Hiding Out
By Savanna Proffit
Bang!!
A bomb landed about 150 yards away. Yvea plugged her ears and ran into her and her family's small tent to hide. Her father had built it out of scrap fabric from what was left over after their house was raided and destroyed by the Germans. Her father and mother, the two most important people in her world, were taken from her and her little brother Lyad when they were out looking for any bit of food they could find on the outskirts of the camp they had been living in for several weeks. They had not returned, and an old woman from the camp who had gone with them said that they were killed by a party of Germans marching through the woods. They had only let the old woman go because she was old. Now, Yvea was left alone, at the age of ten, to care for her five-year-old little brother.
She had been outside trying to get a small fire started so she could cook a little bit of the food they had left over when the bomb struck. When she ducked inside the tent, she grabbed Lyad and they huddled in a corner together, holding on to each other for dear life. After a few minutes, they went outside together and looked for the other people who lived in their camp. Slowly, they started stepping out of their hiding places into the daylight that was quickly waning. Each person looked around, and then one by one, all of their gazes fixed to the north. Fires burned in buildings, and people screamed, and ran toward them, telling them to go and hide.
“THE GERMANS ARE COMING!” they shrieked, and in the distance, they could see it was true.
Everyone in the camp ran around frantically, grabbing what little they needed and had to survive. Yvea grabbed the bag of food her parents had prepared for a time like this one. She grabbed her little brother by the hand and a blanket, practically dragging the two along as she ran.
“Yvea, where are we going?” Lyad asked, trying to catch his breath.
“I don’t know… we are going to hide out somewhere,” she responded frantically.
The two ran and ran as darkness quickly enveloped them. Yvea knew of a place that few other people knew about and was trying to find her way. At one point, Lyad tripped and fell, making him cry even harder than he already was. Yvea picked him up and put him on her back, wrapping him in the blanket and tying it around her chest. She continued to run, for she knew how cruel the Germans were.
She had heard stories of what they did to other Jews in Germany as well as France, Yugoslavia, and Poland. She was petrified with fear not only for herself but for her little brother as well.
They finally reached the hole in the ground that would be their hideout for who knew how long. She did not have a light, so she could not see any of her surroundings; all she had to rely on was her intuition and memory.
Yvea and Lyad climbed into the hole. She found the matches she put in her pocket. Yvea put Lyad down to one side and tucked the blanket around him tightly.
“I’ll be right back. Don’t move,” Yvea said, pointing her tiny, slender finger in his face. She quickly went outside, almost on a run, to find sticks. Once she grabbed as much as her small arms could carry, she went back into the hole and put the armload against one wall before going back out to repeat the process.
Lyad’s beady, dark eyes followed Yvea as she went in and out of the hole several times before deciding they had enough wood for the night. Next, she used a nearby rock to dig a shallow hole in the dirt. She set some of the wood into a teepee and started a fire. She cooked a few small pieces of food, and she and Lyad ate their dinner huddled close together with the sound of bombs and mistles overhead.
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Smoke filled the air. Nazis were everywhere, taking people hostage and buzzing around like wasps chasing someone who got into their hive. Only, they were not protecting their “hive”; they were destroying someone else's home.
A two-story building stood on the outskirts of the Jewish city; upstairs was a family of four. They all huddled in a corner, the father holding a gun ready to shoot at any Germans who decided to come in. The two children were wrapped in a blanket and enclosed in their parents’ arms.
At last, some of the noise subsided, the children’s parents looked at each other and nodded. They shook the two sleeping children.
“Adriano! Adriano! Wake up!” whispered their mother.
“Farah! Wake up, sweetie!” their dad spoke softly.
Adriano awoke and looked with troubled eyes at his parents' ashen, dirt-covered faces. They had tears in their eyes. Many troubled thoughts went through the twelve-year-old boy's mind. His dark brown, almost black eyes went back and forth between those of his mother and father.
Once Farah was awake, their father began.
“Adriano…this is going to be hard for you, and us, but I want you to listen to and do everything I say. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, Abba, I understand.”
“There is a hole in the side of a small hill in the woods east of here. I want you to take your little sister and go there. Don’t stop on the way for anything. Here is a bag full of food. There are matches in it too.”
Adriano’s tears streamed down his cheeks as his mother pulled him close. She too had tears spilling from her eyes. The whole family hugged and cried together.
A few hours later, when night had fallen and the stars shone over the land barely able to make themselves known through the smokey haze, Adriano’s father and mother woke up their two precious children, who had once again fallen into a troubled sleep.
“Adriano…” his father said as his mother gently rocked him back and forth.
He looked up and knew what they were going to say.
“Adriano… take your sister and go now. Keep going until you reach the small cave. Don’t stop, do you understand?” His father asked.
“Yes, Abba,” Adriano whimpered, his voice shaking.
“Take care of Farah. We want you to know that we love you both very much, and we would not be asking you to do this if we didn’t know that it was for the best. Now, come here once more, my yeladim,” their mother said through tears.
“I love you too Ima, and you too Abba…” Adriano whispered.
“Me too, I loves you Abba and Ima…” Farah squeezed out of her tiny throat as she sobbed uncontrollably against her father and mother.
“Now go… Go! Now! And don’t stop for anything!” Their father said.
Adriano grabbed the food bag and wrapped a blanket around his shoulders and one around Farah’s. They ran down the two flights of stairs, out the door, and almost to the end of the street. Adriano looked back as a bomb hit the building they had left their parents in. It exploded into a million small pieces. Smoke, ash, and fire erupted from the building, now a heap on the ground. Farah wanted to scream. She grabbed Adriano and smashed her face into his stomach, sobbing. Adriano hugged her tight, his tears forming raging rivers down his cheeks.
“We… need… to keep… going, Farah.” Adriano grabbed her hand and wiped his tears and Farah’s. In a split second, they were running again, even faster now with no reason to turn around. Adriano knew that he had to keep his sister safe, and they had to make it to the hole. So they kept running. They ran and ran and ran. When they finally got to the woods, they could run no longer, and the night was falling, so they slowed to a quick walk; although exhaustion weighed on them, they had no time to spare.
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It had been almost two days since Yvea and her little brother arrived at their new, hopefully temporary, home. They were sleeping as soundly as they could. The night was strangely quiet, and the faint smell of smoke lingered in the air with an eerie fog that hung low to the ground, making the already hard-to-see surroundings more indistinct. Yvea startled awake to sounds closing in, sitting up straight and staring at the opening of the cave. She listened closely to whimpering, then footsteps; they grew closer and closer until two small silhouettes stood in the opening. They ducked in and sat against the wall.
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Adriano had no idea someone else was with them. Darkness enveloped them and he could not see a thing. Farah clung to him still crying, closing her eyes as tightly as she could manage.
“You must try to sleep, Farah.” He said, trying to soothe his heartbroken little sister even though his heart was just as torn.
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The fog still engrossed them, but not like the night before. Everything smelled of smoke, ash, and dust. Even with all of the bad smells, there was a freshness in the air that made it crisp. It would have been enjoyable except for the doom and gloom hanging over the land. The sun shone through the trees and into the dark hole where the four children slept.
Adriano stirred a little and his eyelids fluttered open. He almost let out a small yelp when he saw Yvea sitting against the opposite wall holding her little brother the way he was holding his little sister.