Innocents Path

A Story by Brianna

The pale grey sky hovered like a thick smog. The wind was blowing her charcoal colored hair around her face. The young girl with raggedy clothes, and a dirt powdered face was clinging to the leg of he

The pale grey sky hovered like a thick smog. The wind was blowing her charcoal colored hair around her face. The young girl with raggedy clothes, and a dirt powdered face was clinging to the leg of her mother “Where are we going?” “We’re being transferred, they want us to work.” The woman's structure was that of a skeleton, her cheek bones protruding from her face, the only fat on her was from the heavy coats she wore, to keep the blistering cold out.

Pulsing vibrations shook the ground, the train slid into view and stopped with a hiss. The troops rounded the men, women, and children into a boxcar, void of all windows. The woman and child were pushed up against hundreds of others. The men slid the doors closed. Darkness stole the light.

The train pushed on in seemingly endless days, none of us the wiser as to what time of day it was. Each breath was filled with toxicity, sweltering heat encompassed the darkness.

When the train finally stopped, the troops unlatched the door, a sickening aroma escaped the open doors; the men were prepared for the smell, this wasn’t their first encounter.

They rushed the men, women, and children onto the platform, separating them into two groups.

They motioned me to go to the right, I obeyed the instructions. The air was smothered in a thick smoke, smell of chemicals, and fire clung to the space.

The young girl from before stood with tears in her eyes; her mother was no longer by her side, she asked the question we were all afraid to, “ Where are you taking us?” The man answered her with menacing grin, “We're sending you to the showers.”

We marched to a dark brown building, the soldier told us to undress. We obeyed the men without hesitation, the fear was enough.

They handed each of us a bar of soap, we walked down the muddy path to the building, the

young girl was in front of me; she had a smile on her face. She turned around to face me, tears still welled in the corner of her eyes, but she smiled anyways. They closed the doors behind us; we heard the crank of someone turning the water on, a strange scent filled my nose, it wasn't the smell of water.