The Men in Uniform

By Lily R.

Mallory was a Jewish 12-year-old girl. She lived in Germany with her parents, Amada and Quin. Her home was small, dusty, dark, and silent. It made her feel alone. Mallory never had any problems with anyone. Her only problem was her parents never allowing her to play in the park. Her only wish was to be at the park, playing, feeling the rich grass, seeing the blue sky, and feeling the air of freedom.

Amada and Quin never let her go out. She would cry asking why, and they would tell her “You are too young to understand.” They only gave her one rule, to never leave their home.

Before she moved into the enclosed home, Mallory lived in a beautiful house. It was surrounded by the most radiant blossoms in all of Germany. These blossoms were surrounded by tall green trees and so many butterflies.

One day, Mallory had been in school when her parents came to pick her up. They told her she would not return to school ever again. As they walked down the street, Mallory’s innocence slowly and painfully began to crumble.

She saw a Jewish grocery worker get beaten up and shot. He struggled, he pushed, he kept fighting for his life. He screamed “HELP ME, PLEASE.”

Bam! A bullet went through his arm.

Bam! A second shot through his heart.

He cried out in pain until there was nothing left but a soulless pale body in a puddle of red blood. The man that killed the worker was a Nazi soldier led by Adolf Hitler. Mallory looked over to her parents.

“Why did he kill him?” she asked.

“Don’t look. Don’t talk. Keep your head down and keep walking,” they both whispered quickly.

Mallory noticed both of her parents trying to hide their faces from her so she wouldn’t see them crying, but it didn’t work. Even when they got back home, they didn’t stop crying. The more Mallory saw them cry the more questions she had. But all she could think about was when she would be able to go to the park of beauty and happiness.

A few weeks later, Mallory sat on her balcony listening to the morning birds chirping. She saw her parents speaking anxiously in their backyard. “What are they talking about?” she wondered. Amada and Quin had been together for a long time and had never once argued, not until today.

“We need to leave. Let’s go to the states,” said Amada.

 “We can’t. Not right now. We would get caught,” said Quin.

They had been arguing whether to leave Germany or ride out the growing anti-Semitism. After the argument they didn’t speak to each other, not once. At dinner, they spoke to each other through Mallory. This made her feel uncomfortable, as if she were a pawn in a game of chess. The growing silence made Amada cave in and apologize.

Later that night, there was a creak between the wooden floors. Footsteps were coming from the downstairs. Mallory heard whispers. “Find those Jews,” someone said. This had woken Mallory up. She quickly alerted her parents. The footsteps kept getting closer by the second. The Nazi’s whispers got louder.

“Quick, get whatever you need and let’s go,” said Quin.

They didn’t bring much, just a few pieces of unmatched clothes and some money. The family managed to reach the back door without getting caught. They ran as fast as they could through the forest behind their home. There they met up with a German colleague of Amada’s. Her name was Lilith. Lilith was a good friend of Amada’s. She had a secret hideout in her own home that no one else knew about. This would be Malloy’s new home. A small, enclosed space between the walls of the outside world that she would never see again… or so she thought.

It has been seven months since Mallory has been in living between the walls of the outside world. During this time, she draw everything that passed through the tinted window. The more she drew, the more she wanted to leave everything in the space between the walls. She had just turned thirteen the week before. She was now old enough to understand why the worker had been killed over seven months ago.

“That man was an innocent man. He never lied,” her parents told her. “But he was Jewish, so he had to be killed. It’s not fair, but Hitler has made everyone think it’s okay.”

Mallory cried. She cried for days until her skin and eyes became so dry that they both started burning. She understood that the space between the walls was a safe place where she could not be harmed, but even as she remembered every detail of that man’s death, she still wondered what it was like to die.

“Is it peaceful?” she wondered aloud, mummering to herself. “What is on the other side? What would I see? Would I die happy?”

The thoughts of death made her curious about when she would die, but for now, she was happy to be safe. Mallory wanted to stay in this small, dusty, safe room. Yet, wanting something was not enough; her safety was not secure. She didn’t know what would happen next.

One year, three months, and twenty-six days of being in the space between the walls, and Mallory had grown tired. In this time, she had grown five inches taller; her hair had grown many split ends; her clothes didn’t fit anymore; and her fingernails had grown so much she had to chew them off every weekend.

It was dark out, not a single soul was outside. It had been a peaceful day until Mallory heard the car engines pulling up to Lilith’s property. From inside the cars, seven men came out carrying guns; one held a knife.

Mallory ran to wake up her parents; she didn’t know what to do. They could not leave because the house had been surrounded by five of these men and three of them were already inside.

They barged through the door yelling demanding questions at Lilith. “WHERE ARE THEY? WE KNOW YOUR’E HIDING THEM HERE!”

Amada and Quin turned to each other crying. The Nazis walked upstairs. They saw a small hole in the wall. They were able to break this hole and the wall down. Mallory, Amada and Quin screamed in terror as they were dragged outside. The man who carried the knife began with Quin. He wore his uniform as he stabbed him once in his rib cage, twice in his stomach and then in his heart.

With discomfort Quin gasped, “I will always love my girls.”

He soon became another soulless body in a puddle of red blood like Mallory had seen shot on the street more than a year ago.

Amada and Mallory cried out in despair. Amada had never experienced any pain as bad as what she had just felt. As for Mallory, she began to lose herself but still she hoped for something good to happen. Amada was dragged to the side and then shot straight in the head, a quick sudden death. She was not given the opportunity to tell Mallory how much she loved her. Both Amada and Quin lay in a pile of blood. It smelled like death, it smelled like sadness.

Three minutes after Mallory’s parents had been killed, so was Mallory. Her throat was slit multiple times. The blood dripped down onto her clothes then onto the paved ground. She gasped for air. She got chills down her spine and arms. She began to lose her sense of reality and suddenly began to smile.

In her last moments, Mallory saw the park of beauty, the place where she had wanted to be the most. She saw the vibrant green grass, the yellow swing sets, the blue sky, the blooming blossoms, and the butterflies she had once pictured in her mind. She smelled the pollen, the freedom, the peace she had once felt when she had her parents. She felt at home when she saw the park, and she grasped towards it. The more she did, however, the more it slipped away. She died with a single tear leaving her swollen eyes, running down her pale cheek.