War With Time

• Yasmin Prosser, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2013

December 1940

In the Winter of 1940, Ida is running away. Her heart racing, her lips forming a huge smile, she squeals as she feels the wind whip through her hair. She has never felt so free. It was magical.

September 2002

Rachel loved hearing stories from her nana.
They were fascinating. She told of times where she was just a young German girl, and where the world was dangerous and where war thrived.
"I've got another story for you, Rachel." Her nana told her one day. Rachel smiled. Another story.
"I was playing in the street with the other children. It was a cloudy, wintery day, and we were all rugged up with our coats on.
This made it hard to kick the ball around when we were playing, so it ended up going off course a couple of times. I was enlisted to run after the ball one of these times and it stopped right in front of a boy.
I said hello and he didn't say anything. 'Wanna come play with us?' I asked, and he looked up at me, staring me right in the eye, and smiled. 'No thank-you.'
Then he walked away, not even looking back.
This boy fascinated me. I watched him and wondered if I'd ever see him again.
Turns out I did. Nearly every time I ran after the ball, he was nearby. Every time I asked him to play, he declined.
It was strange, but I found myself looking forward to seeing him everyday. Soon I was the only one who volunteered to get the ball. The other children didn't mind- after all, it meant that they didn't have to.
But one day mother kept me in doing chores, and I didn't see him that day.
The next day he was gone.
And the next.
And then my mother said I had to do more chores, and I wasn't allowed out often.
My father just sat at the table and watched.
'The war changed him, Ida. Now he never does bloody anything.' My mother used to say, when father got that distant look in his eye.
And I decided to run away. And as I was leaving, I saw him. The boy who I used to see, when I went to get the ball. I almost asked him to come with me, but I figured he'd just say no, and left.
Oh, Rachel, I found out years later that he was a Jew. And just hours later, they took him and sent him to a camp."
A single tear rolled down her cheek. "I would do anything, to have asked him to come with me. He might have even said yes."

An Alternate December 1940

In the Winter of 1940, Ida is leaving her house. It is sinking in that she is actually leaving. As she runs through the streets, she sees the boy. She smiles at him, and wonders if she should ask him to come. She almost doesn't say anything. "Hey, would you like to run away with me?" The boy looks at her and smiles wide. "Definitely."