Barbed Wire

Chapter Two

I ran over to the window the very next morning. Mother said I couldn't go outside today. I pulled the curtain over to the side and saw a bunch of strange men in uniform. They weren't from around this area. They looked very well kept. They were pushing people onto the street and into this truck. They were also taking their belongs! 

"Mother! Mother! Come Quick!" I shouted. I could here mother as she dropped her things and ran down the hall. 

"What is it dear?" She asked crouching down and looking at me. I pointed out the window at the strange men.

"Who are they? What are they doing?" I asked curiously. Mother's eyes widened and she turned my head with her hand. She cupped my face. 

"Listen, Adelaide. If those men are outside at all, don't go near the windows, the doors, or even outside. Stay in your room." She had a worried look on her face. I glanced out the window one more time just to see my friends, Miriam, and her family get pushed into a truck. I jumped up from my mother's grasp and ran to the door. "Adelaide! What did I just say? If you so happen to open that door-" She didn't finsh her sentence when I walked over to her.

"Mother...they are putting Miriam and her family in one of the trucks. Why?" I asked crying. 

"I--I don't know why, sweetheart." She kissed my head and pushed me torwards the stairs. "Go to your room and don't come out until I say you can." I nodded my head and started going up the stairs. I wiped a tear from my eyes and looked back at mother. She had one hand over her mouth and she slowly closed the curtain. 

I crawled onto my bed and sniffled a little bit. Where were they taking Mariam? Why were they taking Miriam away? She has a good home here with friends who care about her! I thought silently to myself. I curled up into a ball and slowly fell back alseep. 

**

"Adelaide!" I jumped up and looked around. I left my room and went down stairs. "Oh Adelaide." Mother ran up to me and wrapped me in a tight hug.

"What is it mother?" I asked confused. "What's wrong?" Mother looked at me. Her lips straightened into a thin line. She sighed. 

"Adelaide, dear, your grandma and grandpa were taken away." I looked at her still with a confused look. "The Meier's told me. You know, their neighbors." She licked her lips. "The men in the uniforms took them away." I pulled back in shock. 

"Why?! Why did they take them? Why didn't the Meier's stop those men?" Mother put her hand up and I stopped talking. 

"Your father will tell you about those men when he gets home. Until then, you need to catch up on your studying young lady." She pushed me into the kitchen and I sat down at the table. I wasn't allowed to go to school. I don't know why though. I'm also not allowed to have books. But, my father gave me a book on my seventh birthday. He told me to keep it a secret. My parents want me to be somewhat educated so when the war is over I can make something of myself. 

Not long after I was done studying, my father came home. Safe and Sound. Father sat down at the table and looked at me for a minute.

"Those men are bad men." My father said suddenly pulling me out of my thoughts. "They are Nazi soldiers." 

"What are Nazis father?" I asked curiously. 

"They are people who don't like people like me and you. They don't like Jewish people." Mother left the kitchen to go tend to Jacob and Eliana. "The soldiers will take you away and work you untill you can't work anymore. Then, they will either gas you to death or burn you to death." A blank expression covered his face. "But on a lighter note, I bought you a little present!" 

My face lit up immediately. "What is it? What is it?" I asked jumping up from my chair and skipping over to him.

"Turn around pumpkin." I turned around and he wrapped something around my neck. I looked down at it. It was a necklace with a charm that said "I will always be with you." Before I could say anything, father was already leaving the room to wash up. I ran upstairs and stood in front of the hall mirror to see how it looked on me. It was beautiful.