I smiled as I poured some more tea into Mr. Edward’s teacup. He looked the very picture of my perfect gentleman. I also offered some biscuits to Rose, who regarded me coldly and did not reply. Even though this was just a humble tea party, she looked very pretty in an elegant evening dress, her curls trailing over her delicate shoulders. Her rosebud mouth is in a shade of unnatural pale pink.

There was a sudden bang of a metallic quality on my door. I nearly dropped my dainty cup of coffee in shock. Mumbling, I shuffled slowly towards the door. For a moment, my doorway blurred from wooden oak to the brightly painted one people often associate with old folks’ homes or orphanages. I shook my head to clear it. My door was solid wood once more.

At the door, I saw a bulky man in a military uniform holding a black briefcase, trying to barge his way in. As I held the door, he said, “Mrs. Elric, won’t you let me in?” His commonplace conversation style unnerved me. I opened the door and shuffled back to my seat at the coffee table, still littered with the remains of the tea things and an occasional bottle filled with pills of some kind. I’d long forgotten what that was for. “Playing with dolls again, Mrs. Elric?” the man said. Something in his voice made me look up. Then I saw a symbol that I’d always associated with my past.

The Swastika! I couldn’t believe my eyes. I stared hard at him. The Swastika was emblazoned on his right sleeve for all to see. A chink of metal bought another thing to my attention. He was wearing a chain with the iron cross that positively identified him as a SS officer that worked for the Nazis’. Why is he here? World War II was over a decade ago. However, the unmistakable iron cross he wore reminded me of the Nazis’ depraved sense of valour. The Schutzstaffel officer, also known as a member of the defense squadron stared blankly at me. It is as if he couldn’t believe a frail old woman was once a top spy that played a major role in the world war then.

I know what he was here for. To silence me. To stop me from telling the rest of the world of the inhuman atrocities committed by them in the bloody, brutal war. I started screaming. He held me in his firm grasp as I tried to pull away and shook me to keep me still. I must have been knocked in the head then, for I fainted.

I awoke with my body tied to my bed with my mind swimming with a thousand questions that I began methodically began answering in my head. The Germans are making peace overtures to the United Nations to reestablish their claim in the world. The United States had been in contact with me as I was, after all, their top CIA agent once. Somehow our correspondence must have been intercepted. Edward and Rose just stared at me with their unseeing eyes. I never felt so terrible as that moment when I discovered I was betrayed by my closest friends. The officer started unpacking his briefcase and pulled out all sorts of torture implements that I identified with only the most cruel and sadistic proceedings. I wondered why he didn’t kill me. Then I realised that a body would be hard to hide in these peaceful times.

He started to insert fine needles into the sensitive flesh inside my nails. I screamed in pain. He then gently stroked a sharp blade and slashed at my wrists savagely. He did this again and again, as if he was in a frenzy. As blood began to flow, I shrieked at the top of my feeble voice. A woman in a white dress ran in, holding a syringe. “No!” I shouted. What was this devilish pair doing to me? I try to wriggle out of my bonds but I knew it was too late when I felt the prick of the needle. As I was drifting into unconsciousness, I heard the woman whom I knew instinctively as a nurse say, “Sorry for not getting here earlier, doctor,” she picked up the officer who was lying sprawled on the floor. As I looked on, he was blurring into a respectable bespectacled man. It seemed that I must have been quite aggressive towards him as his face was covered in nail marks. This must be the effect of the drug the nurse administered to me. It is taking over my mind.

“She’s never like this. Her son’s death must have hit her hard, poor dear. Mrs. Elric’s son died in the war and your dark green overcoat must have set her off. I’ve given her a sedative, but I think we must take certain measures before she wakes up to stop her from hurting herself…” Her voice trailed off as I slipped into a deep sleep.

Once I woke up, I found myself in a straight jacket in a padded cell. I discovered I am in an asylum, being treated for schizophrenia and depression. I howled in rage and pain as my wounded wrists have been bandaged but had not healed sufficiently. Suddenly, something clicked in my mind. So this whole drama is a conspiracy to stop me from discrediting the Nazi regime. The officer was sent to make me look like a senile and deranged old woman, trying to gain attention by cooking up fantastical plots. However, I assure you that I am as sane as you are. The Nazis’ are watching my every move. They think I cannot see the beam of light in the corner of my cell that just screams the fact that there is a surveillance camera. The truth cannot be suppressed. One day I shall let the whole world know what was done to me. One day.