November Novel Essential Information

Novel Title: Ramifications

Time Setting: 2017

Genre: Thriller

Minimum Word Goal: 120,000

Timespan: July–September

Location: Brisbane, Queensland

Main Characters: Lachlan Blackwood, Dominik O'Shea

Background Information:

Lachlan has lived nothing short of a troubled existence. His mother had been conceived at the age of seventeen and raised by her mother off the income of waiting tables. He was conceived, in turn, when his mother was sixteen, prompting her to drop out of school.

His mother had gone to Schoolie's Week in Brisbane and met a handsome surfer — which is all he knows about his father — and the following year after he was born she went back again, found the same surfer, and conceived his sister.

The year after that, she returned to Brisbane and never returned. Still police have yet to figure out what happened, and they don't even have any remains to go off of, leaving Lachlan and his sister to be raised by his grandmother, who sought to find her daughter until she found out that it was likely her daughter would be dead.

His grandmother then met a handsome, single shipping company owner, whom she moved in with, giving her grandchildren a chance at an opulent life in Sydney.

Lachlan, however, disliked his grandmother's boyfriend from the start, and quickly became a delinquent, even doing a stint in juvenile prison before he was fifteen.

In prison he met a young gangster whom he became friends with before joining in the gang with and bringing his sister — his most beloved companion — with him.

Their disappearance drove his grandmother to suicide, which depressed his sister, who ended up dying of a drug overdose within a year of their grandmother's suicide despite Lachlan's efforts to prevent as much.

Being as the gang boss' son had caused his sister's death, Lachlan tried to kill him, only to have the whole gang turn against him. None of the other gangs in the area were interested in taking him on either, as they believed it was a trap.

Recently, however, Lachlan encountered members of a Brisbane-based gang that is one of the biggest and most troublesome in all Australia; he impressed that gang's boss to the point of being accepted as a member and, for his own safety, moved to Brisbane.

Dom's life started out rather privileged. His father was a prestigious Australian prosecution lawyer whose family had come from Ireland, and his mother was a Serbian-born fashion model.

Born thirteen years after his brother — who is the younger of his two older siblings — Dom was considered an accident by his parents, and also somewhat of an annoyance to his siblings, which led him to act out from an early age.

His actions included breaking dishes and windows in fits, breaking out of his bedroom to intrude on whatever his parents happened to be doing at the time, and even sneaking into his mother's suitcase when she was preparing to go on a tour to the US on the same day he was supposed to be returning to boarding school.

Being found out at the Melbourne Airport, however, he was shipped off to boarding school anyways, where he continued to act out by disrupting class, bullying fellow students, vandalising cars, picking fights, and starting the biggest food fight in the school's history.

His parents' efforts at discipline, such as shutting him up in his room for long periods and leaving him at home while they went on exotic vacations, only made things worse, as he would take out his rage on the opulent mansion and its contents.

He even got arrested for driving his father's Ferrari without a license, and brought his parents and siblings home from a trip early by setting the house alight and destroying a good portion of it.

Finally, when he was sixteen, he ran away from his boarding school and got a ride with a somewhat bohemian group that headed to Gold Coast in Queensland to live out of their van and surf.

This introduced him to drugs and liquor, which he made use of to take the edge of the painful loneliness and neglect he felt.

Within a year of arriving at Gold Coast some of the group leaders were arrested for having stolen the van, leaving him and several others whom they'd picked up along the way to live on the streets.

It wasn't long, though, before he ended up at an old church that was used as the base for a homeless shelter. The people there were loving and kind unlike any other people Dom had met, and because of that — and the fact that the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen in his life volunteered there — Dom soon was spending a lot more time there.

With the help of his friends at the Shelter he quit the drugs and the drinking and soon became a volunteer at the Shelter himself, as well as becoming a Christian and having the privilege of marrying the young woman he'd fallen in love with.

Just two years ago Mags, the Founder and Director of the Shelter disappeared, leaving leadership of the Shelter to fall to him as the only other full-time volunteer. Her remains were found washed up on the shore of the Brisbane River within a year and after three days of prayer and fasting by the Executive Board of the Shelter, it was determined that Dom would be her replacement.

Dom and his wife have since run the Shelter as full-time volunteers, living in a donated house off of a donated income, and his wife has been subtly encouraging him to reconcile with his parents so that they can know that he's still alive.

The novel begins on November 1.

Secrets and Shadows: Day 20

Word Total: 120,023

Year to Date: 870,088

Summary of Events:

Keeleigh went to the Baptist church cemetery and found the graves of Zygfryd and his wife Helen side by side, as well as the graves of Henryk, Olga, and Irena, Olga's daughter. Olga was woken up by Mama's cry of surprise at her and Papa discovering the Christmas tree and went down to watch everyone else's surprised reactions. Keeleigh arrived at Myshaniuk Farms and met Adelejda, whom she showed what she had for information before Adelejda started to tell her about the war. Emil confronted his father on his suspicions of their departure and had them confirmed.

Excerpt of the Day:

"Keeleigh saw pain on Mrs. Myshaniuk's face as she stared at the bright sunflowers, which seemed such a stark contrast to Mrs. Myshaniuk's dark memories.

"If it's too much, you don't have to," Keeleigh said. "The Village is closed for the season, so I can come back at any time."

"It's hard to think of those things," Mrs. Myshaniuk said. "But I do not want to let myself ever forget them. They are my last memories of Poland."

"You've never gone back?" Keeleigh asked.

"No," Mrs. Myshaniuk replied. "Zygfryd, Olga, and I all wanted to go together when Communism finally fell, but health restrictions prevented us, so we never did."

"I'd like to go," Keeleigh said. "Maybe you could even show me where you lived."

"I doubt the house still stands," Mrs. Myshaniuk replied.

"Even still," Keeleigh said. "I think it would be fascinating."

"One of us has to go anyways," Mrs. Myshaniuk said.

"One of who?" Keeleigh asked.

"Zbigniew and Klementyna's children," Mrs. Myshaniuk replied. "Besides, Zygfryd and Olga weren't able to, and now that Poland's free . . ."

Keeleigh wasn't making any sense out of Mrs. Myshaniuk now, but she wanted to know so dearly. However long it took Mrs. Myshaniuk to tell her, she would be more than willing to take the time to hear all the secrets of the Niemcyk family.

—

"Where are we going?" Emil asked.

"Canada," Papa replied. "There will be little risk of war coming there. My Aunt Louisa lives there with her family, and she always wrote that it was a lovely country. We will be safe there, and we will come back when Poland is free."

Emil nodded and rose silently. He slipped out of Papa's office without a word and headed upstairs, his vision blurring with tears as he tried to get to his bedroom before they fell off the precipices of his eyelids and fell down his cheeks.

He closed the door and leaned against it at last, clenching his eyes shut and letting the tears seep down. How could he possibly leave Poland? It was their homeland! They ought to stay until Poland was free, seeing it through all the bitter stages of war and whatever came thereafter; they shouldn't let the shadows of war drive them away!

A knock sounded on the door. Emil swiped at his eyes viciously before opening the door.

Olga stood on the other side. "What is it Emil?" she asked softly.

"We're leaving," Emil replied.

"Warsaw?" Olga asked.

"Poland," Emil replied. "We're going to Canada."

"But why?" Olga asked slowly.

"Because it's safer there, for the little ones," Emil replied.

Moisture filled Olga's eyes and she looked at him with fear, but then turned and walked away. Emil closed the door and sagged down it again to let the tears flow. They couldn't let the shadows of war drive them away."

Next post will be on October 30.

