Bab 33: Christmas Sepcial/ Chapter 33: Leopold Rauch

It was still dark in the corridors, with scattered ceiling lights. Our footsteps echoed off the walls. The cut in my arm hadn't really hurt, but now it throbbed under my bandage. We stopped in front of a room numbered 116, earlier we had got into a lift and gone up to the 5th floor. Lifts didn't really exist anymore, they were only used to transport large masses. Scientists discovered that humanity lived much longer in good health if they didn't take lifts but walked. This prison was at the level of the last century. I heard a jingling next to me, at first I thought Nicolas was going to pull my chain out of his trouser pocket. However, that was impossible, it was gone, forever. He had promised to give me a new one, but it wasn't the same. Of course they were keys. The concrete walls were painted green, there was a small bench in the room. A large window was opposite the bench. I entered and looked around, although there wasn't much to see, quite unspectacular. The man, Schmidt, I had noticed by now, cleared his throat and I drew my attention to him. "You're welcome to sit down lady, it'll be a while yet." Nicolas took me in his arms and led me to the bench, for I had begun to stare at the window. Only a narrow pane of one-way mirrored glass separated me from Leopold. I was not ready to see him after all that had happened. I swallowed as a shabby red wooden door, there were a few bullet holes and dark stains in it. It reminded me of my front door in my flat. A sign? The room was lit up and a person on handcuffs with a cloth mask was led in. Someone squeezed my hand, perhaps to reassure me, but it made me uncomfortable and I had to rise. Slowly I kicked the glass, I had to make sure it was him. When the mask was revealed, I flinched. Leopold was sitting on a chair still in handcuffs. His face was swollen, he had a black eye. As if we had a telepathic connection, mine was throbbing too. I ran my hand against my sunglasses, trying to take them off. The handcuffs were released. Leopold rubbed his sore hands. How long had he been defenceless like this, I had never seen him like this before. Defenceless. Schmidt opened a flap in which there was an intercom. He pressed a button, before asking us for silence: "You know why we brought you here?" Leopold flinched briefly as a nondescript voice suddenly hovered over him. He looked up at the ceiling: "If I were to deny it, then I would have nowhere to put my eyes and ears." "Please can you give me a clear answer, Mr Leopold Rauch." He smiled slightly to himself and twiddled his thumbs: "Let's face it, I'm going to die today. How much time do you give me another half hour or five, let's get it over with." He struggled for composure, but his façade is brittle. I continued to watch him. Your relatives are here," Schmidt turned to us. Leopold clenched his hands into fists and stared at the shabby table: "Who?" The guard passed us off as his distant family who had arrived to pay their last respects to him. He raised an eyebrow and glanced in the mirror, now we were looking at each other. I had to swallow, it was eerie he couldn't see me but I could see him.