I woke with a start to a loud banging on the shop's front door. I checked the clock. 11: 47. The stairs creaked as my mother crept down the stairs in her nightgown. The three Nazis spoke in their harsh deep voices. I heard them ask my mother if she had any children, and her quiet response, "no." As soon as I heard this, I woke Nikolas and Maya and herded them into the cramped cabinets under the bathroom sink. Nikolas, only 5 at the time, started to cry. "Where's Mama?" he sobbed. "Shhh," I said softly. "She'll be okay. We'll be okay."
We were woken by morning light streaming through the gap in the cabinet doors. The apartment and shop were quiet. As I walked down the stairs, I noticed that my mother wasn't in the kitchen. I looked everywhere but could not find her. I calmly reassured myself that she had just gone to our neighbors house and would be back shortly. Nikolas and Maya were happily playing with their toys upstairs. I walked to the back of the shop and peeked out of the small stained-glass window. Nothing. She wasn't anywhere to be found.
After a few hours passed, I started to worry. She could have been taken by the Nazis. She could be hundreds of miles away by now. As I walked upstairs to check on Nikolas and Maya, there were 3 loud knocks on the heavy wooden door. I could hear the same harsh voices from the night before. I tiptoed over and peered through the tiny eyehole on the door. It was the Nazis. I started to panic and ran quietly to get Nikolas and Maya. We had to get out of there before they took us. I opened the old, creaky window in my bedroom and climbed onto the window ledge. I slowly inched myself down the wobbly pipe. As soon as I reached the ground, I called for Nikolas and Maya to jump. Maya, always the braver one, jumped first. Her hair whipped around her head as she plummeted to the ground. Maya and I had to convince timid Nikolas to jump. Once we were all safely on the ground, I opened up a mostly empty trash can and dumped Nikolas and Maya inside. Then I opened another trash can and climbed in.
We could hear the Nazis smashing things in the
house and swearing loudly at our escape. Somehow they knew my mother had children. Hopefully they wouldn't keep looking after they couldn't find us. Eventually we heard them leave. By then it was late afternoon. I got out of the trash can, still slightly wary of the Nazis, and opened Nikolas and Maya's trash can. Surprisingly, they had fallen asleep. I guess all of the trauma of the previous night had exhausted them. I shook them awake and they woke with a start. After we were all out of the trash cans, I took my siblings inside and we all took showers , ate dinner, and went to sleep.
Two days later, I had managed to keep our spirits up, but our supplies were dwindling. My mother had been taken right before we were supposed to go grocery shopping, so we were very low on food. Not being able to venture out of the house for fear of being seen was certainly taking a toll on us. I had managed to keep Nikolas and Maya quiet and entertained, but I wasn't sure how much longer I could do it. They were playing with toy cars when I heard a soft knock at the door followed by a quiet voice that sounded like a woman.
"Children? Are you in there?" inquired the voice.
I peeked through the curtains to catch a glimpse at the speaker. "Hello? Are you there? Your mother sent me," said the voice again. It was a friendly-looking woman of about sixty years old. She had no one with her. Convinced of her good intentions, I opened the door partially and, with Nikolas and Maya cowering behind me, invited her inside into the sitting room.
"Who are you?" I asked her. The lady, my siblings, and I were seated on the couch and chairs in the main room of our home. "You may not know me," she said, "but I am a friend. My name is Mrs. Wirth. My husband is a high-ranking German official and I couldn't help but overhear them talking about the children that had managed to escape them after the capture of their mother. I myself am not very fond of the Nazi mission, so I decided to come and help you." At this, Nikolas had a question. "But... what are you going to do?" "Well," she continued, "I've come to take you away from here."
The Lucky Ones
By B. Bray and M. Woodburn