No Chance

It was dark and the wind was howling but I wasn’t really afraid until I heard footsteps from above. If they found us we would have no chance of escape. Hidden here underneath the floorboards we could hear everything they said, even if we couldn’t understand a single word.

Felix the farmer who owned the house, and who had hidden us here was speaking calmly to the man as he crossed the threshold. Felix and the man spoke in German so although we could hear their voices we could not understand anything they said.

My brother Jude was gripping my long, dark, dirty hair as he listened. I could see the fear in eyes that I had felt from the moment I had heard the unfamiliar voices from outside.

My whole family was depending on Felix; if he gave us away we were doomed. I hoped he would be able to convince the man that we weren’t here. My hopes were pointless as the front door opened and more men walked in and the cramped space in which my family had been living for the last few weeks suddenly became a grave. My brother and I did the only thing we could, run.

My head spinning and the sound of bullets still ringing in my ears, we sprinted for the safety of the trees. We were fast but fast enough? I couldn’t hear anything suggesting we were being followed. Did they even know we had survived? Or did they think we were dead just like the rest of our family.

Whether they thought we were dead or not it didn’t matter yet. All that mattered was getting as far away from here as possible. I turned and saw my brother lying on the ground with a trail of blood leading to his shoulder. A bullet had punctured the skin.

We had to move but he was in too much pain. Several times he told me to leave him and go without him. But I was his big sister and he was the only family I had left. I couldn’t leave him here to die alone. In the end it didn’t matter. He had lost too much blood.

Jude was gone like the rest of my family. All killed for what they believed in. Only I was left. Three years we were hidden, running away from the people who hated us. One day was enough to take away everything that loved. One day was enough for my whole family to die. I needed to leave. Needed to get as far away from my brother’s empty body as possible, so I would never have to remember the pained look in his eyes as he lay there slowly drifting away.

I stood remembering his last words me before he died. Survive. He wanted me to live through this. For him I had to try. For my little brother who never did anything to deserve what he got, I would survive.


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