Through My Wandering Eyes

Chapter 4: The Camp And A New Friend

The late night road was rough. The twenty odd people and I rocked about brutally. All I could think of was the look in my Father's pale green eyes and his white colourless cheeks. I remembered Katie's soft blue pools as the light left them dry. Tears welled up in my red eyes once again gently they dripped down my face. Once the water works had stopped, I heard a tiny sob from the corner of the overcrowded truck. With effort I stood up, my head spinning with the sudden levitating movement, and I stumbled over to the sound. The pathetic sobs came from a small skeletal boy no older than me. His head was badly shaven and laced with lice (his eyes were a blue, greyish kind of colour much different from my mismatched brown eyes they were absolutely beautiful...) The boy's mouth was pursed and petite, his lips were mildly chapped "Who are you?" He demanded, trying to sound unafraid and tough. "I'm Freeda, who are you?" I asked with uncertainty

"Freeda..." The boy said thoughtfully "That's a lovely name, it suits you." He smiled, I didn't.

"Who are you?" I asked again with impatience.The boy looked at me in shock at my tone then he said with distaste "Asa. My name is Asa..." he took a good look at my face and his mouth fell. "What happened to you?" he whispered

"I got into a fight with one of the Nazis," I said "He... attacked my... um... friend." I swallowed back tears forbidding myself to cry in his presence. "I can tell that you're one tough cookie then, remind me not to get on your bad side." Then Asa giggled, I joined in a bit too, my face stiff with dried blood and tears. "What happened to you, why are you here?" I asked him. Asa's face turned from happiness to sadness almost immediately, he looked at me square in the eyes and said "I'm a Jew..." My jaw fell; my mouth formed a silent O.

When we finally arrived at the camp the firstthing I noticed was the people there. They were like walking skeletons, noflesh was on their bones. Their faces were sunken in and shriveled too. Heavy fog had fallen and as I looked from the tiny gaps in the trucks nasty smelling walls, I saw the gate way and the fences as well, bails barbed wire were strung up loosely around the fences top the fence post were made of solid concrete and everything looked miserable and dark and I noticed that everyone of the skeletal people wore a pair of grey or blue striped pyjamas except the weren't really pyjamas because they looked so itchy and pyjamas are generally comfortable aren't they? I couldn't keep this though from my head "Is this what's going to happen to us?" I wondered as the truck drove at full speed inside the unforgiving gates...

The boys and girls were separated Asa and themen were taken to the left,the girls were taken to the right. We were led to a shower block; each one of us was given a certain shower to stand by, eventually when everyone had a shower the guards left the room ordering us to wash. The shower's water was luke warm. Goosebumps erupted from my skin like tiny volcanoes. I couldn't see any shampoo around so I washed my hair thoroughly with the water, it didn't do much though.

We were each given a pair of those striped pyjamas I'd seen the other men and women wearing outside in the courtyard- with different numbers stitched to the place where the chest pocket should have been. The material stank of something to awful to mention, like it had never been washed, and it itched like crazy. I felt tiny little things crawl over my body "Lice..." I said to myself, absolutely disgusted! The pyjamas were two sizes too big for me, the sleeves fell down way past my hands and the pyjama legs dragged along the floor behind my feet, covering my feet too. My eyes gazed down at my number 225749 "What does it mean?" I thought to myself. A group of soldiers came up to us. In bad Polish they ordered us to form a single file line in front of an old mankey sheet –I'm guessing- that was covering the entrance to a room but what was behind that sheet we didn't know. They called us in one by one, each by her own number; every girl that went behind the sheet came out crying and clutching their heads. Panic welled up inside my stomach, I felt sick to my soul. "225749!" A burly voice barked from the other side of the cream coloured sheet. My legs shook violently causing me to stumble towards the rotten and smelly sheet afraid of what lay behind it. My breathing became rapid as my blood pressure elevated, my hands became clammy and sticky, cold sweat trickled down my back sending shivers shooting through my spine, I shivered, my hands shook as I clamped my fingers around the material pushing it aside, the cloth was damp and stank like it had never been washed, it tickled my fingers. I closed my eyes, took a sharp intake of breath and pushed myself through...

'Snip, snip' went the scissors as they cut through my hair. Every time the scissors cut another lock of my blonde hair from my head I forced myself not to cry. The Nazi's were looking for reactions from us, they killed my best friend, my Mother and Father too, I told myself not to give them the satisfaction of any reaction from me over this. Biting my lip I let my hair fall without a fuss. Occasionally the man would stop ripping my hair out only to slap my face "Sit up!" he would yell in poor English, a strong German accent flew from his vocal chords, the kind that makes the s sound like a z. I hated him, I hated every soldier who fought for Hitler, I hated Hitler, but most of all I hated myself for trying to save Katie, for being part of all this.

The Huts were the worst! We were all crampedtogether in one tiny room, 34 bunks to shelter 40 people. It was just stupid! A bell sounded from the courtyard outside and we were all ordered to stand –once again- in a single file line. One of the Nazis at the camp came over to examine us, he had a black hat perched on his head, as I looked closer at it I noticed a silver pin on the hat's face of a skull and cross bones and a maroon red cotton line at the base of it, the black hat itself was neatly polished and so shiny I could see my reflection in it. The soldier's hair was an unnatural shade of yellow. I glared at him making my hatred clearer then his ugly hat, he glared back then he threw back his head and laughed. Turning to his colleges he said, "This one 'ere's got spunk, that's for sure. Well then," he turned back to me "We'll soon take care of that." He stared at me menacingly. "You!" He spat spinning towards a sad looking man with the same grey, unwashed pyjamas as the rest of us. The soldier said a word to that man that does not need repeating "-Give 'er your pick you filthy-" He said the word again. The scrawny old man came running unstably towards him carrying a stick with two sharp metal points on either end. The old man was very lopsided running dangerously fast. Suddenly he tripped over a stone and fell flat on his face, the pick clattered onto the soldier's foot. He yelped in pain. I struggled to stifle a giggle; a small smile appeared on my face. "You stupid-" That word kept popping up "Shoot him!" He ordered two nervous looking soldiers behind him. My smile vaporised. The soldiers had two huge rifles, they grabbed a hold of the frail old man's shoulders, dragging him away, ignoring his pleas for mercy. He was dragged behind a corner of a hut, there was a loud 'bang' and the pleading stopped midway. I shook violently once again, tears streaming down my face. The evil man's boots crunched on the hard, frosty mud as the old man appeared again, with a red and bloody hole trough his head the edges curled like petals on a flower, the two killers carried him off. The soldier grabbed my chin forcing my face up to look at him. The man seemed to study my facial features. I only had one word for his- ugly. "You're a pretty one aint ye. How old are you?" I glared into his black coloured eyes "I'm twelve." I said as boldly as I could.

"Well then," he muttered "It's a pity your beautiful face is gonna get ruined and your delicate hands will be destroyed..." He grinned a nasty grin. Disgusting yellow teeth shone from his mouth, his breath smelt of something so awful I thought I was going to vomit, it was like he hadn't brushed his teeth in over nine months. Burning black pools of hatred burst out at me from his eyes, he shoved the pick into my arms and chest but he didn't let it go. "Get to work!" He ordered the other girls "You aint at home anymore! Welcome to Auschwitz!" he let go of the pick as he said the last word; the sudden weight nearly knocked me off balance I wobbled aggressively. He looked at me one more time then he blew a whistle a pushed everyone aside, as he walked away my level of hatred towards Nazis elevated.