We Were Given A Miracle

Chapter 10

On Thursday, when I got up, I immediately set out to finish my book, which was at a cliffhanger. I loved reading about Romeo and Juliet's families, and how they wouldn't let them be together despite their so-strong love. I didn't even notice that Mrs. Beaufoy didn't bring us breakfast, or the loud gunshot that made the house shake.

"Gisele!" Maman whispered, shaking me. "Did you hear that? We have to hide!" I put my book down.

"A Nazi shot Mrs. Beaufoy!" I said, half asking it. I couldn't believe it. Why were we losing so many people we loved? I thought to myself as I crouched down behind the mattress. I could hear stomping feet come our way. A man opened the door and said, "Looks like nobody's in here." Then he closed the door and walked away. Thank God, I thought. Thank God we didn't get caught. Thank God Phillipe didn't cry.

"Will we go now, Maman?" I asked her. "I don't hear any footsteps now."

She nodded and reached under the mattress. She took out the money and slid it into the waist of her petticoat. "Carefully." We slowly crawled, with Phillipe in one of my arms, to the foot of the stairs. We looked at eachother. We quickly tiptoed up the cement stairs. Mama slowly opened the doorknob and opened the door. She peered outside. She made a gesture that meant come. We quietly ran out of the door and out of the house. No Nazi had caught us!
We turned the corner, but on the side of the house, there was a Nazi waiting for us. He was big and muscly, about 6 feet tall. He had a big gun in his hand. A stone dropped in my stomach, and I was cold and sweaty. I heard another gunshot. It was Mr. Beaufoy, who had probably just been seen by the Nazis now.

The Nazi officer was coming closer to us. I held Phillipe closer to me, and I squeezed Maman. This was death, I thought. We had hid in the Beaufoy's basement for three years, but now we were about to die. But the Nazi officer didn't want to kill us. He gave Maman and I each two lashes, and I covered Phillipe so we wouldn't get hurt. My back throbbed with pain, and I could see that Maman's was bleeding.

"Don't dare try escaping," the officer said. "You'll be shot and dead." I exhaled in relief as I started walking, his gun poking my spine. But I couldn't believe it. He didn't kill us! We were so lucky to still be alive!

A few minutes later, the Nazi stopped. There was a big truck in front of us. It was full of Jews. The Nazis herded us on to the truck like animals. The truck was so full of people, it seemed as if it couldn't fit one more person or everybody would fall off. But they did put more people on the truck. We continuously stopped, and the Nazis loaded more and more people on. There were people who looked skinny as sticks, from little malnourished babies, to overworked adults, to the frailest of the eldest. There was a boy sitting next to me. He looked about twenty years old. Louis' age, I thought. I studied the boy. He looked very underfed, and we were certainly very lucky. He looked at me, and I quickly looked away as the truck came to an abrupt stop. It flung us all forward. I clutched onto Phillipe, making sure he didn't fly out of my hands.

The Nazis rushed us out of the truck. If the weak failed to keep up, or were getting out too slow for the Nazis, the Nazis would shoot them, and they would crumple to the ground. I looked away, but at the same time I couldn't look away. What other atrocious things were the Nazis doing? I shuddered. The officers marched us to a train station, where we were all stopped. I looked at the train. There was a sign in front of it that read "To Buchenwald.