http://slow.writerscafe.org/hopelessromantic The original writings of author emily en-us Copyright 2026 WritersCafe.org 1776178699 WritersCafe.org RSS Generator 15 ErichTherewas nothing I could have done to stop the raid on the elders. Only Dietrichknew his own goddamn evil plan. He didn’t even tell his firing squad until theywere already out on the mission. I was just lucky he didn’t ask me to be on the.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1792202/ Guess what? This is still a book, despite my yearlong hiatus. Sorry, it's been a weird year. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1701585/ Gabe             He was crying. Erich was in my room, in mybed, in my arms, and he was crying. He was letting me hold him. How many times,I wondered, had I wished I could just hold Erich? How often .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1464550/ ErichI pretended I didn’t know why I left thebarracks that night. Out on the street I told myself I didn’t remember leaving.I told myself I was walking aimlessly. In the two days since Peter shotHochberg, I had barely slept and I wasn’t i.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1464078/ December 17, 1943It’sbeen two days since Peter shot a Nazi named Philipp Hochberg. Things havestarted to calm down a bit. The soldiers are back on their normal runs. Theyonly kept the ghetto on lockdown for a few hours, and they stopped the randomraids b.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1464077/ JimI was in Dr. Kaminski’s house when Bartiecame running. The doctor had called me over in the morning, to take stock ofour medical supplies before we asked anything of Erich. But I had barely beenthere twenty minutes when the front door crashed open.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1464075/ Gabe            For a fewdays after I kissed and fought with Erich, I kept to myself. Like always, Ithought anyone who saw me would immediately know what I had done. The paranoiawas a bitter aftertaste.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1464073/ Erich                I stood over Gerhardt Fuhrmann as heclutched his dislocated jaw. “Come on!” I roared in German over the cheering ofthe other boys. I leaned over the rope a.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1464072/ Jim            “The case, Pan Banhart.”            “Sorry, what?” I was stillunaccustomed to Dr. Kaminski’s thick ac.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1402543/ Gabe            Once I kissed Erich, I forgoteverything else. I forgot that I had punched him, that I told him about how Leohurt me, that Erich had left me behind in England, that we were in thegodforsak.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1402542/ Erich            Noone showed up. I probably should have expected as much. I really did want tohelp. The fighters certainly would have benefitted from some instruction inunarmed combat. But Hersch had .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1389982/ Herschel’sLogDecember10, 1943            Peter and I met with the council ofelders today, to ask formal permission to carry out an uprising, and I’ve feltuneasy ever since. Of course,.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1389980/ Jim            Theweek after the assembly was a whirlwind. I barely saw Hersch. It was like hedisappeared into a cloud of planning and guns. They needed him everyw.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1389979/ Erich            Herschknew I was there. He locked eyes with me as soon as he stepped onto theplatform. Maybe he saw me even earlier. Of course he had. I had been skulkingunder the stairs since before .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1292126/ Gabe            “Willyou come,” I asked quietly, holding the radio receiver on the pillow up to mymouth, “tomorrow night?”        &nbsp.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1292124/ Herschel’sLogDecember3, 1943DearKristen,            I know what I have to do, but Idon’t know if I can. Jim is right. Goddamn it, he’s right. Everyone will diewithout an u.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1261168/ Jim            Honestly,my day went from bad to catastrophically worse when Erich’s panicked voice cameover the radio that morning. Peter had promised, albeit grudgingly, to take meto the undergr.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1249533/ Erich            Ihad told Peter and Hersch that the Nazis traced their radio to find thehideout. That wasn’t true. They had come looking for me when I left my post atthe wall. I hadn’t wan.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1224469/ Gabe            I spent the next two days almostentirely alone. Peter came back to the shop twice: once to drop off someprovisions, and once to sleep for a total of one hour. He didn’t talk much ev.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1206281/ Jim            Afteranother twelve hours in Hersch and Rebecca’s cave, I was ready to go insane.They wouldn’t let me out, no way. Too dangerous, Hersch said, but I’m not surehe would .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1152009/ GabeThe rest of us just stood there for aminute after Erich disappeared through the door above us. I felt frozen to thefloor, my heart sinking into my stomach. What if I didn’t see him again? Whatif he really never came back? It took everything I had.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1132766/ Erich            I didn’t like this. Not one bit.There was one moment, just a split second there, when I considered getting theguards down there. The Jew was going.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1111956/ Herschel’s LogNovember 30, 1943Of all the possible situations Jimcould have gotten himself into this morning, running into Peter was nearly theworst. Short of getting shot by a guard, he could not have had a worse time.And Erich never exactly fix.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1099488/ JimIwas so cold and stiff when I woke up that morning, I wondered for a second if Iwas dead. Hersch, naturally, had not allowed me to sleep anywhere nearRebecca’s vicinity. There were only two mattresses, and I wasn’t about todisplace Hersch or.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1082571/ Gabe            I had faced some long nights in thepast few months: sleeping on the street in Paris, staying up all night with agun pointed at the door in an abandoned warehouse in Germany, cowering in a.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1052469/ ErichThiswas the last thing in the world I wanted. