The Great Altruist (59 page)

 
Epilogue

           
Jadzia was dragged from her bunk and thrown to the floor. The other women were forced to strip off their clothes and then gathered together by the door of the barracks. Jadzia followed the others, all of them on their knees and trying to cover their naked bodies. A guard forced a girl to put her hands behind her head but she resisted and cried out as she tried to cover her breasts. Another guard pushed the other aside and shot the girl in the head. None of the other women resisted; they all followed the guard’s orders.

           
Outside the barracks, gunfire echoed throughout the camp. Bombs fell all over the grounds of Ravensbrück.  Jadzia heard the cries of prisoners in the adjacent barracks and wondered if there was a riot – or if the war was finally over and she would get to see her parents again and hopefully, receive their forgiveness.

           
The guards argued between themselves for several minutes. Finally, one of the guards lost the argument and his companion withdrew his sidearm and raised it to the head of the first girl in line. A single shot was fired and the girl slumped over dead. He stepped in front of the next girl and killed her as well. With each shot of his gun, Jadzia’s heart grew closer to leaping from her chest. Tears streamed down her face as she looked to the women at her left and right and felt tremendous
guilt
that she never knew any of their names.

           
As the guard approached Jadzia, the girl to her right prayed for peace. The woman at Jadzia’s left reached over and took Jadzia’s hand from behind her head. Jadzia looked at the strange woman with red hair kneeling beside her and saw that there was no fear in her eyes.

           
“My name is Genesis,” the woman said, “and you’re going to be all right.”

           
The guards never made it to Jadzia. The girl who prayed was spared a tragic end when the barracks were filled with a brilliant, blue light that blinded the guards. As they stumbled to recover sight, in a panic they both pulled their triggers, killing each other. The girl to Jadzia’s right remained on humble knees and prayed.

           
Jadzia was scared to open her eyes when she regained consciousness. Instead of gunfire or bombs falling, she only heard the tranquil sounds of ocean waves. Slowly at first, she reached around and felt nothing but sand. She felt the warm sun on her bare back as the cool seawater climbed the beach and touched her toes. Finally, she opened her eyes, assured that there was nothing she needed to fear any longer. She climbed to her feet and saw she was still naked. She quickly ducked back down to the sand and looked around – no one was there. Cautiously, she climbed the beach to the high dunes a few meters away.

           
On the other side of the sandy hill, she saw palm trees, a forest reaching toward the horizon as far as her eyes could see, the trees climbing the side of a mountain that reached high beyond the clouds. In front of the forest on the beach, she saw a humble tent, and outside the tent, gathered around a small campfire, were three people, laughing and smiling – and just as naked as she was.

           
The oldest of the three, a man in his fifties, looked in Jadzia’s direction and saw the top of her head escape the shoreline. The woman, who looked no older than thirty years-old, and the young man saw her too, and after conferring with each other momentarily, the woman approached. Jadzia slid down her side of the dune as her heart raced. She looked down the beach and thought about running, but she was too late. A shadow overwhelmed her and when she looked up, she saw a beautiful redheaded woman standing above her, looking down with a radiant smile.

           
“Good morning,” the woman said in perfect Polish.

           
Jadzia recognized her voice and then remembered the last thing she saw before she opened her eyes on the beach. “Are you Genesis?” she asked.

           
Genesis nodded. “How do you feel?” she asked as she sat beside her.

           
Jadzia looked around and took in a deep breath of the salt-rich air. “I’ve never felt better.”

           
“Good,” Genesis said. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions about where you are and who I am.”

           
She nodded.

           
“And I have all the answers. The war ended over one hundred years ago. And I can assure you, you will never see another war in your lifetime.”

           
“How did I get here?”

           
“You won’t understand this easily, but I have the ability to travel through time. I haven’t used that ability in almost thirty years; the last time was when I rescued you from death and placed you on this beach. We’ve been waiting all these years to meet you.”

