Here is a update on the story I am writing.
Forgotten
Chapter One
The war
A girl was coming down the street in her ordinary slow fashion, when all of a sudden her sister came running along. “Helena, come along at once, Mother sent me to look for you, it is dinner time!” she said.
“Okay Elzbieta,” said Helena “I am coming!”
As they came into the house Mother said ,“I thought you were going to post my letter for me, not play in the park.”
“Yes Mother,” Helena said meekly as she helped her sister Juliana set the table. Suddenly her brothers Jan and Maksymilian ( Although I will call him Maxie in this book as that is what his sisters called him) came in and they were very dirty.
“Boys!” said Mother. “Go and get washed at once, you are not suitable to be at the table;” the boys laughed and went upstairs.
Just at that moment their father came in. He hugged his children Juliana and Helena and said, “Children I have something to say, I will say at dinner.” He said cheerfully “Well, your mother Romualda has cooked something lovely for dinner, let us go in to the dining room.” When he got into the dining room he suddenly frowned ,“where are my sons, Maksymilian and Jan?” Just then his sons came down from getting ready and sat at the table; their father gave them a stern look and they stood up hurriedly. Father said, “Good let us give thanks to God for this wonderful food,” he launched into a prayer. After they gave thanks they ate their food and Father said “ I am being sent to France because Hitler has said that all Jews are to be rounded up and killed or sent to concentration camps, a cart is to pick you up tomorrow to take you to England.”
Helena said “But Father why can’t we come with you, to France” “Well” said her father “ It is very dangerous here so we must go but as I am an Imperial officer in the army I cannot come with you, the war is raging in France so I will be working but I will be safe.” So after dinner, they had their family worship, the children went to bed.
The next day they saw their father off.
As they went back into the house Mother called, “Helena, go and do the washing like I told you to, NOW!” she added with tears in her eyes.
“Yes mother,” replied Helena meekly and she made her way to the washing cellar.
As she walked down the stairs to the washing cellar her sister Elzbieta came after her and said “Helena come with me.” Helena said “Would Mother approve? You know Mother told me to do the washing, she hates us to be disobedient”.
“Yes I know” said Elzbieta “Mother sent me to tell you that there are men outside; they have a cart they say that they are come to take us to England,”
Without another word she raced upstairs. Helena raced after her hoping the army would be able to keep Hitler away. As they climbed on to the cart and they hid themselves and looked around frightened at other families hiding under the blankets. But they heard that to get to England they would have to pass through Hitler’s country GERMANY
They had been on the road for a long time and were whispering among themselves. Suddenly they were silent; the driver said “Get down we are now approaching German Poznan”. Afraid, they lay under the blankets barely daring to breath. Suddenly they heard strange accents, “Stop! Get out, we want to search your cart for missing Jews,” barked the voice. The cart lurched as the man got out, Helena fell onto the ground, knocking her head in the process. The German solder laughed and said, “Well we do not have to look in there now, we know that you are smuggling Jews.” He grabbed Helena by the neck and he barked at them “OUT ALL OF YOU.” As he said this he gave the driver a push and the driver fell onto the muddy ground. The soldier said “That will teach you to help Jews.” Juliana screamed as the soldier grabbed her from the cart. He threw Juliana and Helena onto the ground. Mother got out of the cart as her daughters were grabbed by the soldiers and forced into line. The soldiers grabbed Mother and forced her into line too. The other Jews were also forced into line; the only sound except the soldiers yelling was a baby crying. As the soldier (whom Helena thought to be the Chief Captain) yelled and yelled at the driver, (the poor man was cowering under his scolding ) something happened to stop them and Ratty (as Helena had decided to call him) stopped yelling and a huge shadow fell on to the ground. He was huge and tall he was indeed the Commander. He yelled and yelled at his men, “These Jews must have people with them, they will be rescued if we do not hurry!” “Anyway” he said cruelly “take them to the town hall we will deal with them there,” and with that he galloped away. The men looked at each other, shrugged and walked away pulling the Jews with them.
Not long after this happened, they were standing in the town hall with their hands behind their backs. The men were laughing at them, Helena felt like crying but she did not cry, she knew that the Lord was with her, to protect her from evil, no matter what happened , she knew that the Lord God would be with her. She prayed fiercely to Jesus to help her, and protect her from harm. She had felt afraid but now the spirit of the Lord was with her, to help her, and strengthen her, and she was no longer afraid, she looked around her, and listened to what would be their fate. She nearly fainted when she heard she would be separated from her family, and thrown into a cruel concentration camp, with the other girls her age! Her brothers were to be taken to a slave camp, her mother to Ravensbruch concentration camp. She would be with her sisters, she knew, but she could not read the Bible, none of them could. Only Mother and Father knew how, and they were not here, so they would have a pretty unbiblical life. Although they did not like the thought of it, they knew that the Lord would be with them.
