A/N: This story is completely my own. Okay, that'ssomewhat of a lie. It's is my grandmothers story first and foremost since it is based on her life, but many things have been changed, so it's technically not a strict acount of what she lived through. In that way it is my own story.
Katrina Leist skipped out of the one-room school and into the fresh air with the other children. As soon as the crowd thinned out, she broke into a run. Behind her, she could hear the other children laughing and yelling after her, "Hey! Farm girl, what's the rush, late for an appointment with the pigs?" They thought they were better than her because they lived in the town. She felt a small blush rise through her cheeks. School had let out late that afternoon and that meant that she was late getting home to help her mother. It was the 1930s and Kat lived in Croatia in a town near Slunj. The town consisted of a few dirt roads and along them different stores. Everyone in the town had a two story square house; the bottom floor was devoted to a store or trade, while the second was where the family lived. To Kat it looked as if the town had started to modernize itself, but then halfway through decided that it was too much work, and gave up. She herself didn't live in the town, but on a farm two and one half miles away. As she turned the last corner out of town she was already breathing heavily, and only halfway home.
As soon as she walked in the door, her mother bustled out of the kitchen holding Kat's new baby sister Laidli, while little Mary hung to her skirts.
"Kat! Where have you been? I need you to take the water out to your father and your brother, and then come and help me prepare supper. Now hurry up! You can't keep your father waiting any longer." With that she shoved a water bucket into Kats' hand and pushed her out the back door. "Don't dawdle either! Times are changing and you never know what might happen!"
Kat walked briskly down the path toward the well. Her mother was always warning her of impeding doom, but lately there was something in her mother's tone of voice that frightened her. There were rumors going around about the growing threat of Germany, and its ruler, Hitler. From what she heard he was a bad person, but what did that have to do with her and the rest of the town? She could sense that people were uneasy about it whenever she asked, but they either ignored her or quickly changed the subject. Kat had thought this was just some vague rumor that was going around the town, but when her mother started to show signs of fear, she started to worry.
After she had finished getting the water she headed out to the field. As soon as she got there, however, there was no one in sight. Finding that odd, she went over to the barn to check if anyone was inside. When she arrived she found the door slightly ajar and could hear voices inside. She was about to go in and interrupt when her neighbor Finch's voice floated out to her; what he said made her stop dead. "… Forces are growing as well as the number of disappearances! If we stay much longer they will invade Croatia and take our people!"
"Now Finch, I'm sure you're over reacting, they can't possibly be that close! Besides, they wouldn't invade Croatia! We're not in their territory," her father's voice sounded weak, as if he knew Finch was right.
"Do you think they really care? His goal is to conquer the world and we're part of it. Besides they took Olgulin yesterday, and last I heard they're coming this way. Take my advice Leist, leave tonight, before they get here."
There was silence in the barn and Kat stood outside in shock. Olgulin was only a few miles away; it took perhaps all of a day and one half to get there. If the Nazi forces were that close, then they would be destroying the town within the next twenty-four hours. Fear coursed through her body as she thought of what would happen. Finch was right, they'd have to leave, but where could they go? A new shiver traveled down her spine as she thought of leaving. Not many people she knew had traveled farther than a few towns away. She herself hadn't even been beyond Olgulin before, and now she had just found out that it was taken over. Suddenly the barn door whisked open in front of her and Finch came out nearly running into her.
"Terribly sorry, I hope you're all right," he muttered, and then brushed past her and off toward his house. Her father and brother came out after Finch. They took one look at her knew she had overheard their conversation.
"Well…" began her father.
"Oh Papa! Are we really going to have to leave? Where will we go? How will we live?" Kat burst out, her voice breaking.
"It will be okay Kat, you'll see. We'll figure something out." He pulled her into a hug and held her for a moment before letting her go and starting back toward the house. She followed next to her brother until they reached the back door and then ran off to the cellar to be alone.
When she went back inside, her mother was shuffling about the house gathering food and other supplies that would be necessary. "Mama?" Kat said. When her mother turned around, Kat could see tears in her eyes. "Go on upstairs and pack your bags. Only take what you can carry, nothing more. I'll be up in a minute to help you." With that she turned around again, dismissing Kat. Since there was nothing left to do, she turned around and slowly walked up the stairs to do what her mother had told her.
That night, however, the Nazi's made a surprise attack on the village. Kat was woken up in the middle of the night by her mother, and in a hushed voice she whispered, "Grab your bag and go downstairs immediately."
