The first time Shoshanna saw the Colonel was through the cracks in the farmhouse floorboards. She didn't get a good look at his face but she remembered his heavy black boots, the smell of tobacco, and they lyrical tone of his voice. He sat down, asked for a glass of milk. After that he had started speaking in a language she could not understand, English maybe. She heard him say her name. She placed a hand over her mouth to silence her quick intake of breath. He brother gave her hand a squeeze, not daring to speak.
The conversation went on for what fell like hours until at last the Colonel switched back to French. It was only when several more pairs of feet began pacing the floor that Shoshanna became alarmed. She glanced over at her mother eyebrows raised in question. The older women shook her head slightly a pleading look in her eyes.
With out warning gunshots rang out through the small space, tearing the floor into splinters. The smell of sawdust, gunpowder and blood assaulted Shoshanna's nostrils and she felt her brother's hand go limp in hers. Terrified she glanced around at the mangled bodies of her family, not having to check to know they were dead. Luckily for her it was then that the adrenaline started to kick in. In a daze she crawled along the floor, pushed open the small grate and scrambled outside. She could here his footsteps behind her and for one moment she dared to look back. The Colonel stood in the doorway, an amused expression on his face and his gun pointed towards her.
Sobbing she bolted across the field, legs burning from the strain. She squeezed her eyes shut waiting for the sound of gunfire, waiting for the pain as the bullet tore through her. It never came. He never pulled the trigger. As she sprinted towards the horizon she heard him yell after her. She would never forget those words "Au revoir Shoshanna."
She didn't stop running for a long time, her legs moving of their own accord as her mind replayed the incident over and over. She had easily been in range. He could have made the shot. He could have sent his men after her, they had a car after all. Still crying she attempted to wipe her family's blood off her face.
Why had he let her go?