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After the screams came silence. Sabine stood rooted to her spot for a few minutes afterwards trying to process what she had just experienced. Why was she brought here? To be reminded of everything she had lost? To destroy her spirit? Or to teach her a lesson that she still hadn't understood? The questions kept stacking up against the answers and pretty soon the pile would topple. 

Sabine glanced back at the dark tunnel that led into her childhood home. Even though she hadn't made it past the doorway, she couldn't bring herself to go back inside. She had seen everything that she needed to. She preferred to leave the house in the memory it had first presented itself in; the bright red bricks and rainbow of flowers. She preferred to remember it back when it was alive. 

She turned her back on the house she had grown up in for the last time. Sabine had only been in her village for a short time but she was already growing tired of it. Sabine had missed this place dearly ever since she was taken, but part of her wished she had never returned. She would have rather never been back than seen it like this; burned, beaten, broken. 

Sabine's plan was to raid the shops in search of food and supplies and then head onto the next town. She worried that if she stayed the nostalgia might once more overwhelm her and bring her back to more miserable memories. She could only experience her father dying so many times before she'd break. Well, break more.

She struck out in the first shop she entered but the second fared better results. Sabine found a backpack and filled it with nonperishable foods, a pocket knife, and a change of clothes. Maria had been kind enough to buy Sabine some clothes at the market while she had been living there, but Sabine hadn't been able to grab them before the match brought her here and the outfit she was currently wearing was dirty and singed. A sudden thought came to her just as she was about to leave the store and she quickly backtracked to grab one last thing: a new box of matches. 

Sabine shrugged the heavy backpack over her shoulders and stared down the road before her. She tried to focus her thoughts on what laid ahead instead of what she was leaving behind, but the first step was still the hardest. Thankfully the second step was a little easier, and the third even easier than the last. Before long she had made decent ground and her village was nearly invisible behind her. 

She walked for about fifteen miles before a new village entered her vision. Sabine still wanted to put more ground between herself and her village, but she decided to stop to get some rest. The sky cast a golden glow upon the crumbling town, which had also been raided by the Germans. The yellow hues faded into pinks, purples, and blues as the sun descended to the horizon and the moon took its place. 

Sabine investigated the first mostly-intact building she saw when she stepped foot on the main street and was welcomed into the crumbling facade of an abandoned library. Row after row of shelves were toppled on top of each other like dominoes and a musty smell filled the air. Most of the books were scorched but Sabine found one among the ruins that was salvaged from the destruction. Sabine brushed the ash off the cover and held it under a fading ray of sunlight that shone down upon her from a crack in the ceiling to find a book of fairy tales in her hands. 

Sabine recognized the book, her father used to read it to her and her sisters before they'd go to bed. Her favorite had always been Cinderella, a story about a kind maiden that was treated poorly by her step-mother and step-siblings until she's granted a wish by a fairy godmother and whisked into a life of magic and happiness. She had always dreamed of her own pair of shiny glass slippers and a handsome prince to dance the night away with. 

Fairy tales had stopped seeming so magical to Sabine once she arrived at Natzweiler-Struthof. The protagonists in those stories always got happy endings while Sabine got pain and misery. She stopped believing that magic existed until she found the box of matches, which is why Sabine supposed that the matches angered her so greatly. Apparently magic did exist in their world but it was taking a backseat while thousands suffered. 

Sabine flipped through the pages in the book until she came to Cinderella. She traced her finger across the words as she quietly mouthed along. For a moment, she allowed herself to get lost in the story; to believe in the beauty of magic again. As she read, her spotlight faded over her until she could no longer see the words on the page. 

Without looking, Sabine dug her arm into the main part of her backpack and felt around for the new box of matches. Once she felt the small cardboard square, her fingers latched around it and pulled it out. Sabine fumbled in the dark with a match as she struggled to find the strike pad, but a relieved look overcame her face when she heard a scratch. 

It wasn't until a red light shone in her peripheral vision that Sabine realized her fatal mistake. She hovered the match over the box and felt her face drain of all color when the familiar cursive letters met her sight: Matchs de Deuxième Chance. But how was this possible? She had put them in the side pocket of the backpack and zipped it up tight!

Sabine shot to her feet and hurled the match to the other side of the library. As the little flame arched through the air, Sabine bolted in the opposite direction as fast as her feet would allow in the hopes that she could somehow escape its range. She was so frantic to get away from the red blaze that she didn't even grab the backpack with her newfound supplies, but rather left it slumped on the wooden floor. 

Sabine felt each pump of her lungs and every flutter of her eyelashes in slow motion. The only thing moving quickly was her mind as it raced with one thought and one thought only: don't get caught. When the match struck the ground everything disappeared in the blink of an eye...

...including Sabine. 

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Something within Sabine had told her the entire time that escape was futile. Looking down at the little cardboard box in her hands upon arriving in her new destination was all the more proof she needed. The matches followed her wherever she went so of course she'd follow the matches wherever they went. A heavy sigh escaped through her nostrils and tightly closed lips.

Sabine took a few steps forward to embrace her new surroundings. Apparently the matches were calling the shots, so she would have to learn to accept this world until the matches decided to take her somewhere else. So far, it didn't seem like such a terrible place. The steady strum of traffic hummed around her, accentuated by solitary honks every couple minutes. She felt the slight rush of wind as groups of people shuffled past her on the sidewalk she found herself in the middle of. Sabine's ears instinctively picked up snippets of conversation and she felt a wave of relief wash over her body when she could understand them. 

