When the soldiers gather up enough people, they order us all out of the horrid room. I stare back longingly into the emptied room, now thinking that that place of despair and sorrow is actually better than wherever the soldiers drag us. We shuffle out, accepting the fact that we're about to be killed. Many of the ghostly pale faces in our lonesome group no longer hold any emotion, while others are filled with grief and sorrow. I look at the haunted faces of people peering out of doors and windows. They look sorry for us, but too terrified to do anything about our impending deaths.
My eye is drawn towards a very familiar shack. Mother is standing in the doorway, her eyes searching through the crowd, her tear-streaked face creased with ainxiety.
“Mother!” I shriek. She looks at me and a fleeting expression of joy passes over her face, soon replaced by shock, then horror.
“No!” Mother wails, “No, please!”
Izabella turns to see Mother. She gasps, and her eyes open wide to memorize the last image of her mother. “I love you forever,” she cries out.
“I love you my darlings!” Mother calls out, her voice cracking, “Never forget it!”
“I love you! I'm so sorry Mother. I shouldn't have--” A soldier pulls me away from Mother's shack, dragging Izabella and me roughly back to the group. I stumble into Izabella, then grip her hand, still murmuring “Sorry, sorry Mother.”
They take us out the gates of the ghetto, and guide us towards the forest. A giant hole has been dug into the ground. I stare in horror. Surely they don't mean to fill all of it with our corpses.
“I love you, Sara,” Izabella sniffles.
At the mercy of the soldiers, who look more menacing and purely evil than I've ever seen them before, we stand by the edge of the pit, awaiting death.
“I love you too, Izabella,” I whisper as I squeeze her hand, letting her know that I'll always love her, and always be there for her.
Then a bullet rips through my chest.
With my last strength, I pull Izabella to me as we both fall into the pit, encircled in each other's arms.
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