Secrets and Shadows: Day 19

Word Count: 114,008

Summary of Events:

Keeleigh decided she would go visit Adelejda on the last Saturday in October before going downstairs and talking to her mom about the trunk a little bit. Olga was teaching her siblings when Emil and Zygfryd came home injured from their efforts to go get a Christmas tree; she helped tend to their wounds. Keeleigh started off her trip to visit Adelejda by going to Opal to see if she could find Zygfryd and Olga's graves; she first tried the Catholic church's cemetery, and then the town cemetery . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"Keeleigh wasn't sure how far back she'd have to go to find the graves of Zygfryd and Olga, but she presumed — considering the longevity of the great aunts and uncles she knew of — that if she didn't find them by the time she hit 1999 as the death year she'd not be likely to find them.

There were quite a few joint graves, where the husband and wife shared a tombstone, with one who'd died recently being buried beside the other who'd predeceased them by a few years, much like Aunt Kornelia and Aunt Malwina.

Both of them had bought pairs of plots and gotten combined stones which they'd pre-engraved with their names and birth years, and now had their death years engraved in them, with their having died.

Uncle Igor had done the same thing when Aunt Joan had died, although he'd done a set of identical stones, and his was currently stored in his garage, pre-engraved with his name and birthday.

Keeleigh couldn't imagine what it was like for Aunt Kornelia, Aunt Malwina, or any of the other members of the couples she was seeing here that'd outlived their spouses and gotten a joint stone to go visit the grave of their spouse and see their own name on a stone, awaiting the day when they died.

When she got as old as them she'd probably do like Uncle Igor, buy a plot for herself right away, and a stone, but have it a separate stone, so that she wasn't staring at a seeming predictor of her own death anytime she decided to visit the grave of her husband.

That was a long time from now, though, and thinking of having a dead husband wasn't exactly the sort of thought Keeleigh considered pleasing. She didn't even have a live husband at this point in time, she didn't want to think about having a dead one.

Keeleigh stopped herself suddenly when she noticed the death year on the headstone she was looking at was 1996. She'd gone too far, but she was pretty sure she hadn't seen any Niemcyks or Kamińskis.

Turning around, Keeleigh worked her way back and double-checked, just to be sure, and found that, indeed, she'd found no Niemcyks or Kamińskis. So they weren't here either.

About the only other place they could've been buried was the Baptist cemetery, as it'd been the next-nearest result for cemeteries near Opal.

Keeleigh had to confess that thought surprised her. All her great aunts and uncles that she knew were Catholics, and devotedly so. Was it because they'd decided to become Baptists that Zygfryd, Olga, and Adelejda had been disowned?

Shifting her jaw, Keeleigh wondered, but she knew she'd find out the answers later when she went to visit Adelejda; for now, however, it was time to get back into her car and head for the Baptist cemetery, which was a good fifteen minute drive from here."

Secrets and Shadows: Day 18

Word Count: 108,037

Summary of Events:

Keeleigh's grandparents stopped over to drop off some dishes from Thanksgiving and Keeleigh invited them inside to visit that turned into a heated conversation between her and Grandpa. Olga had decided to give her siblings some schooling because they weren't going to school, and was unnerved when Papa came and gave them a show of affection like he'd never done before. Keeleigh was talked to by her dad about the conversation she'd had with her grandparents, in which he somewhat forced her to reveal more than she'd planned on. Emil saw Ladislav leave after another visit and went down to talk to Papa, only to find his office unlocked and him not there, so Emil set out to find the papers that Ladislav had brought that day . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"Having hardly opened the drawer more than a few inches, Emil stopped. There was a small box, about the size of a ring-box, but not a ring-box, that had Poland's coat of arms embossed onto its leather cover.

Possessed with curiosity, Emil drew it out and opened it. Laying on the white satin-clad cushion inside was a medal. A war medal. Emil didn't know what kind it was, but he knew for a fact it had to be his father's.

He checked the red satin-lined top of the box and saw no writing on it, but he noted that with the red upper part and the white lower it looked like the Polish flag.

Lightly he fingered the medal, it was cool and hard, its details still crisp, their textures easily felt by his fingertips.

He then carefully lifted at the cushion and found that it came out. Underneath it was a folded piece of paper that looked rather official.

Lifting it out carefully, Emil unfolded it with reverence and found that it was a commemorative certificate declaring that his father had received the medal for valorous service with the Polish Army during the Great War. He'd received the medal in 1917, just a year before the war had come to an end, and the very same year Emil himself had been born.

With equal care, Emil folded the paper back up and put the cushion back in before returning it to the drawer.

Before he could open the drawer any further, Emil noticed that there was an envelope with Papa's familiar hand having spread ink across it brusque and straight, spelling out that there was five thousand złoty in the envelope.

What was Papa doing with that much money? Emil's stomach twisted as he recalled what he'd eavesdropped on just a couple days before. Was that money for them to leave Poland? He certainly hoped not.

Carefully he drew the drawer open until he saw the stack of papers he'd been seeking. The heading at the top of the sheet was an official letterhead that contained the garish Nazi swastika slapped across it.

Most of the sheet was typed, although there were some blanks that were filled in by a hand that wasn't Papa's, but even still, Emil couldn't read it because it was all in German. He shuddered at the thought that German writing was before him.

Carefully he lifted the top page off the stack and found that the next page was also German, and all of the blanks were filled out too. Emil wondered what it all meant. Were those papers to get them out of Poland?"

Pronunciation:

Złoty: zwohteh

Secrets and Shadows: Day 17

Word Count: 102,043

Summary of Events:

Keeleigh thought about her talk with Grandpa at Thanksgiving before getting called by Olivia about the trip to visit Adelejda; which Keeleigh didn't tell her she wanted to do alone. Emil came home battered, having been accosted by Germans; Olga tended to his wounds and was highly embarrassed when he revealed that he'd figured out she liked Henryk Kamiński. Keeleigh and Olivia were out to lunch together and Keeleigh finally told Olivia she wanted to visit Adelejda alone, which Olivia eventually agreed was a good idea. Emil came home from another day out and about to find that his younger siblings were forbidden to play because it would disturb their mother, so he went up to her bedroom to ask her why . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"Mama lifted her gaze from the foot of the bed to Emil, looking weary and drained even by that simple motion.

"I wish to be alone Emil," she said.

"I asked you a question," Emil said. "You always expect us to respond to you when you ask us a question, therefore you have no right to deny me an answer."

Mama waved her hand feebly at him.

Indignant, Emil stepped forward to be right at Mama's bedside, his arms crossed over his chest.

"I will not leave until I get an answer," Emil said. "Why do you not wish to be disturbed by the pleasant sound of your children playing?"

"There is no joy Emil, only discord," Mama replied. "Now leave me."

It was something of an answer, but Emil didn't believe it was true, and he was frustrated by Mama's whole despondent countenance.

Sighing, he left the room — deliberately leaving the door open after him — and hurried back downstairs to Papa's office, where he put his ear against the door, his hand hovering, ready to knock.

"Yes, I have to do what is best for my family," Papa said, apparently in reply to a question. "It's getting too bad here, I hardly feel it safe to let my adult sons walk the street, as much as I know their capabilities."

"Well, we'll have to see what we can do," Ladislav Kamiński's familiar voice said. "I'm sorry to hear that this is what you believe is best."

"I have children Ladislav," Papa said. "I am doing this for them, but it isn't what I want to do. If I get the opportunity, I want to come back and do what I can — and I'm sure Emil will be intent to accompany me unless a fair maiden should catch his eye."

Ladislav chuckled. "I don't think he'd let them if he knew."

"I'd much rather he go for a good Polish girl anyways," Papa said. "But not while there's all this prospect of death looming for so much as the wrong sort of glance."