Chapter two
The concentration camp
At first glance the area around the concentration camp looked pretty, from where the children were but they knew that it was a cruel place and as they walked into it they knew that it was so; children were working, little girls like themselves were being whipped because they were too slow. As they walked in they were met by a German woman who grabbed them and turned them around and around.
She said, “Too weak, but we will soon strengthen them up, I do not want them strong, I want them slightly stronger than they are, but thinner than they are, they are skinny! But they will not do enough work if they are as they are now.”
The men said “They are to be put in the torture house because they tried to run away
from us, and also they are Jews. Now we must go and take the other Jews to the other camps.”
“As you wish, sirs. JACK! ELLEN! Come here slaves,” said the woman. Two children ran up and said in unison “Yes miss?”
“Take these children and put them in the torture house.
“Yes miss,” they said and walked off taking Helena and her sisters with them.
Meanwhile Romualda their mother had been thrown in the torture house. When she had got out, she had been paraded in front of all the woman, and whipped, and humiliated, and then thrown into the sleep house where all the women slept. She slept for a while, and then woke up. While she was alone she took out her miniature of her family and wept. She did not notice a woman sneak up until the woman said “What is the matter?” Startled Romualda turned around. Seeing the woman had a kindly expression she said “I miss my husband and children.”
“Excuse me but what is your name” she added
“My name is Corrie ten Boom” she said and the sound of that cheerful voice cheered her a little. She said to Romualda “The Germans do not like Jews they said that they would kill them soon.”
Meanwhile her brothers were suffering more, they were not only put in the torture house, but they were not sent to the sleep house, they were sent to work. Because they were tired from the torture house they did not do their work properly so they had to be whipped.
Meanwhile the children were told to put together all the clothes of other prisoners.
this went on for a few months. On and on and on they worked, getting very, very,
tired. They were getting very bored of this when Elzbieta the eldest had an idea. She said to her sisters “Let’s get into the bags and when they come and take the bags away they will take us away with them.” The other girls were excited at the thought of escaping and they at once gathered together all their few possessions and climbed into the bags. They waited and waited and waited when suddenly they heard German voices. They recognised the German woman’s voice saying “lift up that bag up there, girl!” She sighed “Where are those girls when you need them.” “Mind!” she cried and she softened “Ah, that’s right.” Helena felt a lurch as the man lifted the bag she was in and felt terrified when she heard him say “This bag is pretty heavy”
The woman said “ O stop groaning and lift these bags onto the cart.”
Soon all the girls were safely on the cart, and as they rumbled along, Elzbieta made a hole in the bag, and tore it open. She climbed quickly out of the bag and helped her sisters out of their bags and they all jumped out of the back of the cart and ran towards the woods and freedom.
Juliana was running as fast as she could but she was slowing down. The man had seen them and was running after them as fast as he could. She could see Helena behind her. Meanwhile Elzbieta had reached the woods and was calling Juliana. Juliana had reached the woods but the man had caught up with Helena. Helena was screaming as the man said “You little vermin I will report you” and he dragged her back to the car. Elzbieta having watched this could hide no longer she ran at the man Helena saw her coming and hoping kicked the man in the stomach and the man cursed and let her go. She ran to Elzbieta and Elzbieta picked her sister up and got her into the woods.
Chapter Three
The Friendly Town
They had built a fire in the shelter of a tree, Elzbieta said that it was best to light it under that particular tree because the tree shielded them from the German towns that were dotted all across the landscape and the smoke from their fire was shielded from the towns.
The next morning they awoke early and after breakfast (which was fish) debated about what to do. Unable to agree they decided to look at their map “I think we should cross Germany and go to England” said Elzbieta.
“No No!” said Juliana at once “ that would be cowardly. I think we should go to Kdo Neuengamme where the boys are and then go to England as their camp is nearer because if we move from this spot we will not be able to fish for food. Remember we escaped very quickly and had no time to fetch food to take with us”(for Juliana was a wise, just and kind child ) .
Helena (who had been sitting by the tree) suddenly spoke up “I think we should go toward a town and ask for help, then go to the boys’ camp and save them, then go and save Mother, then go to England”.
“Don’t be silly Helena,” said Elzbieta “Of course we cannot ask for help at a village and of course we cannot rescue Mother I do not disagree about trying to rescue the boys but no definitely none of the others.”
Helena said “I am going to do what I said even if you do not help me.”
“Don’t be silly Helena if you are going to be like that of course we will come with you but I still think it is a bad idea.”
