January 3rd, 1942

Paris the city of courage and love, at least that’s how the people in France used to believe, France was one of those countries which were advancing rapidly after WW1 both industrially and economically, people were cheerful and relishing their lives peacefully but least did they knew how their fate was going to take turns, everything was about to transform. In September 1939 France and Great Britain declared war on Germany when Hitler invaded Poland. After the broadly strategic war schemes of Germany, France lost the war despite the support from it’s most powerful ally nation British, just within a time frame of 7 weeks, Germans were able to overthrow France and drove away British from the continent, with no other alternative France was fallen on its knees for Hitler’s regime. On June 16th, 1940 Petain was appointed as leader of France and it was divided into 2 parts which worked as puppet states under Germany, within no time France had plunged into the dark age in Hitler’s regime with horrible Governance of Nazis, then things got worse when Hitler declared openly a publication “Premier Satut des Juifs” the publication was declared that Jews will be banished from Civil, Commercial, or Industrial functions and public positions. The streets of Paris were filled with German Soldiers who arrived for a holiday, no outside communication with the world was permitted, every information which departs out of the country will be scrutinized by German, individual life’s of people were doomed and in other words, France people were nothing but a reserve for soldiers and labor camps of Germany. The economy was collapsed rapidly and most of the people were not even able to buy required essentials, houses were abandoned, people migrated from one place to another to find a livelihood, soon the city of Paris had only a civilian strength of 800k, and people started to retaliate with the German government. To oppress the people of Paris, German had come up with a plan to impose a curfew on nights. The streets from which people’s laugh and mild music were used to show up were now turned into deserted gloaming streets with German soldiers marching them, the noise of the boot steps of German soldiers was reverberating the whole night throughout the city. It was around 1 in the night, the entire city was gloomy under the curfew, German soldiers marching on the streets, and this moment was prone for Paris black market dealers to shift their goods to several parts of the city. Some group of people walking deadly silent on the gloomy streets of Paris with some essential goods with them, The snow on the alleys worked for lowering the sound of their footsteps, one wrong turn could end their lives, Michael was one of those smugglers, despite being very comprehensive with their steps and visibility on streets, on the final turn one of the people in that group stepped on the pavement and stumbled on the floor making a sound, within no time they could hear German soldiers running towards them from a distance. They immediately picked up the guy and started running into dark streets and the soldiers started chasing them, Michael realized if they carry on like this, within no time they will be imprisoned by German soldiers, Michael instructed everybody to run and looked around him, he could see a pipeline leading towards the ceiling of a building, he immediately ascended the pipe. One of the soldiers saw him and the whole group of soldiers began to chase Michael, which provided a window for his people to escape with goods, soon the soldiers started to shoot at him, Michael took all of the strength and launched to run like hell on the rooftops of Paris, and from the streets, the soldiers were hunting him like wild dogs and randomly firing at him, Michael was fast enough to evade those bullets by flinching and sprinting from the rooftops. The chase had begun to take its toll on him but he wasn’t holding back. The soldiers were becoming skeptical of his moves since they were running down relentlessly yet he showed no indications of giving up the chase. The wall at the end of the way offered a relief from the fatigue that had started to set in his limbs. He broke into a brisk walk from then on in anticipation. Taking one final step up the wall with one leg and springing up from there. His frenzied momentum translated into a vertical jump he couldn’t believe. He reached towards the top of the wall with his left hand and soon he was pulling himself up over the wall. then casually jumped into the garden on the other side and rolled off into a bedlam of leaves which cushioned his endeavor but not before offering him a slight smile of condescension. It was all over in 2 seconds. “Damn these soldiers, look’s like they are not going to give up,” Michael said annoyingly and went on endlessly. While lunging from one building to another his jacket got stuck to a metal rod on the top of a building, he tried to break out from that, but a soldier commenced to fire at him, with no other alternative, he took off the jacket and left it hanging there and jumped to run. It was winter in Paris, soon the temperature began to show consequences on Michael, his hands were becoming cold and his feet were freezing, the torture of the cold was way better than the torture of German soldiers, so he began to push his boundaries and ran to get away from them. He finally reached a building that was slant. It was erratic to run on those but, there was no option to halt, so he took the risk and started running on it and he suddenly felt himself slipping from those verges, just in seconds before falling off the ridge he clasped a pole, But his hands which were senseless due to the cold, his grasp