"Indeed," Ladislav agreed. "It can't have been an easy decision."

"I'm still not at peace with it," Papa said. "In my mind I wholly believe it is best for my children, and that is what is foremost. But in my heart I cannot reconcile the idea of deserting my homeland for which I've fought before. I feel like a coward Ladislav."

There was silence. Emil considered knocking, but yet he didn't dare.

"I think there is a bravery in what you seek to do Zbigniew," Ladislav said. "You seek to secure a future for Poland, to hide your family away from the danger so that if all the Poles herein are annihilated, there will still be Poles to create a new Poland. More people should join you so that this is not the end of Poland."

Uncertainty and confusion swirled in Emil. He lowered his hand and stepped back from the door to stare at it. Was Papa planning on their leaving Poland?"

The novel will resume on Monday.

Secrets and Shadows: Day 16

Word Count: 96,047

Summary of Events:

Keeleigh enjoyed Thanksgiving with her mom's side of the family, which involved some discussion about the Village and all that'd happened to it in the last two weeks. Olga learned of the establishment of the Judenrat by the Germans, as well as that the Germans were being rude and unkind to nonJewish Poles. Keeleigh's Thanksgiving with her dad's side of the family was a bit more uncomfortable, mostly because of her grandpa . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"She glanced over at Grandpa and found his gaze was fixed on her, sharp and keen light blue eyes with a twinge of grey to them. His expression was serious as he looked at her, and Keeleigh felt like he was looking through her, right at her brain, and seeing all her knowledge on the trunk that was hiding in the garage at home.

"You are quiet Keeleigh," Grandpa said, a bit of an accent to his moderately deep voice, even though he'd left Poland at the age of four or five.

She nodded in reply.

"Have you been in the company of any cats lately?" he asked.

"No," she replied, offering bit of a smile.

"Then what keeps you so quiet?" he asked.

"I don't feel like I have all that much to say," Keeleigh replied.

Grandpa nodded, keeping his gaze fixed on her as if his eyes had suddenly lost the ability to rotate in their sockets. It was unnerving how fixed his gaze was.

"You were helping Diane and Beverly with Malwina's things, were you not?" he asked, pronouncing his late sister's name with a V sound, instead of a W, as most everyone else pronounced it. He and his sibling did the same thing with Aunt Jadwiga's name, but everyone pronounced Gustaw like Gustav.

"Yes," Keeleigh replied quietly; there was no point in lying.

"Jadwiga tells me that they lost something," he said. "Something awfully big to lose."

Keeleigh nodded.

"It is also something that is very important," Grandpa said.

"I thought it was just a trunk," Keeleigh said, hoping she sounded innocent.

"It was your great grandmother's trunk," he said. "It came with us from Poland."

"Oh," Keeleigh said. "I recall seeing it, but I don't know where it went."

"It was foolish of them," he said. "They should have read the will before starting through the things, and then it wouldn't have bene lost."

But yet, too, Keeleigh wouldn't have been able to get her hands on it — but she wasn't going to say that out loud.

"Not that Malwina herself cared much for history," he continued. "She didn't even teach her children how to speak Polish. But in some things that is for the better."

"What do you mean?" Keeleigh asked.

"Knowing Polish would mean they would realise the importance of the trunk — which I very much believe that they have lost, as they have ceased to look for it — but knowing Polish might also make them too curious about the trunk," he replied.

"There's secrets in it?" Keeleigh asked.

Grandpa's thin lips got thinner and, even with his slight jowls, Keeleigh could tell his jaw had tightened.

She wanted to press Grandpa for more, but Keeleigh got the distinct sense from the bitter frigidity of his gaze that pressure would not be welcome."

Secrets and Shadows: Day 15

Word Count: 90,050

Summary of Events:

Keeleigh and her brother talked about what she'd learned so far and her plans to visit Adelejda Myshaniuk on her own. Emil and the rest of the family watched the German forces enter Warsaw with solemnity before Jarek started talking about how he was going to annihilate all of the Germans in revenge. Keeleigh was working in the hardware store at the Village again for the last day of the season when a woman approached her, intent to purchase something in the store . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

""What are you looking at purchasing?" Keeleigh asked.

"One of these saws," the woman replied. "My husband likes woodworking, and he also likes antiques, which he uses to decorate his workshop."

"The biggest one is three dollars, I believe," Keeleigh replied.

The woman pulled out a twoonie and a loonie.

"What kind of money is that?" Keeleigh asked.

"It's three dollars," the woman replied.

"How?" Keeleigh asked.

"It's a one dollar coin and a two dollar coin," the woman replied.

"We don't have one and two dollar coins," Keeleigh said. "We have bills."

"No we don't," the woman replied. "Canada replaced their one dollar bill with a coin in the nineteen eighties and their two dollar bill with a coin in the nineteen nineties."

"But it's nineteen twenty six," Keeleigh said.

"Oh," the woman said. "Would it be better if I gave you quarters, nickels, and dimes then?"

"Maybe," Keeleigh replied.

The woman took back the loonie and twoonie and drew out her change purse again, from which she brought out several quarters, one of which landed with Queen Elizabeth's face upward.

"Who is that?" Keeleigh asked.

"That's Queen Elizabeth," the woman replied. "She's the Queen of England and Canada."

"No, it's King George, the fifth," Keeleigh replied.

"That's her grandfather," the woman said. "You see, he died in nineteen thirty six, and then his son Edward took the throne, but wasn't even crowned because he wanted to marry a divorcée, which wasn't permissible for a king, so he abdicated the throne and his brother, Albert, who took the name George the sixth, became king until nineteen fifty two, when he died and his daughter, Elizabeth, took the throne as Queen Elizabeth the second. She's reigned ever since and has even officially passed Queen Victoria as the longest reigning monarch in British history."

"But she isn't queen now," Keeleigh said. "George the fifth is king."

"So you can't take these either," the woman said.

"No," Keeleigh replied. "We only take money with King George the fifth on it. I'm sorry."

"I've never seen any money like that," the woman said. "I have seen some George the sixth coins, though. The never minted any for Edward. He wasn't even officially called Edward the eighth, although that's what he was."

"But that's all there is for money, it all shows him," Keeleigh said.

"Not anymore," the woman replied. "But as soon as I find some I'll bring it to you and get that saw."

"I shouldn't think it would be that hard," Keeleigh said. "We'll see you soon then."

"I'm glad you're that optimistic," the woman said, taking up her quarters and heading off.

Keeleigh smiled somewhat wanly. She felt like the woman was genuinely upset that she wasn't able to use modern Canadian currency to make the purchase, but being as they weren't technically supposed to sell the artefacts in the Village proper, the fact that they were considering themselves to be wholly in 1926 helped immensely."

Secrets and Shadows: Day 14

Word Count: 84,004

Summary of Events:

The Polish and German forces declared a ceasefire, which disheartened Emil, who was invited by his father's longtime friend, Ladislav, to join resistance efforts against the Germans. Keeleigh was working in the hardware store at the Village when three rather rude teens came in that her fellow actor, Steve, had to kick out. Olga finished helping prepare supper before going to the parlour . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"On one hand, since Henryk and his comrades had used their house, Olga hated to go into the parlour, but on the other hand, she couldn't help it.

She didn't know which of the men had died; he'd been taken out by the others when they'd left. Still, she'd been haunted, severely deprived of sleep, and found herself contently coming back to the parlour to look at the stain in the carpet since then.

As much as Henryk had swept her off her feet — and thinking of him still made her feel something she couldn't explain — she found that she'd easily seared every man's face into her memory, and she felt an ache within her to think that she'd seen a man in his last hours, and she'd been in the same place where he'd died.