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Ishould never have had to see his face again. It had taken me two years toconvince myself that what happened on the last day of school was a sign that Iwas supposed to sta.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1038189/ Herschel’s LogWellas long as I have it I might as well write in this thing, seeing as I have itagain. I didn’t want Gabe to think I was glad to have this journal back; Ididn’t want him to think anything good had come of his showing up her.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1038180/ JimHerschand I were left alone in the deserted, and now almost completely dark, street.Hersch watched Erich and Gabe until they were out of sight, and then sighed andturned back towards me. “All right, come on,” he said. “I’ll find .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1037742/ Erich            Theywere intruders. What else could I do? It was my job to keep the Jewish Quartersecure. They were lucky, anyway. If I hadn’t recognized them I probably wouldhave shot on sight... http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1029275/ Gabe            If I had turned down a differentstreet, everything might have been over before it even began. I would neverhave been looking for Erich, or Jim. Maybe I would have been caught by adifferen.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1028793/ Erich            Nothingcould have prepared me for what happened. If anyone had told me that my threeroommates from Wellington’s School for Boys would all appear on the snowystreets of the ghetto I w.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1025127/ Herschel’s LogNovember 29, 1943            They’rehere.            Twoand a half years I’ve spent wondering which of them .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1019718/ A brief refresher of Book One (this used to be posted with Sons of Thunder, but I moved it here) http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1018212/ Two and a half years after the events of Sons of Thunder, Hersch, Erich, Jim, and Gabe find themselves unexpectedly reunited in Poland (Please read further description in author's notes) http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1018202/ Erich            That was first time I lost a fight with Gabe. It didn’toccur to me until years later. But it was true. That morning on the stairs wasthe first time I ever admitted defeat.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1012194/ Gabe            It took me years to tell Erich this, but I woke up firstthat morning. I woke up with my face pressed to his chest, knowing withcertainty what we had done. Before I even remembered e.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1011103/ Jim            Thatwas the first time I ever spent the night with Rebecca. Now that I know whatwas happening in the dorm that night, I seriously think it might have been Godwho made me fall asleep in her bed. I could have ruined .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/1009130/ Erich            Somethingwas horribly wrong. That was all I knew when I woke up in the morning.            BeforeI even opened my eyes I knew I was hung over. I felt like he.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/997865/ Gabe            Iwasn’t really sure how, on our last night as roommates, I somehow woke up alonein the dorm. The week had been a bad one, especially with the end of the termlooming at the end. I wish they hadn’t excused.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/997759/ Herschel’sLogFriday,May 23, 1941ToKristen,            Everything fell apart. I don’t knowwhat to do. It’s all wrong. I feel sick. I feel like my whole soul is justpouring out of my body, like everything I&rsqu.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/997634/ Jim            Aftereverything that happened with Gabe and Erich that last month of school, I couldn’thelp but feel like nothing exciting was ever going to happen to me. Really, Iwas in the middle of the most exciting time of.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/996654/ Herschel’s LogFriday,May 16, 1941            I honestly don’t even know what tosay about what happened last night. It was one of the most terrifying things Ihad ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot. There are absolu.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/987873/ ErichI only remembered bits andpieces of what happened after the bombs fell. For a long time I didn’t knowwhat was happening. There was a cycle of sleeping and waking sleeping andwaking. Whenever I woke up I would be so groggy I usually thought I was stillasleep. I wanted to find G.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/987871/ Gabe            Iwas never in the music building that night. Honestly, I don’t know why I lied.Erich had made me take the shift alone on Tuesday without offering any excuseat all, so I .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/987723/ Erich            Goddamn it. God f*****g damn it. What the hell was I supposed to do now?            Icouldn’t even think for a good hour after I got off the roof. I pa.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/980461/ GabeOn Thursday, May eighth, I wokeup next to Erich. I could barely remember how he ended up in my bed at all. Iremembered a nightmare, and thinking Leo was there. There were arms around me,and there was whispering, and I know I cried. It all seemed like an extensionof the nightmare,.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/956218/ JimIt was a week and a half since Rebecca and Istarted having sex, and I thought I was going to die. By that point, I wasspending up to a good six hours a night in her room. Maybe two were spentsleeping, if I was lucky. So I was happy, and I was dead. I fell asleep in atleast one cla.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/954117/ Erich            The plan was to avoid Gabe. Honestly I was starting to feel like I was falling into a cycle. The plan was always to avoid Gabe. And the plan never worked.            Obv.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/946421/ Herschel’s LogWednesday, May 6, 1941There has been no time to write for more than a week, and it’s driving me crazy. It has not been helping that Jim started rationing the cigs, so even now as I write this my hands are shaking for a smoke. Or maybe that does help, because we’ve.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/944089/ Gabe          After that Sunday afternoon study session, Erich was colder than usual towards me. I didn’t know why, and I can honestly say I barely cared. Being without cigarettes made me feel like I was dying, and my mind could be occupied with n.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/hopelessromantic/943383/