One thing immediately informed Sabine of her location: a metal triangular tower that grew from the ground to the sky and cut through the clouds like a knife. She had seen this incredible monument once when she was a young girl, after her parents had saved up for months to take them on a vacation. The Eiffel Tower was still as impressive today as it was back then, and Paris seemed as lively as ever. 

Even livelier than it should be, actually. Sabine looked around once more at the faces passing her and noted the smiles and glimmers of hope in their eyes. It was war, how could they be so happy? People were dying all across the globe and the Parisians were...shopping? Having picnics in the grass? Kicking around balls in the park? An inkling inched down Sabine's spine and she immediately rushed to find a newspaper stand. 

It took her a couple blocks and a few near run-ins with distracted pedestrians, but Sabine finally found a stand. There was one last newspaper and Sabine rushed to grab it before a middle-aged gentleman in a fedora and a trench coat could wrap his fingers around the printed pages. She was too focused on her quest for an answer to notice the dirty look he gave her before walking away. 

Sabine's suspicions were confirmed when her eyes landed on the top right corner of the newspaper. "1946," she whispered to herself. 

So it was true, the matches could take her across time. Less than an hour ago it had been 1943, and now Sabine was in 1946. Was the war over? Had the Allies won? Was she safe? Sabine felt consumed by an overwhelming need for answers and ran manically from person to person until she found some. 

"Excuse me, please, who won the war?" Sabine begged as she yanked on the sleeve of a woman's jacket. The woman scowled down at her before shrugging her off and walking away. 

"Sir, sir!" Sabine cried out as she followed a man in a nice suit down the sidewalk. He quickly sidestepped into a shop and disappeared from sight. Sabine attempted to get information from a few more passersby before she nearly gave up. 

"Hello miss, I can help you," a gentle voice said from behind her. Sabine turned on her heel to find a girl a little older than herself standing before her. Her short, dark hair curled around her ears and her even darker eyes glinted with a familiar pain. She slowly pulled her sleeve up far enough for Sabine to see the numbers etched into her pale skin. 

"Did we win? Are we safe?" Sabine's questions came out in a near whisper but the girl had still heard them. The nod of her head let loose a waterfall of tears on Sabine's cheeks, and in turn the girl's eyes also filled with watery joy. 

The moment these two strangers shared was brief but beautiful. The sea of people passing around them were oblivious to the experiences they had both endured and why this meeting was so meaningful for them. Some even shot them looks of irritation as they elbowed past, but neither Sabine nor the girl cared. Nothing could take away their happiness.

After Sabine and the girl parted ways, Sabine headed off in a random direction. She didn't know why she was here, but she had a feeling that it was for a reason. Sabine decided to let her gut take the lead and try to determine what the higher purpose of this visit was. Maybe it was just to show her the outcome of the war...maybe it was to give her hope...maybe it was something else.

Sabine wandered the Paris streets for a couple hours, taking in the sights, smells, and sounds of the City of Love. Her memories had altered some details, but it was still just as glorious as she had remembered. She found herself spending the most time along the River Seine, watching the boats chug by in the bright blue water. She relished in the feeling of the sunlight bouncing off the overlapping waves and onto her face.

It was there, reflecting by the restless river, that Sabine had come to a realization: she was ready. Ready for whatever came next, ready for wherever the matches would take her, whenever the matches would take her. Strolling through the streets and seeing everything in the light of post-war had led her to stop seeing the matches as a curse, and to start seeing them as a responsibility. For some reason, they had chosen her back in that burrow and they were leading her towards her destiny.

Sure, the matches had taken Sabine through a journey of pain, but were those not the trials? Every great hero went through bloodshed and misery before completing their cause. It was what made them heroes, and while she wouldn't necessarily refer to herself as one, there was a greater purpose out there for her.

Sabine decided that her time in Paris had come to its close and began her search for a place where she could strike the next match. She still wasn't entirely sure what happened to the fire after Sabine was transported, but she didn't want to take any chances of burning down buildings or hurting people.

Sabine wound through alleys until she found an empty metal trash can that would make do. She looked around several times before pulling a matchstick from the box of matches still in her hand. She was about to strike the match when she paused just before it could touch the strike pad and took a deep breath. Sabine didn't know exactly what awaited her on the other side, but she had a feeling that it was going to be dangerous.

But hopefully it was also going to be the end.

After another deep breath, Sabine finally brought herself to light the match. Before she could glimpse the tiny scene in the flame, Sabine threw the match into the trash can. She didn't want to see what was coming next in case she was too scared to face it. Even though she didn't seem to have much of a choice after the match was lit, it didn't mean she wouldn't try.

At first the match just sat at the bottom of the can and Sabine was both worried and slightly relieved that it hadn't worked. The fire hadn't needed anything to keep it going before but she had padded the trash can with crumpled-up paper just in case. Even with the paper, however, the flame still didn't seem to want to take until after a minute of waiting.

Sabine barely had time to take a step back before a red blaze shot up through the can and into the sky. As quickly as the flame rose, it fell, and collapsed back into the metal can with a clap. Sabine didn't have time to wonder how many people had heard or seen the strange event because she was gone.

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