In fact, she'd probably heard the shot that had killed him, and she'd never even realised it. She felt sickened that she hadn't thought that some of the staccato shots she'd heard had been German return fire, striking down a rather young man who still had a lot of life left ahead of him.

Tears blurred her vision again as she looked at the spot. All the different colours in the carpet pattern showed the discolouration, as well as the fact that the fibres were stiff and clumped together with his blood, but the discolouration showed strongest on the ivory, which was turned a red-brown colour that looked somewhat rusty, but mostly like dried blood, there was nothing else it could really be called.

She couldn't shake the overwhelming feeling that, somehow, this had been her fault, that she should've found them a better place to hide or something, such as maybe finding the key for Papa's office and letting them in there.

What good would it have done, though? Who said that he wouldn't have been killed in Papa's office either?

Swiping the tears from her eyes, Olga tried to clear her vision, but to no avail. She wished that they could get away from all the fighting, or that they could drive the Germans out and everything could get back to the way it had been before the Germans had decided to attack them.

But it would never be able to return to the same. Too much had changed. She'd never be able to read like she once had, it was just impossible, considering how unexciting her books had suddenly become — in fact, she could see why Emil and Jarek had called them immature and fanciful.

She wasn't even sure that she'd be able to feel safe walking the streets of Warsaw at night again, or even be able to sleep through the night because of the soldier who'd died and all the other horrors that she'd only just gotten glimpses of throughout the course of twenty seven days of fighting."

Secrets and Shadows: Day 13

Word Count: 78,009

Summary of Events:

Keeleigh and Olivia got together at Keeleigh's place to go through their shared antique collection after receiving word that all the Village staff were invited to help clean things up so that they could reopen the majority of the Village for the remaining week of the season. Olga and most of the family were hiding in the cellar when they heard people walking around upstairs, so Olga and Igor went to investigate and discovered several soldiers, whose side she couldn't identify . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"They turned to face Olga and Igor and stopped in surprise.

"Who are you?" the older one, who had to be close to Papa's age, asked, causing the other four soldiers to turn and look.

"We live here," Olga replied.

"Oh," he said. "I'm sorry."

"Is it just the two of you?" one of the men seated by the gun asked.

"No," Olga replied. "There's twelve of us, as well as Mama and Papa."

"What's your family name?" the younger of the two holding the rifles asked.

"Niemcyk," Olga replied.

"You seem to pop up everywhere," he said. "Is this the household of Zbigniew?"

"Yes," Olga replied. "That's Papa."

"We met your brother only yesterday," the young man said. "My uncle and your father have been good friends for years."

"And who is your uncle?" Olga asked.

"Ladislav Kamiński*," the young man replied.

"Oh," Olga said. She recalled the name, but she didn't know that she'd seen much of the man. "And you are?"

"Henryk Kamiński," the young man replied. "And these are my comrades. We didn't realise this house was occupied. We hope you don't mind."

"I think Mama might be a little upset," Olga said. "She doesn't typically let people smoke in the parlour. Either they go with Papa into his office or they go outside."

"Oh," Henryk said. "Um, we're terribly sorry."

"All an innocent mistake," one of the other soldiers seated on the floor said. "We hope your mother will understand."

"She hasn't been understanding of much lately," Olga said. "The war is scaring her."

"Understandably so," the other man with a rifle said. "It's scaring all of us."

"Is your whole family here?" Henryk asked.

"No," Olga replied. "Papa, Emil, Zygfryd, and Jarek are out somewhere helping."

"No surprise," Henryk said. "Uncle Ladislav told me your Papa served in the Army last war."

"Mama and the rest of us are in the cellar," Olga said.

"You should go back and hide down there," the older man with a rifle said. "Germans are approaching, and we wouldn't want you to get hurt."

Olga nodded and started back toward the kitchen. She turned when she realised Igor wasn't with her and nearly ran right into Henryk.

He gave her a friendly smile. "A pleasure to meet you Miss Niemcyk."

Mutely, Olga nodded, finding her voice had suddenly abandoned her.

Henryk then took up her hand softly and kissed her fingers just where they emerged from her hand before softly sliding his hand out from under her own and heading up the stairs.

Olga stood rooted to the floor for a long time. She felt bewildered, as if she had no idea where she was or what had just happened. All she could see was the smiling, friendly face of Henryk Kamiński, with handsome blue eyes and golden blonde hair.

Shaking her head, she brought herself back to the present and strode into the parlour to seize Igor and haul him back downstairs with her."

* the acute on the n in Kamiński has no effect on the pronunciation to my knowledge

Pronunciation:

Henryk: hehnreek

Secrets and Shadows: Day 12

Word Count: 72,136

Summary of Events:

Keeleigh was able to drive herself to work, only to find that the Village had been vandalised in the overnight period. Emil, his ribs finally healed, went out to help with the fight against the Germans however he could, only to become trapped under some rubble during a bombing raid. Keeleigh got a call from her mom before being singled out for some further questioning by the RCMP. A hole was made in the rubble to where Emil was trapped by a German tank driving over the pile; a couple of Germans slipped on the loosened rubble, which made the hole bigger . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"He ducked out of sight as the Germans got to their feet, indignant, and waited for a time before peering out again.

To his horror his gaze locked right onto the blue-eyed gaze of a young, blonde German peering into the hole.

The German shouted before drawing out his pistol.

Emil seized the pistol barrel and struggled with the German for control of the weapon as the German shouted for help.

Another German hurried over and tossed a grenade into the hole. It grazed Emil's shoulder.

Instantly Emil shot out of the hole, knocking the German he'd been struggling with over backwards before tumbling over himself and landing in a seated position with the pistol in his hands.

Surging to his feet, Emil ran toward the house across the street, which had a giant shell-hole in it, as gunfire erupted just moments before the grenade exploded.

Emil leapt over the remainder of the house's front door, ran down the hallway, into the kitchen, and out the back door just before a tank shell exploded the inside of the house and crumbled what it hadn't taken out in the first shot, sending the house down behind him.

Not daring to look back, Emil flung himself over the rear fence and darted south down the alley. Even though he was armed, he didn't know how many of them there were against one of him.

Coming out at the end of the alley, Emil stopped abruptly in alarm at the sight of more Germans. They turned toward him and opened fire instantly.

Emil darted back the way he'd come and then hurried into the second backyard, this one of a house that was even more unscathed than his own home. It was missing its windows, though.

Racing through the house, which was unlocked and empty, Emil darted across the street, gunfire erupting after him, and vaulted into the backyard of another largely undamaged house across the street.

Pain shot through his ribcage as he gasped for air, so he quickly weaselled himself under the stairs of the back porch and rotated around so that he was facing the stairs he'd come in under.

He worked to quieten his breathing, just in case the Germans came into the backyard looking for him.

Suddenly he heard heavy, practically deafening footfalls over his head and he watched as four pairs of shiny black military boots came down the stairs. The Germans were in the backyard.

Laying on his stomach, as still and as quiet as he could make himself, Emil watched as the Germans searched the backyard for any signs of him having vaulted over the fence before storming back into the house with just as much deafening volume as they'd come out.

Emil remained still for as long as he could make himself before squirming back out from under the stairs and going out the back gate quietly."

Secrets and Shadows: Day 11

Word Count: 66,009

Summary of Events:

Keeleigh tried to get a ride to work from her friend Olivia, but she started freaking out before they were halfway there. Emil sat in the cellar with the family because the Germans were shelling and thought about the Soviet invasion of the remainder of Poland, as well as the inaction on the part of Britain and France while everyone else slept. Keeleigh, with help and encouragement from her mom, actually got all the way to work in her costume and even engaged a family of guests on her own.

