From the Very Depths and Back: Part 4

This was not happening. Hell had not come to earth. No. It could not have. Millions of innocent souls were not dying to heir of the Third Reich. It just was not happening. Olek refused to believe it. He walked out from the hole, warily walking. He swayed side to side, like a drunken man full of booze. He had been in that hot crevice so long that the cold air of the winter outside had suddenly affected him. Changing temperatures so quickly cause his mind to fall into a state of shock.

He shook, saliva and sweat dripping onto the floor. He managed to view his mother holding his sister. She came out of their hiding space, her bones cracking after no moving for so long. His mind was in a state of slow moving, like a never-ending chasm passing you by and you fell into the depths. Few who fell into its depths survived, few lived to tell of their experience. The depths of a hellish prejudice surrounded Olek, and he was falling rapidly downward into its chasm. Olek’s mind turned, and Nazi soldiers were everywhere. His body said give up, but his heart told him that he would survive. He would not walk quietly away in the abyss from which so many like him had never returned. He would live on, and exist. He would make the best of his life.

“I...shall survive,” he whimpered. He coughed, helplessly falling to the ground. He lay on the ground, unable to move. His mouth lie open, spit slowly dripping onto the wooden deck. He shook, his body vibrating in the cold of the winter. His mother stood, shocked at what had happened to him. That next moment, Olek saw his mother’s face turn into a deep state of horror. Never before had he seen that look. Her eyes shone like fire, and her face was pale and forlorn. Her mouth lay open as if to blurt out, but something held her back. Olek sensed a presence, but could not lift his head to see it coming.

“STUPID JUDEN!!” The thick German accented voice echoed throughout the complex. Olek heard thundering footsteps. His ear lay against the floor as his body lay still, somehow plastered to the ground as if waiting to die. Every step reverberated into every inch of his mind body and soul, and he knew each step was one step closer into the depths from which he so dreaded.

There was a click and snap of metal. The footsteps silenced, and the world was in a pause. Olek winced. “NOOOOO!!!!!!!” shouted his mother. The world stopped. All life was ceased; and there was no fear. There wasn’t anything. There was only the presence and foreshadowing of an imment depth of darkness and light. Olek felt as if he was neither alive nor dead, but in a state of in-between. He did not know what he felt.

Click—-silence--- Click, Click, Click. “GOD DAMN YOU JUDEN!” Olek felt a sharp pain on his back. He braced himself, but only felt it hit him with a thud and bounce off, landing with an echoing thud on the ground. For the first time in minutes, Olek somehow had the energy to regain himself. He turned his head, and saw a standard issue German handgun lying on the floor. “GET UP!” These words ran through his mind as he regained control of his body, bit by bit. Raising himself, slowly, he again cringed as he felt the tip of a boot hit his shin. There was yelling and madness around him. He cringed as he was kicked again. His heart strove him on, ignoring the blows as he regained himself to his feet. There was screaming of German surrounding Olek’s ears. He walked out towards the exit of the room, as this was the only thing he could perceive.

“STUPID JUDEN!” There was a quick scurry of feet behind him. Olek nearly screamed as the end of the handgun muzzle thrown towards him hit the back of his leg. He hurried his pace, with energy, which seemed to come for nowhere. He walked the corridor, not sensing where he was going. All as long as it was away from the Gestapo.