourselves now. And I was lucky to come across this job, that was making about seventy percent of our pay.
It was when Daniel was still alive, he just got married. Svetlana's parents had given her some money after the wedding to help with the baby, that would be born only five months later. But they spent it on me and my sister.
They didn't just give us money, but let the us live with them, feed us and provide clothing.
My sister was already a nurse, but I was unemployed at the time.
I wandered the steet for a few weeks, searching for a job. I came across an old theater and the old owner too.
She explained to me, that she couldn't find any actors, since all the men where at war, and the women wher doing the mens jobs. My best friend, Irina, was an interior designer before she died in a concentration camp in Aushwitz.
I told her about the woman and her theater, we took on the project together as teamates. We spend hours in that theater, we brought it back to life. Painted the outside red and the inside gold, we added chandliers, reupholstering the chairs and everything. We finished a week after she was sent away, I told the woman about how I studied to be a dancer and she offered me the job. I have been dancing for a year when I turned twenty and the kind woman died, so her daughter of 42 years took over. I repaid Daniel and Svetlana and rented an apartment for me and my dearest sister.
I opend my eyes and walked to the back of the stage. I quickly changed into a light blue button-up, a light pink skirt and a brown over-coat on top and wiped off all of the make-up.
I rushed out of the building, with my purse in hand.
I escaped out the back door, as I walked down the dirty alley way.
Rats scurried around and trash layed around the floors, I looked up to see the lamp posts light began to blink.
Oh, please don't go out, please down go out, little lightbulb. oh please...
The lightbulb blinked one more time, before it went off completely.
I stood in complete darkness.
I placed my hand on the brick walls of the alley, to help me find my way out into the street.
The only noise was the sound of my heels, clicking loudly.
I felt a hand on my shoulder and let out the loudest scream my lungs could manage.
"I-I'm sorry ma'am, I just..." The lights blinked back on.
A man in a black suit and a green tie stood in front of me with a rose in his hand. He let go of my shoulder.
"I saw your preformance, you were amazing." he said, proudly, handing my the rose.
"Why, thank you sir." I held out my hand. "I am Lubov Feedman, it's nice to meet you."
Lubov means lovely in Russian. Luba is the nickname, but hardly anyone calls eachother by nicknames.
He took my hand and shook it. "Hello, I am Adam Kühn." he smiled kindly.
"Would you like me to walk you home?" he asked.
"No, thank you. I think I'll be fine." He can't see where I live, I live in a Jewish apartment. If he was watching the performence, then he could be a Nazi.
"Well, you have a nice day. May, I just say that you are very beautiful."
I felt heat rush up to my checks. I had wiped off my make-up, I wasn't even wearing lipstick.
"Thank you, I hope you have a wonderful evening too."
he smiled back at me and turned around and walked down the alleyway.
I smelt the rose in my hand and walked home.
I unlocked the door of our apartment. I stepped into the warm hallway, the smell of beef entered my nose. I took off my jacket and hung it on a hook and slipped off my heels.
"Lubov!" Tatiana smiled at me. She sat at the tiny kitchen table sipping her soup.
"Tatiana, how was your day?" I asked sitting down.
"Dreadful," she replied, gliding her hands threw her short brown hair.
"Isn't it always?" I sighed, taking a spoonful of her warm soup into my mouth.
"Yes. But today, a young boy, fifteen, I think he was, came in with his mother. She said she wanted a check-up on her son, because his throat was very hoarse. So we checked him, and it turned out that he had lung infection! He was working as a chimney sweep, too." Tatiana explained.
"Thats horrid!" I said, shocked.
"And it gets worse!" Tatiana finished her soup and got up to rinse out the bowl in the sink.
"The mother fainted, so we did a check up on her too, turns out she had the influenza too!"
"Oh my! Thats dreadful..."
She opened her mouth to answer, but before the words could come out a huge Bang came from the door.
The door fell off of it hinges. Standing in the doorway, was the man from the alleyway.
"Adam?" I asked standing up.
Two suited men emerged from behind him.
Nazi!
"Feedman, is a Jewish name isn't it?" he asked.
Tatiana stood up too.
"No! We're Christians..."
"You don't wear stars on your cloths, do you know what the punishment for that is?" he interrupted her.
"No! You can't do this!" Tatiana yelled back.
Adam pointed to us.
"Arrest them."
Spoiler! :
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