Excerpt of the Day:

"Even safe within the confines of the house war could be heard all around. Olga wished that she could keep her fingers in her ears to blot out the noise, and yet still be able to keep darning so Mama wouldn't scold her all at the same time.

Not that Mama was getting much knitting done at the moment, as Benedykt was utterly inconsolable and trembling with fright at the noise.

The din of the war was weighing heavily on all of them, and from the sounds of things there was some heated combat action going on between the Polish and German forces, and it seemed very close by too.

In fact, it sounded so close by that Olga was afraid that a bullet was going to come whizzing between the boards that covered up the window opening and hit one of them.

Olga's hands trembled as she darned the sock. Her stomach twisted, ill at the thought of her father and brothers out there, somewhere, in the midst of all the war and fighting.

She couldn't imagine how they'd had the courage to walk out the front door this morning and out into all that fighting. It seemed inconceivable that her father and brothers would have the courage to do such a thing.

Even if all the gunfire were to stop, Olga wasn't sure that she would dare set foot out the front door. The Germans were assuredly close enough that they would be able to see her step out of the door and shoot her instantly.

And, even with Zygfryd's talk about how she wouldn't have to go through purgatory to get to heaven, Olga still didn't like the idea of dying. The only people who died in the books she read were the enemies, the bad people, who cause all the trouble to the good people in the first place.

If she were to die then she wouldn't be like the good people in the books. She would be like one of the bad people. But, then again, all manner of innocent people in Warsaw and Poland had died at the hands of the Germans already.

Innocent people dying never happened in the books. The people who died always had done something to deserve their deaths. Few of the people in Warsaw and Poland had done anything to deserve their deaths. It was the Germans who all deserved to die because of their cruel and ruthless behaviours.

Olga finished darning the hole and managed to tie off the thread. She didn't want to take up another sock to repair, but she knew that Mama would give her a scolding if she didn't.

With how close the Germans were coming, Olga had noticed that Mama was becoming more and more irritable, proving that throwing herself into the various tasks that she was wasn't necessarily distracting her from the approaching enemies."

Secrets and Shadows: Day 10

Word Count: 60,058

Summary of Events:

Emil and Zygfryd, having finished strengthening the walls inside, worked on repairing the siding outside before Emil accidentally cut his finger with a saw. Keeleigh went looking through the trunk again to see what other information she could find and came upon some loose pages . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"They all looked to be written in the same hand, and like they might be part of a letter of some kind, but there was evidence in the upper left corner that the staple holding them all together had failed, leaving them scattered in a disorganised disarray.

Not to mention, being unable to read Polish, Keeleigh was unable to identify what order they went in, she could only figure out which side of the pages was front, and which side was back, and, with that information, she arranged them all into a stack, at least.

She found one page that appeared to have the end, as it was full on the front side, but only halfway so on the rear, where it was ended with a signature.

It took Keeleigh some time to figure out the hastily-written letters, but eventually she made it out to be Zbigniew W. Niemcyk. If she recalled correctly the W stood for Wenceslas.

So this was some sort of a letter written by Zbigniew, but to whom and for what purpose, Keeleigh had no idea.

She kept the end paper at the back and added all the other pages to the front of the stack until she found the one in which the staple was, which seemed to be something of a title page, as it had a nicely centred heading before the text began.

The last couple pages she found that belonged to the document she put in the middle, keeping the front page on the top.

Once she had all the pages assembled, Keeleigh counted how many pages she had in her hands and found an astonishing fifteen neatly handwritten pages. She wonders what exactly Zbigniew had written in them.

She scanned the document for names and found Klementyna mentioned, as well as Kornelia, Benedykt, Gustaw, Jadwiga, Emil, Zygfryd, Adelejda, Igor, Aleksander, Jarogniew, and Malwina.

The only name she knew of in all these papers that wasn't mentioned was Olga. Considering that Zbigniew had died when Dad had been twelve, Olga would still have been alive, and considering all the others had been named, Keeleigh had to think those were the names of all his children.

Emil and Zygfryd were the two boys older than Aunt Kornelia, Adelejda was the little girl, and Olga would fit as the girl around Aunt Kornelia's age.

All of this evidence pointed to there having been four more children, two great aunts, and two great uncles, all of whom she'd never heard of, and all references to whom had been hidden away in this trunk for reasons Keeleigh couldn't begin to guess.

This meant that the Adelejda she'd seen at Aunt Malwina's funeral was Great Aunt Adelejda, and she lived not all that far away in Opal, from where she'd been sending Christmas cards faithfully for over sixty years, even without response from any of her siblings.

Keeleigh crossed her arms and surveyed the papers around her. Why had she never heard of them? What sort of dishonourable thing had one — or all — of them done to deserve the ostracism which they'd received?"

Secrets and Shadows: Day 9

Word Count: 54,025

Summary of Events:

Keeleigh talked with her dad's cousins Frank and Richie about the trunk, which they were getting tired of trying to find, and helped them to set up for the collector's auction without them seeming to suspect her of having the trunk at all. Emil and Zygfryd worked to shore up the walls on the upper floors of the house, which had been damaged by the explosive force of a bomb knocking the house next door into their own. Keeleigh finally had some time to look in the trunk again and found some letters written and signed by a man named Zygfryd . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"At the end of the letter it was signed Zygfryd again, and when Keeleigh went to return the letter to the envelope she discovered that there was a photo inside.

Pulling it out, Keeleigh looked at it. The young man looked somewhat sober, but still quite handsome. Keeleigh noticed a scar on his right cheek, and that his right ear looked a little bit misshapen, compared to his left ear.

He was dressed in Keeleigh's favourite suit style, three-piece, with a boutonniere, and a kerchief in the suit jacket's upper pocket.

One arm hung straight at his side, and the other disappeared behind the woman he was standing beside.

Her hair was styled in unquestionably 1940s fashion, small curls starting at ear-level and going down to the shoulders, if that, with a small hat covering her straight hair, to which was fastened a short white veil that went over her eyes and nose, but didn't really obscure them because it was a large-hole netting.

She was also wearing an unquestionably 1940s dress, having a bodice that hugged her upper body and smoothly transitioned into an understated A-line skirt that didn't take up too much fabric — keeping consistent with wartime responsibility.

In her hands was a nice, round bouquet, but Keeleigh couldn't tell what sort of flowers made it up, other than that they were probably small baby's breath-types. No roses. Of course that would've been frivolity in wartime, even in Canada.

The young woman's outfit proved conclusively that it was a wedding picture, and it seemed to be a wedding picture of Zygfryd and probably the Helen he was referring to.

Keeleigh turned to the stack of photos and took the one dated 1938 — the most recent one she had — which she held up alongside the wedding picture.

Intently she looked between the two of them, mainly at the young men in the middle of the family picture, and the somewhat more mature young man in the wedding picture.

She couldn't tell which one of the boys Zygfryd was, but she was more than convinced that he was one of them. He was her great uncle.

Setting the photos aside, she went to the next letter, but then stopped, feeling suddenly cold. He hadn't died. If he was alive in 1946 then he'd come to Canada with them.

So then why had she never known him? Why had she never even at least heard about him? Had he done something to alienate himself from the family? What could he have possibly done that would've caused that? Was this Helen he'd married of German blood?

She took up the letter again and scanned it. Not once was Helen's surname mentioned.

Quickly she took up the next letter, which she found was dated 1943, and was chiefly concerned with Olga and Irena again. There was no mention of his wife — or possibly wife-to-be at that time — in the letter."

