Battlefield [On Hold]

Chapter 4 : Chaya

I woke up a few hours later and was terribly hungry. I realised that I hadn't eaten the whole day- We never did get to eat the birthday cake. I looked over my shoulder to check on Myriam. She was still in a deep sleep. I wanted to forget that this whole thing had ever happened. That this was all a dream and that I was going to wake up in my own bed, in my house, with my family. But I knew this was reality and that this was something that I couldn't escape.

My head hadn't stopped spinning. A lot had happened over the past few hours and it was a lot to take in. Way too much for a nineteen-year-old if you ask me. Even more so for Myriam who was two years younger than me. I wondered how she must have been feeling. She didn't know anything about the situation she was in. She still doesn't. But I will explain it to her when, if ever, the time is right. I do not want to scare her.

This all started around a month after Hanukkah. We were taking off all the decorations from the walls, when man's voice came booming out of the radio. The deep, loud and angry voice caused my hair to stand up and sent shivers down my spine. I had heard this man's voice once before. In class, a few weeks ago, we had been studying the effects power had on people. My teacher had played us a short newsreel. The man speaking had a loud, almost mad voice, tainted with craziness. Frau Knöbel stopped the newsreel, and wrote four words on the board. Adolf Hitler. Our dictator.

She then went on to explain that this crazy, mad sounding man was the possible new ruler, or dictator, of our country. He had come from nowhere, and he had risen in power fast, making him a very dangerous man. We were to avoid him, his speeches and his Nazis- his soldiers- at all costs. Meeting him or his soldiers meant almost certain death for us Jews.

One thing Frau Knöbel repetitively quoted was "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely". Honestly, I couldn't agree more.

I came home that night, more scared than ever. The streets had always been dangerous, at least since the war had begun. Although Hitler hadn't attacked the Netherlands yet, after listening to that newsreel I was sure it was going to happen. My head filled with these thoughts, I started running, then sprinting home. I arrived breathless and in tears. My mother looked at me, her eyes filled with worry. "What's wrong, Schatz?"

"Oh, mama." I collapsed in her arms. Everything poured out; my mouth was a river and the words were the water.

"Oh, Schatz. Darling, you have no control over theses things. You need to trust that your father and I will keep you safe. You know we do have plans. If something does happen".