Chapter Two
All thoughts were wiped from my head as my family and I wordlessly joined hands and walked out the door. Guns were not pointed at us, they knew we would not run. This sickened me, that they thought we were so cowardly. I shuddered and tried to just think about one thing: Just put one foot in front of the other.
I felt my mother squeeze my hand and I looked over at her. She was never a particularly strong woman, and it worried me to see her like this. I wished I could hug her.
All of a sudden, we were pushed into a huge line of other people. German soldiers patrolled the line, making sure no one spoke or objected. It was about ninety-five degrees out, and I could feel the back of my dress sticking to my skin. My hands felt clammy and uncomfortable caught in the warm grip of my mother and brother. We waited for ten minutes. Twenty Minutes. This heat is unbearable. I thought miserably. I wanted to cry, to scream, anything to end this agonizing heat.
Farther down the line, a small boy fainted to the ground. I did not know this boy, but somehow a strange sense of panic came over me as a tall German soldier walked over to where he fell. He nudged the boy's shoulder with his boot, but to no avail. He did not stir. I looked away, because I knew what was coming.
There was a loud gunshot, and then silence. I slowly turned my head and saw the bloody mess that was the boy's head. Pink and red slime oozed onto the road, and the people around him were splattered with blood. It seemed as if no one cared, the boy was probably alone. My heart sank and I tried not to sob.
After what seemed like years, a single, rickety cattle car pulled up about twenty feet away from us. The Germans held their guns and we all were filed into the cattle car. There must have been sixty of us, but we were crammed into a tiny car that was no bigger than our tenement room.
Immediately, I felt claustrophobic. Sweaty bodies pressed against me from all sides. The only awareness of my family's prescence was their hands that I still had locked in mine. I would not lose them, I thought. They're all I have left.
The car began moving, and it was a horrible, torturous ride. The sun blared on the roof of the car, and it must have been ninety five degrees there. There was no space to move, no space to even think. Everywhere my eyes darted, there were bodies and I could not move an inch. We were packed in like sardines, and all I could hear were the cries and moans of the Jews suffering from dehydration.
I tried to avoid breathing through my mouth, for it was as dry as a desert. I felt weak and starving, like somebody had scraped out my stomach with a spoon until there was nothing left. I heard my little brother whimpering. My thoughts came in a daze.
Despite the mind-numbing conditions, the trip was a relatively short one. One a day and a half of the sweating, thirsting, crying, and shoving. Halfway through the second day, the car came to a stop. There was a small window above us. My father, being the tallest, peered through it.
"There is a tall iron gate with words on the top," he said slowly, no doubt trying to fight the daze in his head. "Auschwitz".
No one recognized the name.
Gender:
Points: 3459
Reviews: 11