Waking Up In Auschwitz (Jewish Concentration Camp)

I woke up to screaming.

The screaming of women in panic.

My back ached in pain, like I had been sleeping on a hard floor all night. My neck was painful too.

I open my eyes slowly, scared of what I might see.

I shouldn't have woken up to screaming, should I? I fell asleep in MY house, in MY bed, on MY mattress... the screaming was out of place.

As I opened my eyes, I saw the scene around me.

A barn.

A small barn.

A small, cramped barn.

I looked around slowly, wincing as my neck sent pain shooting through my back. I saw women, lots and lots of women. All between the ages of sixteen and forty.

They were screaming and crying in fear, all of them staring at one spot in front of them. I turned my head slowly to where they were looking, as saw a man there in uniform. He was about six foot, had blue eyes and mid-blonde hair. He had a stern look in his eyes, and I couldn't tear myself away from them. He opened his mouth to speak.

'You are at Auschwitz concentration camp' he bellowed in scratchy English. My eyes widened in panic, fear and slight confusion. Auschwitz... You mean, Auschwitz as in, Auschwitz the World War Two labour camp?

No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. This was all wrong.

I'm not in Auschwitz.

I'm not here. There's no way I could be! I fell asleep last night in my room... and now I'm here? It just doesn’t make sense!

'I am guessing you know why your here. You will all stand up and follow me' he spoke, turned around and left without another word. All the women stood and followed him out of the barn. I stood too and followed them.

It was raining outside and as I walked past a puddle I took a quick look at myself.

I gasped at what I saw.

Instead of my raven black hair and piercing blue eyes, I had dull, short brown hair and lifeless brown eyes. I hardly recognised myself.

I had obviously stopped for too long, because when I looked up, the women were gone and so was the guard leading them. I panicked, knowing that at any moment, a soldier could come round the corner and beat me.

That's just what happened.

'What are you doing?' shouted an unknown soldier as he approached me. His English was a lot more perfected, he must have been fluent.

'I... I...' the words just wouldn't come out of my mouth. He leaned in close to me.

'Shame... a pretty little thing like you...' he started. I felt my eyes open in fear as he spoke those words. What was he going to do? Where was he going to take me? Would I still be alive? So, many questions.

He grabbed my wrist and dragged me along to a building. I didn’t want to know what would happen next.

–

He stopped outside a big oak door and saluted the two men standing guard.

'I wish to see The General' he spoke in German. The two men nodded and opened the door. This unknown man grabbed me by my hair into the room.

–

I sat there listening to the two men talk.

'You found her where you say?' asked The General.