→ church.
Dieter Hellstrom was not a religious man. Growing up, he had attended services, but his attendance had grown less and less frequent as he'd attended university, and once the war had begun, he'd stopped going entirely. It had never been a big part of his life, but coming across the island's own church, he'd gone in, although for what reason he wasn't sure. He didn't remember who he had been before enlisting, a fact that he was never sure how to feel about. He was a soldier, and that was that. Who he had been before didn't matter, not to him, at least.
The church was deserted, and his steps echoed about the space as though pointing him out as an intruder - someone who didn't belong. He stopped just a few feet in, eyes directed up at the ceiling. He had never believed, he was fairly sure. Not just in God, but in anything. From the beginning, the fact of existence itself had been too absurd, too rash. Existence made men like him and men like Goebbels and men like the Fuhrer. And men like them weren't a test, they just were.
Letting his hands hang by his sides, he kept his gaze up as if he might miss something if he looked away, even for an instant. Maybe he would, maybe he wouldn't. For now, the pause from what had become his life on the island was all that he needed. At the sound of footsteps, he turned, expression carefully blank as opposed to its usual half-polite smile.
The church was deserted, and his steps echoed about the space as though pointing him out as an intruder - someone who didn't belong. He stopped just a few feet in, eyes directed up at the ceiling. He had never believed, he was fairly sure. Not just in God, but in anything. From the beginning, the fact of existence itself had been too absurd, too rash. Existence made men like him and men like Goebbels and men like the Fuhrer. And men like them weren't a test, they just were.
Letting his hands hang by his sides, he kept his gaze up as if he might miss something if he looked away, even for an instant. Maybe he would, maybe he wouldn't. For now, the pause from what had become his life on the island was all that he needed. At the sound of footsteps, he turned, expression carefully blank as opposed to its usual half-polite smile.