Secrets and Shadows: Day 8

Word Count: 48,006

Summary of Events:

Emil and Zygfryd, both stuck at home due to their injuries, had a discussion about whether their sitting around and doing nothing was helping or hindering the war effort. Keeleigh found birth certificates for all of her known relatives except for Uncle Jarek, as well as her great grandparents' marriage certificate before her dad came in looking for the trunk — which she succeeded in hiding quite well in plain sight. Olga was woken by the droning of bombers and everyone hurried downstairs to hide in the cellar, where Jarek insisted that if he would've led the army that things would be different, and, when disagreed with, launched into a tirade . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

""All of you are restrictive!" Jarek shouted. "I could've done far more to help if I were just let to do things! I may not be old enough to be married but that means nothing! Absolutely nothing! I have the full capacity to serve my country far more than you believe I can! I am not like lazy Olga who reads childish fairy books and knows nothing about what really happens in the world! I am a man, first of all, and I am grown up far more than she is, even if I am younger!"

"Jarogniew Niemcyk you will say nothing further if you value an existence without pain!" Papa shouted, sounding almost deafening in the confines of the small space.

Olga trembled, not only out of fright of Papa's completely unexpected — but yet somewhat appreciated — outburst, but also as she fought against the tears that threatened at Jarek's comments.

"You are no man," Papa said, his voice low and ominous. "You are a foolish boy. You are immature and unwise, shown best by the fact that you think you have wisdom."

"And Olga is not lazy," Emil said. "I don't think I've seen her within spitting distance of a book since the war began. As much as that may not be a long time, it proves that she is not lazy. She was out in the streets in the middle of a bombing raid trying to find Benedykt to get him to safety."

"She has been very helpful," Mama agreed. "Even if she has cried a lot."

"As soon as all the threat of war is gone she will return to the same old behaviours," Jarek said, his voice sounding nearly as low and ominous as Papa's.

"And who says the threat of war will be over by Christmas?" Zygfryd asked. "I merely said it was likely we would be occupied by Christmas. Who knows how long it will take to get the Germans out of here?"

"Especially considering the fact that neither Britain or France have done anything," Emil quipped bitterly.

"For all we know we may not ever get the Germans out of here," Zygfryd said quietly.

"I would," Jarek said pompously.

"I'd like to know who said you could talk again anyways," Emil said flatly.

"We know not what may come," Zygfryd said. "We only know what is. We could defeat the Germans and drive them out, as unlikely as that seems now, or we could come under their occupation and remain there for however long Germany should last, unless someone else decides to try taking over the Germans, much like a mouse being eaten by an owl, which is eaten by a fox, which is eaten by a bear."

"Speculation is of benefit to no man," Papa said. "Let us be quiet and rest, for we will need all of our strength in order to do what we shall be called upon to do once the bombing is finished."

"If I were in charge of the army we wouldn't be getting bombed," Jarek spat.

"Jarogniew," Papa warned. "You will be strapped until you bleed if you do not hold your silence.""

Pronunciations:

Jarogniew: yahrohgneeeff

Secrets and Shadows: Day 7

Word Count: 42,007

Summary of Events:

After his mother made significant efforts to prevent their departure, Emil, Zygfryd, their two younger brothers, and their father left to go help in the defence of Warsaw, with the Germans having arrived on the southwestern side of the city. Having guns, Emil and Zygfryd were pressed into backing up soldiers, but only until Zygfryd got shot in the ear; Emil then worked to get Zygfryd home — despite their being pursued by a German soldier with Emil's gun empty and Zygfryd unarmed — for which he commandeered a car that the German shot one of the tires and the rear window out of . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"When he saw the opportunity to turn to the east — which happened to be to his right — he took it, only to have the car seemingly surge out of his control and slam itself into the wall of the building he'd been trying to go around.

"You've just made things worse, you know that, right?" Zygfryd asked.

"Does it really matter at this point?" Emil demanded. "I'm trying to get you to safety!"

He hauled Zygfryd out of the car and hurried for a sheltered place to hide.

Zygfryd moaned and suddenly became a dead weight in Emil's arms, nearly pulling him to the ground.

"Zygfryd!" Emil cried, cold fright seizing his breastbone.

He lowered Zygfryd to the stone and looked at him. Zygfryd's eyes were closed and he laid quite still. Emil put a finger to his neck and felt a throbbing that was rather feeble.

"No," Emil whispered. "No Zygfryd; you can't do this."

Quickly Emil took his shirt, wrapped the body of it around the shoulder yoke, and wrapped his shirt around Zygfryd's head, tying the sleeves together so that the part he'd wrapped was around Zygfryd's ear.

He then managed to haul Zygfryd to his feet, lower himself so that his shoulder was at Zygfryd's abdomen, and haul Zygfryd over his shoulder.

In spite of his brother's dead weight, Emil did his best to run. He had no idea how close the German might be to him, and at this point in time he wasn't really all that inclined to find out.

Several gunshots sounded behind him. He was pretty sure it was the German, but he couldn't really run with Zygfryd's weight on his shoulder.

Suddenly pain shot through his lower back and the back of one of his legs, causing Emil to stumble, with Zygfryd's weight only pulling him down faster.

He reached for Zygfryd's head and felt a terrible pain in his hand when Zygfryd's head slammed his hand against the stone.

Quickly Emil rolled over and laid himself down on top of Zygfryd. He didn't even bother trying to reload his gun, knowing that his hands would be much too shaky for that sort of thing to be remotely successful.

The German strode toward them, his face emotionless and cold, like it'd been chiselled out of stone and was incapable of showing any sort of expression.

He cocked his gun and put the barrel of it against Emil's forehead, where it felt warm, not cold, which Emil guessed was from the fact that it'd been fired repeatedly recently. It soon felt like it was burning his forehead.

Suddenly there was a shot, but no searing pain went through Emil's head, pulling blackness with it as he'd feared.

Instead the German's face suddenly spread out into a surprised and alarmed expression and he fell down on Emil hard — a hardness that was only worsened by Emil's position overtop of Zygfryd."

Secrets and Shadows: Day 6

Word Count: 36,033

Summary of Events:

Keeleigh got called by her supervisor at the Village and they discussed her trying to come back to work the next week in the middle of her search for a non-relative who could read Polish. Kornelia accused Olga of turning off the radio — which she didn't like listening to because of all the war news — when she'd been in the cellar at the time; frustrated and hurt, Olga ran off, only to encounter Zygfryd, who talked with her about that, and much more, while he went to enlist in the civilian defence force being created to help protect Warsaw from the Germans. Keeleigh drove to work, but found herself too stressed to even try going out and playing her role, so she was sent home, where she decided to look in the other cardboard box . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"Many of the papers in this box were much older than those contained in the other box. On top of that, there weren't any card-shaped ones.

In fact, Keeleigh noticed that there was a significant quantity of loose photos scattered in the box. She picked up one and looked at it. It appeared to be shot in a studio and showed a sizeable family of dour-faced people.

There was an adult couple, both of whom were holding little boys in their laps; the one on the woman's lap looked to be about two, and the other one looked to be four. Standing behind them were two quite handsome young men in the middle, each with a young woman beside them, and then two boys to the left and two girls to the right, the left side having a girl in front of the boys, and the right having a boy in front of the girls.

On the back of the photo all it said was 1938.

So then the two adults were her great grandparents: Zbigniew and Klementyna, and on their laps were Uncle Gustaw and Grandpa, and then Uncle Olek was in front of Aunt Malwina and Aunt Jadwiga, while Uncle Igor and Uncle Jarek were to the left, and it looked like Aunt Kornelia was beside them.

