#kathannah

Seemingly ignoring this, Hannah nodded brightly. “I’ll go get the frog and you can set up the dissection station.” She bounded up towards the front.

Katharina suppressed an eyeroll and got to work setting out the tray and various implements: forceps and tweezers and a tiny scalpel. She shuddered. This experiment gave her the creeps, but she knew she needed a good grade in this class if she wanted to get the hell out of Winden.

Hannah returned with a disgusted expression on her face, holding the frog at arm’s length. “Eww, it’s so gross!” she complained. Closing her eyes, she plopped the frog down on the dissection tray.

“Focus, Krüger,” Katharina admonished. “We gotta get this frog cut up and label all the parts.”

“Why? It’s not like any of this matters in real life.” Hannah rolled her eyes, casting a baleful look towards the frog sitting on the bench. “When am I going to need to know any of this?”

“Well, it helps if you get good grades, so you can get into a good university, and have a good job and a good life,” Katharina explained, with the air of someone talking to a five-year-old. She had only heard the same speech from her mother about once a week. Do well in school, get a good job, get the hell out of my house. Gladly, she thought.

“Whatever, I don’t care. I want to be a photographer,” Hannah proclaimed. “Grades don’t matter for that.”

Katharina snorted. “Just cut the frog, Krüger.”

Hannah picked up the scalpel gingerly, poised above the frog. Her lip curled at the corner.

“Now you need to make a lateral cut,” Katharina said, watching as Hannah lowered the scalpel shakily toward the frog and just barely touched it before recoiling.

“You have to actually cut the frog.”

“Ha ha, Albers. So funny.” Hannah glared at her, then pressed down more firmly, cutting into the frog. “Ugh, it sprayed something on me!”

“Be careful, that’s formaldehyde,” Katharina warned. “Don’t get it on you.”

“Thanks for the warning.” Hannah pouted, placing the scalpel down on the desk and wiping off her hand on a paper towel. “Your turn.”

“Fine.” Katharina picked up the scalpel, making a careful cut from one side of the frog to the other. She found this to be less unpleasant than she expected. With gloved fingers, she pulled the frog open delicately, pinning the sides down on the tray. “Let’s label the parts. What’s this?” She pointed vaguely at the frog’s insides.

“How should I know? I’m taking this class for the first time, same as you,” Hannah retorted.

“Look, I know you don’t care, but you have to do something, or I’m gonna tell Frau Meyer not to give you any credit for today.”

Hannah’s mouth opened in outrage, then clamped shut. “Fine,” She used the forceps to tease apart the frog. “This is the heart.”

Katharina copied down the information. They developed a tentative teamwork; taking turns cutting and labeling. A torturously long time later, they had finished filling out the diagram of the frog, and handed it in just as the next class was about to begin. 

She struggled as her mother continued to bludgeon her, each blow of the rock sending a dull pain echoing through her skull.

“Mama please, stop,” she begged. Her mother paid her no mind, continuing her frenzied beating.

“I am not your mother, go back to hell where you came from,” the woman snarled, lifting the rock to deliver another blow.

Suddenly, a noise came from the woods, and the woman paused. Katharina was so grateful to have a reprieve from this misery. She lifted her head weakly to see what had made the noise. It sounded like footsteps...

Her mother dropped the rock as if burned and fled. Though her head was spinning, she forced herself to look at the rock, which was covered in- was that her blood? Her stomach turned.

With great effort, she turned back in the other direction to see who her unexpected savior was.

“I used to enjoy coming here when I was young, the lake was such a beautiful and peaceful place.” The voice carried through the woods, and Katharina must have been hallucinating, maybe her head injury was serious, because it sounded like it belonged to...

“Hannah?” She called out feebly. “Is that you?” What was Hannah doing back here in 1987?

“Who’s there?” Hannah asked. She was holding the hand of a little girl, no older than 5. When she saw Katharina, she immediately ran over and crouched by her side. “Katharina! What happened, are you okay?”

“Are you really here?” Katharina reached out a hand halfheartedly towards Hannah. It couldn’t be real. She was seeing things.

“Oh God...” Hannah touched Katharina’s head, and her hand came away stained with blood. “Katharina...” she whispered, reeling from shock.

Everything had started swimming around Katharina. The woods swirled into green blobs and Hannah’s face came in and out of focus.

Hannah quickly recovered. “Hey, it’ll be okay, it’ll be okay. We’ll get you to a doctor,” she promised, picking up Katharina by the torso and cradling her in her arms.

Katharina’s head lolled, her eyes fluttering shut. It took all of her effort to fight unconsciousness.

“Oh no you don’t, I’m not letting you go,” Hannah scolded. She fumbled around her purse and pulled out her cell phone, handing it to the little girl. “Silja, call 112,” she directed, then turned back towards Katharina. “You’re gonna make it, I promise.”

Katharina hung limply in Hannah’s arms as this unfolded. The little girl, Silja, just stared at Hannah blankly.

“Shit,” Hannah cursed. “Cell phones don’t work yet. Fuck, okay, it’ll still be okay. Silja, run out and find someone, anyone, tell them someone is very hurt and needs a doctor. Can you do that, sweetie?” Hannah pleaded, a tense edge to her voice.

Silja nodded, then turned and ran. Katharina wondered how Hannah knew her, then realized she didn’t have the ability to figure it out. She coughed, bile rising to her throat.

Hannah shifted her in her arms so she could look into her face. “Don’t die on me-please,” she begged, tears rolling down her face. “You can’t go yet, it’s not your time, don’t leave me here.”

Katharina was rapidly losing the battle to stay afloat. She gave Hannah a faint smile. Why was Hannah so upset? What was so bad? There was a bright light and Katharina was walking towards it.

With the last vestiges of consciousness, she could feel Hannah shaking her furiously and hear her hysterical sobs.