Kat sat up, confused for a moment, then she heard the screaming in the distance and fear gripped her heart. She grabbed her bag and ran down the stairs to the kitchen where her father and brother were standing, impatient to leave. Her mother came back downstairs holding Laidli and dragging Mary along behind her. As they left the house, the screams and shouting grew louder. Turning her head toward the town, Kat could see all the buildings up in flames. They had to go on foot because the horse and buggy would be too slow to out-distance the Nazi army, who was coming nearer every second. They made a hurried search of their luggage to see what they could keep, and left everything else behind. For Kat it was weird seeing their possessions abandoned in the front yard. It didn't feel right, she felt like this had to be a dream. She wanted to wake up so badly, but she knew this was no dream. She was really leaving everything she had ever known or loved behind. The family spent the whole night walking to put as much distance between them and the Nazi's as possible. The next morning they reached Sibanik, and using most of the money they had brought with them her father bought train tickets to southeastern Croatia, where they hoped to board a ship to America.
The train came into the station at half past noon. There were about thirty people in their train car, so they had to stand packed against each other so tight that they didn't even have room to sit down. Every now and then the train would stop to cram more people into the car. Pretty soon the train car stank of sweat and fear and was so crammed full of people that there was absolutely no room to move. Just when she thought that conditions couldn't get any worse, the train stopped and she could hear the doors of the train cars next to her being thrown open. Then she heard the bolts of her car being undone, and she blinked as brilliant sunlight filled the car.
"What are we doing?" someone yelled. "There's no stop here!"
"Yes," said the commander, "but British planes have been spotted in this area. We need all the cars to be evacuated. We need you to lie down in the fields and pretend to be dead."
There were a lot of complaints to this, but people started to climb out of the car anyway. They got off the train and in the midst of the confusion went to find a spot in the field. As soon as Kats' family had sat down, roaring jet engines could be heard off in the distance. Around her a wave of panic swept through the crowd. Next to her Laidli started to whimper, so she reached over and pulled Ladli close to her, wrapping her cloak around the both of them. Kat held her breath as the jet engines passed over the train, listening to the sound of machine guns firing, and puncturing the metal.
When they were finally allowed back into the train, Kats' nerves were shaken so badly that she could hardly stand. There were holes in the roof of the train, and were she not so distraught she would have said that it looked like a midnight sky. Vaguely she heard her father whispering something urgently to her mother, but paid no attention to him. The rest of the trip was uneventful, but she kept playing and re-playing the incident in her mind. The planes' guns had been so loud that she could feel the vibration through her whole body, and when they had finally been allowed back up, there were people laying there, with blood spattered all over them. She knew that she could never forget the faces of those who had died, especially the man whose face had been blown away.
She must have fallen asleep somehow, because the next thing she knew was that the train had stopped and people were shuffling around her. A group of men next to her starting making a fuss saying, "They're gone! Where the devil did they go! I just had them!" before pushing their way to the front of the car. The sound of bolts being pulled back made her gasp in terror, but as soon as the door opened she realized that they were at a train station. The commanders' voice reached them again saying that there was a problem with the train's engine and this was as far as they could go. As she jumped down from the train car her right leg gave out underneath her and she landed hard on the platform. A strong hand pulled her up by the elbow to get her back on her feet.
"Keep moving," said the commander.
"Thank you," she replied before moving off to stand with the rest of her family.
Her father was the last one to come off the train, and as he did so a policemen walked up to him. Kat watched in horror as they put him in chains and marched him away. The group of men that had stood next to her, walked up to him and pushed him, all the while yelling in his face. The Policemen got the men away from her father and led him away.
"Mama! What are they doing to papa? Where are they taking him?"
Her mother tore her eyes from the sight of her husband being marched away and said, "Hush child. He stole boarding passes to America for us. He got caught for helping his family achieve a better life, and now he is going to jail. He told me there was a good chance that he would get caught." She looked off in the distance for a moment, her eyes tearing, before continuing, "Let's not speak of it any more," she sighed and continued, "We might as well make use of these boarding passes."
Happiness surged through her at the idea of going to America, but she sobered quickly when she remembered that her father wasn't coming with them.
"Will he eventually be allowed to come to America with us?" Kat asked.
"I don't know Kat, I really don't know." With that her mother started them off to the harbor to find their ship. 'Maybe things will be better in America,' Kat thought, 'at least we can be free to live our lives the way we want to.' Sighing Kat gave one last glance at her father in the police station waiting room. They caught each others' eyes for a moment but he looked away, ashamed that his daughter had seen him. The detective standing next to him looked suspiciously out the window, but all he could see was the bustling crowd and a little girl running off to catch up with her mother.