Aside from them, though, were four others: a little girl who looked younger than Olek — probably about six — a young woman who looked about the same age as Aunt Kornelia, and two strapping, handsome young men in the middle.

Was the little girl Adelejda? Was the other young woman Olga? And who were the young men? Keeleigh felt sick and confused. Olivia seemed to be right. There were more children in the family, children who hadn't been miscarried.

Setting the photo aside, Keeleigh took up the next one. It was all the same people, only the year was 1937 according to the back, and everyone looked younger.

The next photo had a tiny infant Grandpa, and was dated 1936, the year he'd been born. That had to mean the photo had been taken in December, possibly after Christmas, because Grandpa's birthday was the eighteenth of December.

The next photo was dated 1932; it had an infant in Klementyna's lap, and no Gustaw or Grandpa. Being as the next oldest child was a boy — and by count had to be Uncle Olek — that confirmed that the little girl was the infant.

After that photo Keeleigh found one with Zbigniew and Klementyna looking much younger and having only the two boys, who looked to be one and three in the picture. It was dated 1920.

Who were these boys? Keeleigh had always thought Aunt Kornelia was the oldest, but it seemed that there were two boys older than her. Had they died in the war or something? If so, why weren't they even remembered by the family for that?"

Secrets and Shadows: Day 5

Word Count: 30,011

Summary of Events:

Keeleigh went over to her best friend Olivia's house and told Olivia all about what she'd learned from the papers, and they Googled the name of the woman Keeleigh had seen at the funeral, which led them to find out that her family ran quite a large farm. Olivia suggested that the woman was another great aunt of Keeleigh's, but Keeleigh wasn't convinced . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

""They didn't have contraception back in the twenties," Olivia said.

"I know that," Keeleigh replied.

"So then why's there a four year gap between Olek and Gustaw?" Olivia asked.

"There could've been a miscarriage," Keeleigh replied. "There were a lot more of those back in the day too."

"There could also be another girl," Olivia said. "A girl by the name of Adelejda."

"But I've never met her," Keeleigh said.

"Her Christmas cards to the family are being kept under lock and key in a steamer trunk," Olivia said. "I think this Adelejda is a great aunt of yours."

"We don't know what year Adelejda was born," Keeleigh said. "What if she's from either of the years Uncle Olek or Uncle Gustaw are from?"

"Twins?" Olivia suggested.

"There are no twins in the entire Niemcyk family," Keeleigh replied. "I have my doubts."

"But doesn't it make sense?" Olivia asked.

"It does," Keeleigh replied. "But why wouldn't I have met her?"

"Because she married a Ukrainian?" Olivia asked.

"That means nothing," Keeleigh replied. "If she'd have married a German I could see it, the Niemcyks have a hate on for the Germans."

"Who could blame them?" Olivia asked. "They were in Poland when the War started, weren't they?"

"Yeah," Keeleigh replied. "And besides, Dad married a Ukrainian and they don't have any issue with Mom."

"We need to go look through that box," Olivia said. "That's got to be where the answers are."

"But I feel like we won't be able to find out the answers unless we know Polish," Keeleigh said.

"So then what are you saying?" Olivia asked.

"I feel like we should find someone who speaks Polish — and someone who's not related to my family," Keeleigh replied.

"Why can't it be one of your relatives?" Olivia asked.

"They want the papers to go to Aunt Jadwiga," Keeleigh replied. "And I fear that if they go to Aunt Jadwiga I won't be allowed to look at them. In fact, if they find out that I have them they might blow a gasket."

"Even your parents?" Olivia asked.

"I don't know," Keeleigh replied. "But I don't feel like I can trust them not to tell Grandpa. I feel like he and his siblings for sure, though, will get upset if they find out I have these papers. That's why I lied to Diane."

"So you do think this Adelejda Myshaniuk is your great aunt?" Olivia asked.

"I don't know," Keeleigh replied. "I mean, it does make sense, but I feel like there's something hiding in those boxes. Something they want to keep a secret.""

Pronunciations:

Gustaw: goostahv

Jadwiga: yah'dveegah

Secrets and Shadows: Day 4

Word Count: 24,008

Summary of Events:

Keeleigh opened the sealed Christmas cards and discovered some of them were from a different woman who appeared to have had a daughter who died as a young child; she told her brother about it, and was flabbergasted when he didn't seem to believe her. Olga went to deliver bandages to the church and overheard an announcement that Britain and France had declared war on Germany, which bolstered everyone's spirits. Emil was helping load up debris to be used for constructing barriers on the edges of Warsaw when he spotted his youngest brother wandering the streets alone and brought him home only to learn that Olga was out looking for him; Emil then set out to find Olga as a bombing raid began, and ended up getting thrown into a lamppost by a nearby bomb-blast . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"He staggered back toward where the bomb had exploded, feeling a wretched revulsion in his stomach. He hoped Olga hadn't been right where the bomb had landed. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if she had been.

As he got closer he tried to shout her name, but he felt like something was lodged in his throat that he couldn't get his voice past, so he went on in silence, desperately searching for Olga.

"Emil!" a sudden, desperate scream from behind him made him whirl around so quickly that he fell down.

Hardly a moment later Olga, looking dusty and bedraggled, with eyes red-rimmed from tears whose trails formed muddy lines down her face, was by his side.

"Emil, are you alright?" she asked.

"Now that I've found you, yes," Emil replied.

"I've lost Benedykt!" Olga cried. "You have to help me find him!"

"I found him," Emil replied. "He's safe at home with Mama. That's how I found out you were gone, so I came to find you."

Olga looked relieved, but tortured. "I didn't mean to lose him!"

"I shouldn't think you would," Emil replied, slowly sitting up again. "You may be selfish at times, but you wouldn't wholly abdicate a responsibility like that."

"They're not going to believe me," Olga sobbed.

"Nonsense," Emil said, swiping some of the mud off her cheeks with his thumbs. "I'll vouch for you, and I'm sure Mama wouldn't be inclined to think as ill of you as Kornelia does."

He struggled to his feet again. Olga scrambled up beside him.

"You're not alright," Olga said.

"I'm just a little shaky because the bomb-blast threw me into a lamppost," Emil replied. "I'll be fine once I have a moment to sit down, but we need to get home before the bombers circle around again."

"You're bleeding Emil," Olga said.

"No I'm not," Emil replied. 

"Yes you are," Olga insisted.

Emil looked down, thinking she was just referring to his pant leg's wetness, but when he looked down he saw that she was right; blood had soaked his shirt. As soon as he looked at it he felt the searing pain tear through his side and he dropped to his knees."

"I need to get you help," Olga said.

"Help me up," Emil said.

"No, you need to stay here," Olga said. "I can't carry you."

"I'll lean on you," Emil said. "You should be strong enough to help me stay upright."

Olga looked at him fearfully, but eventually helped him to his feet.

He draped his arm around her shoulder as his legs threatened to buckle underneath him. Now that he'd realised he was wounded he felt much weaker than he had before, but he wasn't going to let that stop him in any way."

Secrets and Shadows: Day 3

Word Count: 18,045

Summary of Events:

Olga and the rest of the family were ordered downstairs by Emil as a bombing raid struck them; once the bombing was over they went to start cleaning up and rescuing people. Keeleigh opened one of the boxes and discovered it contained cards and letters from over sixty years — including many that had been unopened — and identified the woman she'd seen at the funeral as one of the senders. Emil worked hard helping the men sift through the debris for dead and living in between bombing raids . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"All the boyish imaginings Emil had possessed of what it would be like to beat back the Germans were shattered, but even still, part of him hoped that they would be able to repay the Germans as they'd been served yet, and make the Germans realise how inglorious and unglamorous war was.

