Free Cover Your Eyes by Adèle Geras

fled down the corridor but she could hear Angelika shouting after Mama.
    ‘Why is it always me? Why don’t you tell Papa how Eva’s been behaving? I’m always the one to be told off. It’s not fair.’
    Mama must have thought Angelika’s behaviour really dreadful because she
did
tell Papa about it. Eva knew that this meant trouble for her sister. Papa never normally bothered himself with such matters. He was too busy, that was what Mama said. Eva never knew what he was busy with, because he went to an office somewhere quite far away.
    ‘You are never,’ Papa said to Angelika at dinnertime, in front of Eva and Mama, ‘to be so unkind to your sister again. We’re a family, Angelika, and that means something. Yes, it means something. Promise me you’ll never be so unsisterly again.’
    ‘I promise,’ Angelika said, and tried to look as though she really meant it, though Eva could tell that she didn’t. Not really.
    Even though she was young, she knew something that Mama and Papa didn’t know. Angelika didn’t love her. Not a bit. Not even a tiny scrap. Once, at bedtime, before Angelika came into the room, Eva had whispered to Mama, ‘Angelika hates me.’
    ‘Oh, my darling child, never say that!’ Mama cried out. ‘I can see that it must look like that to you, Eva, but truly, truly she loves you. It’s just … well, it’s hard for you to understand but before you were born, I used to do everything with her and she’s … she’ll get used to it. She’s not used to sharing me, you see. It’s hard for her.’
    Mama passed a hand over her eyes. Maybe, Eva thought, she wants to cry. But I’ll make her feel better. I’ll tell her I don’t mind.
    ‘Don’t be sad, Mama. I’ll try and behave better. I’ll try not to follow Angelika so much.’
    ‘Thank you, my baby. You’ve taken a weight off my mind. You’ll grow up together and you’ll be the very best of friends, I know it.’
    After her mother left her, Eva considered what she’d said and sighed. It’s not true, she thought. We’ll never be best friends because I know Angelika doesn’t like me. It’s not just that she wants Mama all to herself. She doesn’t like me. I can see it when she looks at me. This thought made Eva feel so sad, so cold and sick, that she started shivering and bit her lip to stop herself from crying out. She pretended to be asleep when Angelika came to bed and she did fall asleep in the end, but it took her a long time.
    Then, one day, Mama and Papa called Eva and Angelika to the dining room. The table was spread with a lace cloth. It was Friday and the silver candlesticks were on the sideboard, ready to be lit at dusk. Mama and Papa were sitting in their places, as though they were about to eat.
    ‘Angelika, Eva,’ Papa spoke solemnly, ‘Come and sit down, both of you. We’ve been thinking very carefully, your mother and I, and we’ve reached a decision.’
    Eva listened, and tried to work out what Papa was telling them. She didn’t understand most of it, but in the end she realized that Mama and Papa were sending them away to England. On a train. She and Angelika were to go there without Mama and Papa. Angelika asked, ‘But who’ll look after us there? Till you come and find us?’ Papa had been quite definite about this: they’d only be alone in England for a short while and then Mama and Papa would come and find them and the whole family would live together again, only not here. Not in Berlin. Not anywhere in Germany.
    As they lay in their beds that night Eva dared to ask her sister to explain to her once more what was going to happen.
    ‘You’re a baby,’ Angelika sighed. ‘It’s no use telling you anything. They think we’ll be safe in England and that’s why they’re sending us, only I don’t want to go. How can we live in England? We don’t even speak English. And they say kind people will look after us there but how do they know that? Perhaps the people will be cruel and wicked and lock us