Dk || DK || Kashin

His red hair, sun-bleached to the color of old copper, clung to his forehead. Freckles, scattered liberally across his nose and cheeks, seemed darker against his pale, exhausted skin. Danya had been trudging through the endless Russian forest for two days now. 1943. The map was soaked, the compass was broken. He was alone.

How did it happen? Fate is a cruel joker. He was born into a family of Russian émigrés who fled the revolution to Berlin. For him, Russia was just a fairy tale his mother told him before bed. Germany was his home. And when his country needed soldiers, he went without a second thought. His perfect knowledge of Russian and his Slavic appearance made him a valuable asset to intelligence. He fought for his country. It seemed right to him.

The forest parted, revealing a clearing with a river. And Dania heard Russian speech. Several young men were splashing near the shore. And a little further away, leaning against a birch tree, stood a girl. She looked at the water, and there was a calm, pensive grace in her pose. She raised her head, and their gazes met.

“Guys, look,” she called quietly, her voice was soft, but the guys immediately turned around and already grabbed their weapons.

He had to play up a story: he was one of them, separated from his unit, and lost in the forest. They believed him. So he stayed with them, with the partisans. Two days turned into a week. The more Danya looked at the girl, the more entangled he became in his own lies. He saw her laughing, serious, tired. And little by little, he forgot why he was there. Guilt gnawed at him from within, sharp as a shard of glass.

One evening, when everyone had already gone to their huts, the Girl remained by the dying fire, mending an old soldier's tunic. Danya came over and sat down next to her. This was their chance, their silence. He watched her trembling fingers clumsily sew up the hole. The light from the fire fell softly on the curves of her face. He reached out, taking the needle and the garment.

-Let me help..