Pulling back a piece of concrete too heavy to lift, Emil though he heard something and scanned the sky quickly.

No aircraft were in the sky, no one was next to him; he looked down toward where he'd been pulling debris from. He hauled at the wood, cracked and broken like even a child could break a twig or a piece of kindling.

After digging for a bit he listened; there was whimpering coming from inside the wreckage.

"Life!" he shouted.

Instantly several nearby diggers hurried over to help him pry away wood, brick, concrete, and all manner of other debris until they finally found the source of the whimpering.

It was a dog, whose one leg was trapped under what looked to be the remains of a window or door frame. Laying on it was a small child, who looked unharmed.

Quickly a man reached in to check the child's signs of life.

"Alive," he whispered, before gently collecting the child into his arms.

The dog barked and struggled against the timber, obviously upset that his charge was being taken from him.

Another man bent over with a hatchet and chopped at the wood pinning the dog's leg in place. Emil reached for the dog, who turned and snapped at him.

He managed to catch the dog's muzzle in one hand and felt for a collar with the other. Once it was found, he seized hold of it.

As soon as the dog was freed it lunged to its feet, barking, and tried to surge over the wreckage to the man carrying the child it'd been guarding, but Emil restrained it, managed to collect it into his arms, and carried it after the man.

They headed for the church, the strongest building in the area — even if it was just as windowless as the rest — where the living were being tended to in the sanctuary-turned-hospital while the dead were identified and prepared for burial in the basement-turned-morgue.

By the time they reached the church the child had roused and was screaming at the top of his lungs. Women who were helping treat the wounded quickly relieved the man of the child and sought to soothe him.

As Emil stepped inside the church he saw the women carrying the child over to one of the wounded. They talked to the woman, who then cried out with a measure of joy and relief before taking the child up in her arms."

Secrets and Shadows: Day 2

Word Count: 12,010

Summary of Events:

Olga's oldest brother, Emil, and second brother Zygfryd were up late arguing and woke up Adelejda, which prompted them to quieten down and go to sleep. Keeleigh — given time off work because of the incident — was called by her dad's cousins, who were looking for help going through her Great Aunt's things, and Keeleigh offered to help; she found a sizeable storage room full of things, including a trunk which she was particularly interested in opening . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"She put the key into the lock and turned it until she heard the click. Carefully, she then lifted the lid and looked inside.

It didn't look like anything spectacular, it was just two of the most battered old cardboard boxes Keeleigh had ever seen in her life.

One box was plastered with stamps, as well as having an elegant, spidery cursive spelling out a mailing address.

Mr. Zbigniew Niemcyk was the recipient, and she noticed that Canada was spelled with a K. The return address explained that, however, as the sender had shipped it to Canada from Warsaw.

Considering that the name on the box was Zbigniew — her great grandfather — Keeleigh guessed this box had been handed down from Klementyna to Kornelia and then to Malwina.

That also suggested that it was some really old cardboard, and explained the rather interesting stamps that plastered a good portion of the box top.

Both it, and the box beside it, had Kornelia written on them in an elegant hand, as well as a different word, which Keeleigh was quite sure was Polish.

In addition, they had writing in a different hand that wasn't quite so elegant, which read Malwina, suggesting as Keeleigh had guessed: her great grandmother had left the boxes to Kornelia upon her passing, and Kornelia had left them to Malwina.

Keeleigh wondered why they'd passed over Uncle Jarek, considering that, even still, he was alive, and he was the child between the two girls. Unless maybe they suspected he wouldn't be interested in the contents.

She quickly texted the Polish word to Dad. He knew enough Polish to speak to his parents in it fluently, which they did sometimes — Keeleigh guessed that it was to discuss private family affairs mostly, probably things like wills and inheritances — so he should know any word she would encounter here.

"Oh," Bev's groan startled Keeleigh, and she turned to see Bev standing in the doorway.

"I figured you wouldn't appreciate seeing this," Keeleigh said. "At least everything's labelled, so it should make life a little bit easier."

"How much stuff did they have?" Bev asked.

"A lot," Keeleigh replied. "Just to your right is boxes of clothes from when your husband was a little boy."

"You can't be serious," Bev said, turning to the boxes.

Keeleigh was going to reply, but her cell phone sounding turned her attention away, and she found that Dad had replied: Papers. If that wasn't generic, Keeleigh didn't know what was."

Pronunciations:

Emil: ehmll

Zygfryd: zeegfreed

Zbigniew: z'bihgneew

Klementyna: klehmehnteenah

Jarek: yahrehk

Secrets and Shadows: Day 1

Word Count: 6,127

Summary of Events:

Attending her Great Aunt's funeral, Keeleigh noticed a woman who looked uncannily like her deceased Great Aunt, but wasn't her last living great aunt, which left her baffled. Olga was distracted from her reading by her oldest brother arriving home with news that the Germans and Soviets had signed a pact that — according to him — meant that one of the two intended to attack Poland, which distressed her and sent her fleeing back to her book. Keeleigh tried not to think about the woman at the funeral at her work, which was helped by a couple approaching her station; when the wife left, however, the man started to chase Keeleigh with intent to do things Keeleigh wasn't interested in . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"Kathy stepped toward him and tried to engage him, but Keeleigh could tell her efforts were going to be nothing but futile; she just had to hope that he could be drawn far enough away from the door that she could get out without getting caught.

"I'm not interested in what you're doing," the man said. "I'm interested in guiding this young lady back to her little sod house."

Keeleigh held her place as the man started toward her, despite Kathy's valiant efforts to try and distract him with something, anything.

Once he got close enough to her and far enough from the door Keeleigh bolted. The man shouted and, unfortunately, was hot on her heels. Kathy and Olivia followed him out of the door, but stopped there, looking rather helpless.

Keeleigh ran as fast as she could toward the next station. It was — fittingly, Keeleigh had to admit — the station where the live pigs were kept.

She was close enough to make out two people, but not to be able to identify who they were, when a hand seized her shoulder and she was abruptly halted.

The man put his mouth to her neck and kissed her. Keeleigh screamed at the top of her lungs and struggled against the man's hold, only to have him bare his teeth and sink them into her neck, as if he was going to hold her there by his mouth alone.

Instantly the two people launched into action, one of them — whom Keeleigh was quickly, gratefully, able to identify as Brett — vaulted over the fences like an Olympic hurdler, while the other figure, Nate, went around.

Brett peeled the man's hands off of her without a word, and she quickly pulled away from the man's mouth as Nate ran up. Keeleigh stepped toward him slowly and shakily.

"Pretend you're my husband, please," she whispered in Ukrainian.

Nate pulled her close against him, which she appreciated, as she was sure she wouldn't have been able to stay standing much longer if she'd been left on her own.

"Just what do you think you're doing sir?" Nate asked, looking quite unimpressed.

"I wasn't doing anything," the man replied indignantly. "She completely misinterpreted my actions."

"We shall see what there's to be said about that," Brett said coldly, pushing the man ahead of him.

"Your pretend police constable can't do anything to me," the man said.

"What pretend police constable?" Brett asked. "We don't have a pretend police constable. We only have real ones."

"Are you okay?" Nate whispered in Ukrainian.

Keeleigh shook her head, tears pricking at her eyes suddenly.

"Should we call your parents?" Nate asked.

Keeleigh nodded.

Nate gently guided her around and started her after Brett and the man, who continued to discuss the legitimacy of any police that might be present at the Village. Keeleigh felt completely shaken and hoped that the next place they would be heading was the gift shop where the RCMP would be called, and that they wouldn't spend any time pretending to summon the RNWMP."