With our bags bulging, each one a testament to our desperate flight, we hoisted them onto our shoulders.
The weight was immense, not just of the meager belongings, but of the unspoken fears, the shattered dreams, and the terrifying unknown that lay before us.
We slipped out of the apartment, each soft footfall echoing in the deserted hallway like a final, whispered goodbye.
The air outside was a cruel embrace of cold and dampness, a stark contrast to the stale, familiar warmth of our small home.
"Hide in the trees when the soldiers come so they don't see us," I whispered to Susan, pulling her closer, her small hand clammy in mine, as we navigated the narrow, winding streets.
The oppressive darkness was our only ally, cloaking us from prying eyes, each shadow a potential hiding place, each distant sound a harbinger of danger.
We walked and walked, our feet aching with every step, the silence broken only by the frantic pounding of our hearts.
The city, once a vibrant tapestry of life, was now a ghostly panorama of abandoned buildings and looming shadows, each turn revealing another chilling reminder of the world we were leaving behind.
Suddenly, her voice a small, wavering thread in the profound quiet, Susan spoke. "Where are we going?" she whispered, the raw exhaustion and a tremor of fear lacing her words.
"To find Pa at the concentration camps," I said, the words a bitter ash on my tongue, my voice barely a whisper, as if speaking the name aloud would summon the horrors we were trying to escape.
"What do you mean?" Susan asked, her eyes widening in the dim light, a dawning comprehension of the terrifying truth washing over her face.
"We're going to sneak into the camp Pa is in, then he'll help us find Ma," I explained, trying to project a confidence I didn't feel. The sheer audacity, the desperate, almost suicidal nature of our plan, hung heavy in the air between us, a suffocating shroud.
"Do you know what camp Pa is at?" Susan pressed, her voice suddenly edged with a frantic urgency, as if the answer held the key to our very survival.
"He's at Treblinka," I said, the name a chilling whisper on my lips, a word that felt too monstrous to utter. I tried to keep my voice steady, but an uncontrollable tremor betrayed the terror that coiled in my gut.
"What? How do you know?" Susan gasped, her voice sharp with disbelief and a rising panic, startlingly loud in the oppressive stillness of the night.
"I heard soldiers talking about everyone that left last night was going to Treblinka," I replied, my gaze fixed on the endless, desolate path ahead, desperately trying to banish the terrifying images that flashed through my mind: faceless men, barbed wire, smoke.
"Do you even know how to get there?"susan said, a serious concerned look stretching across her face.
I didn't answer.
After that, we didn't talk for a long, agonizing while. The dreadful revelation, the sheer, unimaginable scale of the horror, hung heavy between us, a palpable weight that threatened to crush us.
The air grew colder, and a thin, spectral mist began to settle around us, blurring the already indistinct shapes of the gnarled trees, turning the world into a murky, suffocating dream.
We continued to walk, each step a testament to our desperate, unyielding will to survive, our only goal to find Pa, our only hope to reunite our shattered, broken family.
Then, piercing the oppressive silence of the night, a sharp, unyielding sound echoed through the trees. CRACK...