13 hours later they were still no nearer to one of the villages. As Juliana was a sickly child and could not walk very far they stopped along the way to give her some rest. At six o’clock, they decided to stop for the night.
The next morning it rained all day and Elzbieta was sick with worry as they were out in the open now and the next town was an hour and a half away. They could not carry on walking for if they did Juliana would catch a cold and maybe die (as she was a very fragile child) so imagine the joy that they felt when the sun came out. Juliana was now soaked to the skin. As she was the smallest (although Helena was the youngest) the clothes they had got from the wagon were much to big for her. So she of course caught a cold and was very sick .
Elzbieta was in despair but finally she agreed that the best plan was sending athletic young Helena to the town for help. So the next day Helena set out and she started to run. O! how she ran! as fast as she possibly could which was about 10 miles per hour. It took two hours to get there because the town was 20 miles away.
Romualda meanwhile was suffering terribly as she was afraid for her children. Her new friend Corrie tried to cheer her up but it did not work “You said that Germans hate Jews I have heard from my sons but not my daughters they must have been killed by the Germans,” said Romualda to Corrie
The two girls however had found out something. All the families were going to be put together. So they walked for bit and stopped again and stayed there for Juliana was having trouble with her breathing.
Helena meanwhile had reached the town of Nichors and sneaked in, she slipped onto a doorstep and hid there when a cart came by. When suddenly she heard a movement behind her she tried to slip off the doorstep but she wasn’t fast enough.
Chapter Four
The Friendly Jew
“Who are you?” said the girl who was called Alexandria,
“I-I-I am H-H-Helena” stammered Helena in a fright.
“Are you Polish?” said Alexandria. Suddenly Helena became alert
“Why should I tell you where I am from “said Helena
“I am a German Jew” said Alexandria
“Yes I am a Polish Jew” said Helena “ My sisters and I have escaped from the German concentration camp in Poznan and my sister Juliana has caught a cold and she is very sick and-and-and……..” Helena’s eyes filled up with tears and she could not say any more. “Come in!” Alexandria hissed and looking quickly around she went back into the house.
Helena followed her quickly, Alexandria set the kettle boiling and made some tea and sliced some bread and set it out and said prayers and began to eat. She said
“ Look I need to know everything about you. Why are you here? Where are your family?”
“Before I answer I must ask. Are you a Messianic Jew?” said Helena.
“My family are, but I am not. I was kidnapped by the Nazis along with my brother Alexander and my sister Anna. I was a Christian until that happened then I lost my faith, I was too afraid of the Nazis.” said Alexandria
“Where are your brother and sister now?” said Helena
“I do not know” said Alexandria with tears in her eyes.
Juliana was not any better in fact she was worse; Elzbieta kept pacing back and forth in despair saying “Where is Helena?”
Juliana looked at her and reached feebly for her hand “Sister please don’t blame Helena, if I do die I will go to be with Our Father in heaven. I am quite content with going there, in fact, I am longing to go there.” Elzbieta sat down beside her sister and wept for her sister crying and crying.
The next day seven year old Juliana died, Elzbieta mad with grief buried her and the last thing she saw on her sister’s sweet face was a smile.
Helena when she got to the wood could not find Juliana, instead she saw Elzbieta, who instead of rising to meet her looked at her coldly “What happened? Where is Juliana?” said Helena to Elzbieta
“Guess” said Elzbieta coldly.
Elzbieta stood up and just before she walked off into the forest she said “ She is dead and it is all your fault, Helena” and she walked off. Helena sighed and said to herself “Now I am all alone,” then she corrected herself “ I suppose I am not alone God is with me” she said and suddenly she sat down and cried “ But it is so hard, I have nothing anymore not even my sisters,” and she prayed to God “Please O my Lord help me to be strong even in my trials and help Elzbieta to get to England safely, Amen” And then she said to herself and said to herself “I don’t deserve to get to England. It was all my fault that my sister died if I had brought help sooner my sister might have been saved.”
She started to cry and she cried and she cried.
The next day Helena walked off into the forest her face was firm and serious
I am sure it will not spoil the story if I tell you that after this incident, poor Helena was never happy again.
Their mother and brothers meanwhile were half lying and half sitting on their cold, hard and bare beds when they heard a whisper coming from the walls “ Hey! over here, quickly.”
They rushed over to the walls. “Who is there?” cried Jan “It is me Elzbieta” the whisper said “ Come with me, hurry” she added as she started to wriggle through a small hole in the wall. Luckily Romualda and the boys Maxie and Jan had got very, very skinny through these months and could fit through this hole. They then crawled down a long, windy tunnel and I must tell you it took about three hours till the end of the tunnel and there were a lot of guards in the way so all together it took about seven hours and then they had to get out of the camp. So back to Helena.
