A Flimsy Facade

Burying her head under the pillow, Eva faintly heard someone enter the room, but was too distraught to look to see who it might be. The person made an effort to walk quietly, but the crude wooden shoes inevitably grated on the rough floor. In any case, they tried not to disturb her. Maybe it's Leni who wanted to go to sleep, Eva mused. What time was it? Had she been passed out and spent the rest of the day in bed?

Eva pushed the pillow aside and squinted into the daylight that fell through the attic hatch and pinched her eyes. She was honestly relieved that not too much time had passed. She didn't want to be labeled as a lazy idler of the city. Despite all the hardships she saw coming, she sincerely wished to become part of this lonely village community. Here, all was still alright about the world. Here you could - no, you had to - rely on your neighbor to survive. Julius' calm, almost stoic way of reacting to the landslide and being cut off from the outside world reinforced this perception. You could only take such a disaster so calmly if you felt safe and secure.

It was precisely these feelings of safety and security that Eva had been looking for when she had set off for the mountains. Nothing had kept her in so-called civilized society, which was nothing but a flimsy façade. A façade that hid malice and cruelty, but left the weak and the victims helpless and defenceless. She shook her head unwillingly to dispel the gloomy thoughts and looked up at her visitor.

Lisi stood next to the narrow bed and looked at her guest with a mixture of compassion and curiosity. “How are you, Eva?”

“Thank you. Better again. I was just so shocked that we were locked in. It's an unfamiliar and frightening situation for me, and I'll have to get to terms with it." She swallowed the next sentence that had been on the tip of her tongue. Even more than the landslide, Julius' cold, unsympathetic way of dealing with it had shaken her. It had almost seemed as if he had welcomed the fact that the only escape route out of the valley was blocked. If it wasn't completely absurd, Eva would have assumed that he himself had arranged for her to be locked up as if in a prison. But how could he have managed such a thing? He couldn't have broken rocks or caused mountainsides to fall.

She wiped the half-dried tears from her cheeks with her sleeve. Lisi's horrified look made her realize that she had made a mistake. The cuff of her blouse had ridden up, exposing the deep red cuts on her wrists. She hastily lowered her arms and tidied up her clothes.

“Have you scratched yourself?” the young farmer's wife asked sympathetically.

"No, it's nothing," Eva claimed and turned her head to the side, embarrassed, so as not to have to look at the other woman while she bluntly lied.

“Let me see. It has to be treated, otherwise it will get infected.” The woman, who had just seemed so timid and shy, suddenly appeared very determined. She grabbed Eva's hand without hesitation and pushed back her sleeve. She examined the carved lines evenly spaced across her forearm, one next to the other. Some were fresh and blood-red, others were already scarred or almost healed, others could only be guessed at as pink or light shadows on the skin. If Lisi suspected that Eva had inflicted the wounds herself, she didn't show it. Businesslike, she straightened up and walked out of the chamber. “Wait here. I'll be right back.”

A short time later, she returned with a small jar. As she lifted the lid, the scent of tallow and herbs wafted in. She carefully and gently applied the greasy ointment to the scratches and then wrapped them in strips of white linen, which had probably been torn from an old petticoat.

“This has to stay on for a few days. Then I'll check again."

Eva wanted to protest. But after one look at the serious, uncompromising face of her counterpart, she remained silent. She didn't know whether Lisi was giving the strict instructions so that the remedy could take effect - or whether she wanted to make sure that no new scabs were added. She nodded devotedly.

“Thank you for your help.”

“You're welcome. Now come down, my father-in-law wants to see you.”