Chapter 5

Hey guys, I'm back with another chapter! Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed this story so far! I really love reading your comments! You guys are so sweet :) PLEASE REVIEW and let me know what you think of this chapter. God Bless.

-Vegter999

Lilla's POV:

The next morning the routine was the same. Volkenrath and the other female guards proceeded to beat the prisoners out of bed early in the morning when the sun had not yet risen, though thankfully I had quickly learned my lesson and sprang out of bed before she could reach me.

It was then I noticed one of my shoe's was missing. I quickly glanced under my bunk to see if it had fallen off during the night, but it wasn't there.

"Prisoner 169000! What are you doing?!" Volkenrath snapped at me, addressing me by the number that had been tattooed in black ink on my arm when I had arrived at the camp.

I glanced up in terror as I saw her glaring at me.

Her eyes then drifted down to my shoeless foot.

She strode over and before I could say anything she struck me two times with the cane-like stick she seemed to be so fond of.

"You will be deprived of your breakfast for missing your shoe! Now move!"

I scrambled out the door with all the dignity I could muster. The prisoners, excluding me of course, were once again given their meager morning portions and then we were marched off to work.

When the break for lunch was called I sat exhaustedly onto the ground with my daily dose of foul smelling soup.

I heard soft footsteps and glanced up to see Edith standing over me, an unspoken question in her eyes.

I gestured to the spot beside me and she sank down next to me, cradling her bowl of soup and being careful not to spill a single drop.

We sat in silence for several minutes, simply slurping at the liquid in our bowls and staring out at nothing in particular.

Finally Edith spoke up quietly.

"Where are you from?" she inquired.

I was surprised at the sudden question, but I figured there was no harm in telling her.

"Hungary. And you?"

"Holland."

"Oh" I wish I could have come up with something more to say than just oh but, my mind refused to supply me with any other words at the moment.

"What happened to your shoe?" Edith asked, gesturing towards my foot.

"Oh...I lost it."

Before Edith could reply we were herded back to work and again were not allowed to stop until the evening when we were marched back for our small and hardly even adequate dinner.

Once I had gobbled down the portions, Volkenrath and the other female SS guards placed us in our lines yet again for roll call.

Just as she was about to proceed to count us, an all too familiar voice rang out across the yard.

"Oberaufseherin!" called the male SS officer whom I had rescued the other day. When he reached her they proceeded to talk quietly. He then pulled a shoe, my shoe, out to show her and my blood instantly ran cold and my body began to freeze with my heart racing.

Volkenrath turned and glared in my direction and even from a distance I could feel her cold eyes boring into me like a pair of knives.

"You two!" she called to two other female guards. "Bring her here!" she pointed at me.

Oh no.

My fear quickly turned to panic as they marched towards me.

What do I do? What do I do?!

The two guards seized me and hauled me towards Volkenrath and the male SS officer.

I struggled and fought but their grips were like iron and it was no use. They then tossed me down in the dirt...right at the feet of the male SS officer.

I lifted my head slightly, gazing up at him in fear.

His blue eyes glared down at me, as if I was some annoying yappy dog.

Blond hair and blue-eyed. Just the way that monster Hitler liked them.

"Get up!" he snapped.

I scrambled to my feet, automatically dusting off my dress though I wasn't sure why.

He held the shoe out in front of him.

"Is this yours?"

A part of me wanted to yell at him to simply go away and leave me alone as I'd been through enough already, but I knew that would do no good for me or the other prisoners.

"Yes sir it is mine" I said, avoiding his eyes and struggling to hold back terrified tears.

"Put it on" he ordered gruffly, tossing it to the ground at my feet.

"Why sir? I just told you it was mi..."

"Do it! NOW!" he yelled.

I jumped in fear and reached down for the shoe, plucking it off the ground and grunting slightly as I worked my foot into it. When I had slipped in on completely, I placed my foot back down, not even daring to glance at the officer.

All of a sudden I felt my chin being gripped and tugged up and I was forced to look into his eyes.

"Well well, a perfect fit" his smooth voice said, reminding me of a snake and almost making me shiver.

He released my chin and turned to two female officers behind him and gestured to me.

"Take her" he commanded.

"No please no wait no..." I pleaded as they dragged me away, with him striding ahead of us with his arms behind his back.

