Experiments

Experiments

“You know, Luka, I don’t really like your eyes. Do you want green eyes? I think that would suit you much better than blue.” Artz Mengele told him. Then he turned to me. “Don’t you think, Haana?” 

I could see Luka in the background, sitting shocked and terrified on the bench opposite me. He had the prettiest blue eyes, deep blue like the ocean, and framed by dark hair and eyelashes that usually made them shine. Now they were just dull with fear. I didn’t want him to change Luka’s eye color, but I didn’t think I had any choice but to agree. 

“Ja,” I replied. Luka shot me a terrified look before Mengele turned back to him. 

“See? Your twin sister agrees. I think we should try it.” Luka tried to look calm, but failed. “Are you scared? There’s nothing to be afraid of. It’s just a little prick--you won’t even feel a thing--and then we’ll get to see a new you!” Mengele smiled and reached into the pocket of the pristine white lab coat he was wearing and pulled out two chocolates. He gave one to Luka and reached his arm behind his back to give one to me, not once averting his hungry gaze from Lukas’ frightened expression.

Just a prick? Well...I guess it couldn’t have been that bad. And if it got us out of this strange room, even better. Who knows, Luka might really look better with green eyes...

“Did you enjoy that, children?” Mengele smiled his syrupy smile, showing his even, perfect teeth. I nodded, and so did Luka. I hadn’t had chocolate in such a long time...

“Well let’s get this going,” Mengele said. “I’ll be right back.” He disappeared through the stone doorway for a second then returned with two needles filled with a clear liquid. The needles were large, and I started to tremble. How could he stick that in Luka’s eye? 

Mengele approached Luka, then put the needles down on the bench Luka was sitting on with a serious face, unlike the cheerful grin he was wearing previously. He pulled out a pristine-looking cloth from his lab coat along with a small bottle of another clear liquid. He poured some of the liquid onto the cloth, then started to clean the needles. 

After a grueling minute or two that felt like forever, Mengele finally said, “There. All nice and clean.” Lukas sat there shaking as Mengele squirted a little of the liquid out of the needle, where it landed with a small plop on the floor. “Now, Luka, keep your eyes open...” Mengele’s expression morphed into one of hunger as he raised the needle level with Luka’s eye.

I could see how scared Luka was. He didn’t want a strange man poking a needle in his eye. But he had no choice as Mengele swiftly injected the needle, pushing down on the cap until all of the strange liquid had gone into Luka’s eye. Luka gasped in pain, but didn’t pull away or fight back as Mengele took the needle out. 

“See? That wasn’t so bad, now, was it?” Mengele was smiling again now, looking as proud of Luka as I’d ever seen Papa. Was Mengele’s injection really going to work? Was it going to hurt Luka? I was starting to think that it wasn’t. I could see that Luka was still in pain from the shot, but it didn’t look like he was going to die. His eye still looked as blue as ever, though, so I didn’t think the injection was going to work. 

Oh how envious the other children were going to be when they heard that they had gotten chocolate, and for just helping out with a failed experiment! I could imagine Lena and Nikolas now, how jealous they would be! 

My train of thought was broken when Luka started to whimper. “Artz Mengele, herr, my eye...” He put his hand up to his eye, and when he put it back down, I could see blood on his hand. “It...it’s all fuzzy and...” He paused again, then looked down at his feet when he saw Mengele staring at him. “And it’s bleeding and numb, and I...”