           
“I feel different,” she said as she noticed how much her figure had changed since her last night in the camp.

           
“You were very weak when we left. After I brought you here, I stopped by from time to time to nurse you back to health.”

           
“You mean I’ve been on this beach for thirty years?”

           
“Not at all. You’ve been quietly resting here for the last few weeks. But every day, I came here to make sure you had something to eat.”

           
Content with her answer, Jadzia’s mind raced back to the night she was about to die, and she thought of the other women, killed for no apparent reason. Only one question mattered to her. “Why me?”

           
Genesis sighed. “Perhaps even harder for you to believe is that you and I were once as close as sisters – in another life. You were my dearest friend, and I couldn’t wait to see you again.”

           
Jadzia was confused by her answers and then the disorientation of her surroundings set in. “Where am I?”

           
“You’re on a remote island in the South Pacific.” Genesis looked up and down the beach and breathed a sigh of deep contentment. “We come here every year.”

           
“Who were those men with you?”

           
“Would you like to meet them?” she asked.

           
Jadzia folded her arms to cover her breasts and drew her knees together. “Is there anything I can wear?”

           
Genesis smiled. “No, my dear, I’m afraid there isn’t. But don’t worry: my husband and son will think nothing of it.” She extended a hand which Jadzia promptly took.

           
She helped her to her feet and walked hand-in-hand with her friend back to the campsite to introduce her family. James and their son stood and smiled as Jadzia and Genesis approached.

           
The older man, James, reached out and shook Jadzia’s hand. She was still embarrassed by her nakedness and smiled sheepishly. “I’m so happy to finally meet you,” he said in Polish.

           
Jadzia nodded and said: “Thank you.”

           
“Jadzia?” Genesis said. “This is our son, Jacob.”

           
The young man inched closer and extended his hand, which was shaking ever so slightly. “It’s nice to meet you,” he said in very sloppy and broken Polish.

           
Genesis frowned. “I taught you better than that.”

           
“You didn’t tell me she was so beautiful, Mom!” he answered in English.

           
“That shouldn’t matter,” she said.

           
James and Jacob sat around the fire and warmed themselves by the flames as the sun started to set over the ocean. Genesis offered a place for Jadzia to sit before she cuddled next to James. Jadzia sat along the sand and said nothing, her thoughts racing.

           
“What is she thinking?” James whispered to his wife.

           
“I’m not going to tell you that!” she said. Then in French, a language their son did not know, she said: “But she did notice him.” James smiled.

           
“Would you like something to eat?” she said to Jadzia.

           
Jadzia took a piece of passion fruit and ate. Jacob sat across the fire from her and took a piece of passion fruit as well. Nervous and still self-conscious,
Jadzia
struggled with something to say.
“
So,
”
she began,
“
are there other people on the beach?
”

           
Genesis and James exchanged a worried look and talked privately how best to answer. Jacob sat by and said nothing. Genesis inched closer to Jadzia and smiled. “A long time ago, there was a disaster that affected everyone in the world. My husband and I were the only ones who survived – and now our son with us.” She paused to gauge Jadzia’s reaction. Although her face was expressionless, Genesis waited a moment for the shock to set in.

           
Jadzia no longer needed to ask any questions; she now knew why Genesis rescued her from certain death. She looked up at Jacob, who sat quietly across the fire and smiled.
     
She smiled back and ate the rest of her fruit.

           
“Would you like to walk along the beach?” Genesis asked. “We still have lots to talk about. And there are two more people I want you to meet.””

           
“Sure,” she said.

           
Genesis stood and took Jadzia by the hand. Over the dunes, beyond the jetty, Jadzia saw a man and woman walking hand-in-hand. As they approached and the sun’s rays reached across the ocean and touched their skin, Jadzia knew right away who they were: her parents – as naked as everyone else –walked towards her. She let go of Genesis’s hand and raced down the beach and into the arms of her waiting mother. Her father threw his arms around his wife and daughter as the family wept with joy.