Chapter 1 The Week-Long Journey.

Ok, before I start. This is based on the film, not the true story. In real life, the Von Trapps left by train and travelled to Italy rather than Switzerland, but if you watched the movie (and I say you undoubtfully have) you should know that they travelled to Switzerland via the mountain range. Obersalzberg in the Bavarian Alps was the mountain used. Absolutely in love with the film and all its actors and actresses. R.I.P Charmain Carr (Liesl Von Trapp) and Heather Menzies-Urich (Louisa Von Trapp).

Brigitta's POV

Father never allowed us to come hiking up here. I know the boys desperately wanted to, and this was their chance. Unfortunately, for the wrong reason. We had no choice but to trek across this forsaken mountain towards the safety of Switzerland, all because of those stupid Nazis wanting father to join their army.

Frost has whitened the tips of my clothes, and frozen my fingers to a shade of blue, which I had safely tucked beneath my arms. The others are just as cold, all blowing into their hands or pulling their scarfs above their red noses. I was one of the ones who were struggling, whilst people like Louisa or Friedrich were quite happily trekking forward. Marta was in front of me, every now and again stopping just for a few seconds. I was at the back, making sure my younger sisters didn't fall behind, course no one would notice if I did, they were too busy on trying not to fall off this damn mountain. Mother finally came back a few steps and retrieved Marta, carrying her forward, leaving me to walk alone.

Father had insisted on making us take a sort of register to make sure we were all together. Mother agreed, and of course she made the things we say into notes. Gretl was Do, Marta was Ra, I was Mi, Kurt was Fa, Louisa was So, Friedrich was La and Liesl was Ti. I didn't care in all honesty, in fact we were all in bad moods. We'd lost our house, our country and now we were on the run… all in one day!

"Brigitta can you please keep up," I felt Liesl's arm brush against mine and I looked up.

There was a look of sympathy in her mesmerizing blue eyes as she wrapped her arm around my shoulder. I looked down at the ground, not bothering to speak as I was worried my mouth would chatter too much. Also, the sky was darkening, so I would grow even colder. I had images going through my mind that we would freeze to death. No, father wouldn't let that happen.

There were a lot of cave openings around here, and unless they were habituated by some unfriendly creatures, we could stay in them just for tonight. Father had told Kurt to gather and carry as many sticks as he could, so I had a pretty good hunch that father would attempt to build a fire.

He set Gretl down on the rocky terrain and slipped down into one of the thin holes. Kurt handed the sticks down and then climbed into the hole himself, followed by Friedrich, Louisa, Gretl, Marta, mother, Liesl and then finally me. The cave, if that's what you would call it, was huge in length but not in height. Heck, I couldn't stand straight in here, so I settled for crawling across the bitterly cold surface, freezing my stinging fingers. Near another opening at the corner of the cave, father and Friedrich had set up the fire area, cleverly so that the smoke would just head straight out of the opening rather than into our faces.

Mother told me to leave the boys to it and so I crawled over to the sheltered and quiet area of the cave, pulling my book out of my coat pocket. Swallows and Amazons. Rewritten by mother so I could read it in Austrian, one of the things she did in the Abbey I suppose. Until now, I've never heard of or read this book, but it's apparently meant to be good, so I open the first page…

"Brigitta go to bed," I looked up from my page to whom had spoken. It was mother.

I had been so transfixed by the story, as well as forgetting it was night because of the warm fire, that I realised that I was the only child left awake. All of them were snuggled up close to each other for warmth, with their coats thrown over their bodies. Mother patted the empty space beside her and I shuffled over, placing my book down so gently someone would've thought it was glass.

Resting my head on mother's shoulder and I gave a small, sort of saddened sigh, that echoed around the cave mysteriously. The noise scared me a little, and I felt very foolish for tensing up. Mother, however, sympathetically placed her arm around my shoulder and squeezed it gently.

"Good night… mother…"