Poor Helena felt miserable, scared and sad, her misery was only increased by loneliness and guilt. She knew that if Elzbieta rescued them first, they would meet her coldly and with the same ill grace as Elzbieta.
So she decided to go to England the long way down into Austria, through Switzerland, through Slovenia, over the Alps, then take a boat from Italy through the Mediterranean sea onto Spain, take a boat to Ireland then take another boat to Plymouth in England.
So she started off determined to get there, but just then she remembered that she had no food to take with her. So she went back to Nichors to ask her friend Alexandria for help. When Alexandria heard her story, she was horrified“ Helena, I thought you would go with your sister but now you tell me that she abandoned you, but you know that the journey that you wish to take is nearly impossible for a person who is alone.” Here Alexandria stopped, took a deep breath, and said “ I shall come with you.” “No, you can’t, if it is too dangerous for me it will be too dangerous for you, anyway I will not be alone. God will be with me.” said Helena. “Helena you are but seven years old, no one of your age could possibly venture over the Alps alone, you might fall into a ice hole or anything. I am coming with you if you like it or not. Now we better write a list of supplies,” said Alexandria. They did and here it is
“ 2 warm coats of sheepskin.
Money
1 stove for cooking things on.
3 tins of cocoa.
7 loafs of bread.
9 packets of butter.
2 solid pairs of boots.
2 pairs of warm gloves.
2 warm hats.
2 scarves
4 warm pairs of socks.
2 Bibles.”
When they got all of these they started. They walked out of Germany easily as the town was right on the border of Germany. What was very funny was that when they had been in the wood, they had actually been in Austria. So as soon as they got out of Germany, they caught a ride on a mule cart that was delivering food to a small village at the foot of the Alps.
When they got out of the cart they paid the driver and started walking toward the foot of the Alps. They pulled on their coats, took of their normal shoes and put one pair of the warm socks on. Then they pulled on their sturdy shoes, then their gloves and scarves and hats. Then heaving the loads onto their backs, they set off.
Chapter Five
The Mountain Lion
Part of the time they enjoyed it and day after day they crossed the peaks and climbed up onto another one. Helena was bored and she carried on being bored until the day they met the mountain lion. They were setting up camp in a cave when they looked around there were bodies of people who had been carried off by the mountain lion, but the most horrible thing was yet to come, one day they came upon a corpse Helena looked at it and then the most horrible thing happened. The corpse moved. It spoke, it was still alive. It was a German soldier. His arms and legs were in shreds and one of his eyes had been gouged out. Helena leaned closer, then she gave a gasp as she recognised him. It was the Commander who had put them into the concentration camp. But there was something else lying on the ground next to him. As Helena looked closer she saw it was a young mountain lion which was asleep. Alexandria worked this out she whispered “Helena, I think that man is that mountain lions first kill, probably it had only just grown old enough to leave its families nest. It did not kill the others. They were killed with the first blow that man was not, he was attacked many times and he is not dead yet. When a mountain lions attack is its first kill it will never kill another until maybe five or six hours because it is full, that man would be dead by then but it will attack if it feels threatened so we had better slip away” “Okay” said Helena quietly edging away from the mountain lion. “OW” she cried as she fell to the ground. She had tripped over a bone. The mountain lion woke up. It growled at Helena. It crouched then launched itself at her. Helena leaped out the way with a scream “ALEXANDRIA” “HELENA” cried Alexandria running toward her. But the lion was on Helena now tearing at her arm. Helena was screaming with pain. Alexandria looked around her in despair. She saw a large bone about 10 inches long. She grabbed it and threw it at the lion, then she turned and ran toward the mouth of the cave, the lion raced after her, roaring in rage. Helena picked herself up and hid near the mouth of the cave. Alexandria had managed to hide and the mountain lion had come back to its cave it lay down and went to sleep. Helena faint with pain crawled out of the cave as soon as she was a safe distance away from the cave she complassed . Alexandria who was quite near jumped out and picked her up then she ran toward the foot of the Alps. While all this was going on they had reached the end of the Alps. Thankfuly there was a village at the foot of the mountain and Alexandria ran toward this village as fast as she could. She reached it and then fell into the snow gasping in relief.
Chapter six
Helena is in danger
Helena was very, very ill. The doctor said she would probably not live till her next birthday. Alexandria knew that unless she saw someone familiar she would die. So she set off to find Helena’s family. She went over to Germany to try and find them. She found the concentration camp after nearly two months of searching. But when she got there they were long gone. Alexandria decided that she must go to the river they would have to stop there. Of she went hurriedly trying to find them. But Helena’s life was drifting away.
Please comment and tell me what you think.
