15 months - creative writing

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Seosamh Fox S2D Mrs McLean

Creative writing

15 months

I sat there and hadn’t moved a muscle for over three hours; my feet and hands were numb because of the cold. The only form of entertainment was trying to count the number of slow heavy paces that the nearest guard made before he turned around and repeated the process again and again. I was actually starting to get quite good at it.

I had begun to wonder if it was all worth it, it was so cold and my fingers were dark blue but then I remembered what the alternative was- a gas chamber!

I could have been mistaken for thinking that I was trying to escape from a concentration camp in Siberia never mind Auschwitz, southern Poland.

Every minute seemed like an hour, every hour seemed like an eternity, although there was the comfort in knowing that the guards were due to end their shifts any time soon, I knew this because I had made a copy of the timetable for their shifts, the week beforehand in preparation for my attempted escape.

Finally I heard the phone ring from inside the rundown cabin beside the main gates. I knew every step of this next sequence, phone rings; guard answers phone; guard comes out and gets into truck; gates open; truck leaves. I knew this because I listened to the same routine every single night for 15 months.

I scurried from behind an old tractor that I had been hiding behind for shelter, the air was thick with the smell of burning bodies coming from the incinerator, I jumped onto the back of the truck and nestled underneath some damp bags that had a musty smell.

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Every noise I made seemed to be amplified by a thousand times. I couldn’t help but think that one of the other nearby guards had heard me but my fears were quashed when I heard the truck door opening and the engine starting.  

The gates creaked open and one of the guards shouted something in German, my heart thumped against my ribs but thankfully I was quickly reassured when it was followed by a laugh and when the truck started to pull away slowly, it hit me that I was nearly free, after 15 months of torture, I could ...

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