kept slipping off and he tried to hold on but it was too late and he fell into a house through an open balcony door. Michael was still in a dilemma, he couldn't believe that he fell from the rooftop and was still alive, but that shock and dilemma only prevailed until he came into his reality where the soldiers were chasing him, his leg was aching like hell, it wasn’t broken but it might have got hit while falling from that grimy ridge, he looked around the room it was so dark that he was not able to notice anything, but he could see a mattress nearby, he slowly gathered himself and crawled slowly towards the mattress like a snake without making any commotion. He was so blended into that darkness and silence, that he could listen to his heart pounding in that sheer silence. He could listen to soldier’s footsteps on the streets, searching all over the area for Michael, It would be a nightmare for him if German soldiers locate him it would be the end of him. He didn’t even know how much time had passed under the mattress but after some time the footsteps gradually decreased, the soldiers took off to another street. After reassuring himself that the soldiers were gone Michael slowly crawled out of the mattress and reclined on it, he removed his boot to see what happened to his leg, the right leg was red and it was swollen lightly. There was a cut on his left shoulder but it was not bleeding thanks to the cold, it was playing its role by freezing the wound. He settled there for a while, the house looked like it was abandoned, he guessed it might be the house of some people who migrated from Paris. It is now clear that with these injuries, he could not get out in this snowy night, so he decided to remain in the house and spend the night, he could walk back to his people in the morning, to withstand the night he would require a fireplace, so he slowly walked down to the corridor to look for a fireplace and food if there were any. When he got down he could feel it was comfy down there, the cold was less compared to the room upstairs, he wandered in the house and saw some photo frames, it looked like a really happy family of 4, everyone’s spirit in Paris was satisfactory until France lost the war, the colors and prosperity have immediately vanished among the people of France, The lives which used to be happy and cheerful are now nothing but depressed, battling for survival, and their basic needs. While roaming around the house he saw some light from one of the rooms in the hallway, He hesitated to walk towards the room but eventually, he gathered the energy and courage. He was terrified of the thought that German soldiers would be inside the room ready to attack, he wouldn’t even be able to run out of that house because it was drizzling snow outside and he lost his jacket on the rooftop during the chase. It’s now or never he needs to face whatever it is, he took a vase from the table into his hands and slowly walked towards the door, he slowly reached to the door handle to open it, his hands were shaking, a vase in another hand for defense, he finally grabbed the handle and unlocked the door. Inside there was a fireplace, he wondered who would be staying in that abandoned house, he walked into the room to check it, it was so silent and warm, he felt that warmth and started to enjoy it, but he heard a sound from behind, he turned back and could see a baseball bat slinging towards his face, he instantly leaned back and lost control and landed on the floor, The person who was about to knock him swung the baseball bat so hard that the person also lost control and fallen towards the door. Michael swiftly stood up and charged towards that person, the person was about to whack him again, but this time Michael grabbed the hand and twisted it back and held the person from behind, the bat slowly slipped from the hands. “Relax dude I don’t want to hurt you,” said Michael to that person. The person was struggling hard to get out of the grip, In that glimmer of the fireplace, in the mirror, Michael could see the glimpse of that person who ambushed him was actually a girl, he was stunned and surprised to see her, He was stunned because she was a girl and she was so robust that even it was difficult for Michael to clench her, he was surprised because she was damn gorgeous, her eyes and her perfect face which looked so naive and in that innocence the outrage on her face all were breath seizing for him. He held her so tight that he could listen to her every breath and heartbeat. The fragrance of her hair was so intriguing, for a moment Michael was lost in a trance, finding the opportunity she punched him in the stomach with her elbow and pushed him to the wall, he was pushed so hard that he slammed to the wall and laid down. Even in that pain, all that Michael could comprehend was her face, the glow of the fire from that room enlightened her face so extensively that she looked prettier than her reflection in the mirror, She was shouting in French “Tuessi mort”, Michael slowly stands on his feet and looks at her without even a blink. “Relax Senorita, I am not here to hurt you,” Said Michael holding his hands in the air as a gesture of peace. But she was shouting “Tuessi mort” “OK so you need to tell me in French, ok let it be ‘ Je ne suis pas lá pour teblesser’” said Michael. Even though Michael was peaceful and attempting to communicate with her she charged towards him Michael dodged her, she swiftly turned around and pushed Michael, he misplaced his control and tumbles onto wooden ledges in the room. “Ouch it hurts!” said Michael and turned back, before Michael could react, she blows on his head with the bat, Michael feels a bit dizzy and immediately blacks out.