"Where are you taking me?!" I cried, but he did not answer, just continued strutting in that exceedingly arrogant manner of his. I tried to keep track of where we might possibly be headed but I soon gave up as I had never been anywhere in the complex except the entrance and the women's camp.

We soon came to what looked to be a family residence building and I was dragged inside.

"Put her in there" he gestured dismissively to a door on his left. The officers quietly obeyed and tossed me into the room.

"No no wait!" I scrambled towards the door, but before I could stop them the door was forcefully shut and I heard the key turn in the lock.

I desperately jiggled the handle and pulled.

No luck.

I pounded on the door with my palm.

"Please let me out! Please can anyone hear me?! Let me out!"

After several moments of protest I gave up and turned and sank my back against the wood.

"No, this isn't happening to me. This. Is. Not. Happening."

It was then that I began to take in my surroundings for the first time. The room was moderately sized with a large oak desk with a type-writer sitting atop it. Across from where I was standing at the door there was a large shelf stacked to the brim with books, most of them appearing to be novels.

After fifteen minutes, the Nazi officer had still not materialized, and I began to grow bored even despite the high stress situation.

A thought suddenly came to me. Maybe I could search and be able to find something that could help pinpoint exactly what had happened to Mama, Papa, and Veronika. I started with the desk, though quickly found out I would have little luck as most of the drawers were locked. There was one that opened, though it needed a good tug to pry it out. There was only one item in it and I gasped when I saw it. It was a picture of Mama, Papa, Veronika and I. The very same photograph I remembered Veronika putting into her bag when we'd been arrested by the SS and Hungarian police.

I slowly lifted the photograph out of the drawer, feeling tears run down my cheeks as I ran the fingers of my other hand over the figures in the photo.

What was it doing here of all places? Had the Nazi done something to Veronika or had he found it somewhere and if he had why had he not simply disposed of it?

I hugged the photo to my chest. I briefly considered pocketing it but, I knew the Nazi would soon discover that it was missing and it wouldn't take a genius for him to figure out who had taken it.

I placed a kiss on the photo, whispering I love you in Hungarian before reluctantly returning it to the drawer and shutting it. After about another 20 mins had gone by I began to realize the Nazi was purposefully keeping me waiting which just proceeded to add fuel to the already blazing fire of anger I had towards him in my soul.

To distract myself from my boredom and fury I began poking through the novels on the shelf. Most of them were in German, which didn't surprise me and also didn't really represent any problem because my German literacy skills were fairly decent.

Several of them were adventure novels but one of them caught my eye. It had the words Aschenputtel* printed across the spine and I couldn't help but grin as it had been one of my favorite fairytales as a girl that Papa would read to Veronika and I at night. I had always dreamed of being a princess like her, going to a ball and meeting a handsome prince and living happily ever after, raising a family. I was also genuinely surprised however, I didn't think a Nazi would ever care about such stories.

I pulled the book from the shelf and opened it, spotting an inscription scrawled across the first page in black ink.

Rupert,

I know you're not into fairytales, but I wanted to give you this because maybe you can read it if you have a daughter of your own one day. May it remind you that you too can find your own happy ending.

With love,

Otto

Rupert. So that was his name. But who was Otto? I became so engrossed in my curiosity about the matter that I did not even hear the key turn in the lock or the door open.

"What do you think you're doing?!" a voice snapped.

I dropped the book and spun around so fast I almost made myself dizzy.

Standing there with his right hand still upon the doorknob and a deep set scowl on his face was the officer, Rupert.

I gulped.

"I'm sorry sir. I didn't mean any harm."

He roughly snatched the book out of my grasp, but then placed it with surprising gentleness back in it's spot on the shelf.

Once was done he turned back to me and his scowl resumed.

"You will clean this office and do the laundry every single day. You will also do any and all other tasks I ask of you. Do I make myself clear?!" he barked.

I forced myself to look him in the eye even though my insides were trembling in terror of him.

"Perfectly, though I will not do anything against my dignity, my morals, or my faith" I spat defiantly.

He stepped closer to me and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

"I will remind you of who I am Jew and what I can do to you."

I said nothing, but simply stared him down.

"You will begin tomorrow" he said icily.

He called for the guards and I was then escorted back.

*This is the German word for Cinderella

Hey guys, I hope I did this chapter alright. My mind keeps fussing at me over whether or not I did a good job portraying Rupert accurately since he's a much harder character to write. PLEASE REVIEW and let me know what you think and whether or not I should continue. God Bless.