635798

Aalyshah wasn’t the same the next day. She was unable to talk to anyone, even me. At breakfast, she didn’t eat. Instead, she stared straight ahead, lost in her thoughts. She didn’t blink; she didn’t smile. No movement was made. After breakfast, she ran up to the room Abbey shared with her and we all heard the door slam shut. Abbey went up to check on her. Minutes later, we were informed that the door was locked and Aalyshah wouldn’t reply to any of Abbey’s pleas. Mutter volunteered to talk to her but I stopped her.

“Maybe she needs to be alone for a while.”

“What happened last night? Aalyshah was fine yesterday and now she’s… she’s… blah,” Mutter said, concerned.

Abbey glanced at me. I shook my head slightly, as a warning, so only she could notice it. She sighed and sat down again.

“I’m concerned,” Mutter said.

“Aw, Helga. Don’t worry about it. Aalyshah just may be having her typical female moments,” Vater suggested, leaving the dining room.

“And if she’s not?” Mutter called back.

There was no reply.



I was out doing my morning duties when a man came over to me. I had to do a double-take when I saw him. I was in Buna, the work camp, at the moment. The sun was blazing and Jews were dropping lifelessly into the holes they were digging. What was Arzt Mengele doing here?

“Good morning, Arzt,” I said.

Arzt Mengele smiled. “Hello Wolfgang. Fine day, isn’t it?”

My head cocked to the side. “Why do you say that?” Everyone who was outside was swimming in their sweat. Nothing about that was fine.

“I saw a blackbird in the women’s ward,” Arzt Mengele said. “Birds don’t normally come by here, you know. It was just sitting on a post. Wasn’t singing. Just quiet.”

I stayed silent. How did one reply to that?

“Anyway,” Arzt Mengele began, jumping a little, “can I ask a question?”

I nodded.

“Who is that female that works for Jürgen?”

My eyes widened. I quickly shrugged and prayed he didn’t see through the lie.

“Hmm. No one seems to know.” Arzt Mengele pursed his lips. “I was just wondering because… I don’t know. Very pretty woman. Nice eyes. Seems like her hair was once beautiful, too. If she had some extra weight on her, she would be very experiment material.”

I felt my breath hitch in the middle of my throat. 635798… experiment material?

“What are you going to do to her?” I asked, voice shaking.

“Nothing yet.”

“Yet?”

“I don’t have her in my block. One day I will.” Arzt Mengele checked his watch. “Ah. I best be going now.” He turned away to leave.

“Wait!” I exclaimed. “Why do you think she’ll be good for your experiments?”

“There’s a woman who looks exactly like her in my block. I want to see if experiments on look-alikes have the same results as the ones on twins.”

“Oh my God,” I whispered.

635798 had to be warned about this.



At dinner, I told Jürgen to inform 635798 to meet me at our usual spot. It was almost midnight by the time I started to make my way there. I made sure to be dressed in full inform. Cap, jacket, rifle – everything. The conversation with Arzt Mengele was giving me the ugliest of feelings. I was frightened that something terrible was going to happen.

Once I spotted 635798 sitting down, I broke out into a sprint. 635798 seemed confused when I stopped in front of her. Her eyes widened at the sight of my rifle. I usually never brought it with me. She began to back away slowly, and I thought I saw her trembling.

I put my hands out. “It’s alright. I’ll only use it when necessary. I just… have a gut feeling something terrible is going to happen.”

635798 sucked in a breath and crawled back.

I sat cross-legged in front of her. “I have something to tell you. It’s urgent.”

635798 stuck her hand through the fence, patting my pocket. I mentally slapped my forehead with my palm. How could I forget food?

“No food today.” I grabbed her hand and held it. “But I’m serious. I have something to tell you. Something important.”

635798 pulled her lips back. She squeezed my hand, telling me to proceed.

I looked up. Don’t scare her too much. Sucking in a deep breath, I said, “Arzt Mengele met up with me today at Buna.”

635798’s eyebrows pulled together and her mouth twitched. I pushed myself closer to the fence and grabbed her face. She suddenly seemed alarmed.

“You need to stay away from him, Six. Please. He told me he thinks you’re experiment material. When I asked him what he would do, he said ‘nothing yet’. Yet. That means he wants to experiment on you, Six!”

635798 made a scoff-like noise and her pupils rapidly moved side to side. Tears welled up in her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Six. I’m so sorry.” My voice was becoming shaky. “I’ll try to stop this from happening, okay? I swear to God I’ll try.”

A sob escaped 635798’s lips. She pulled herself away from me. I watched her lie on the ground and curl herself up in a ball. She covered her face with her arms and began to tremble. The more the seconds ticked by, the louder her sobs were becoming. Soon, they were echoing throughout the camp. I slipped my rifle from my back and under the fence. I then used the brick post to climb to 635798’s side of the fence. I pulled her shaking body onto my lap. She wasted no time in burying herself against me.

“Oh dear,” I whispered once I realized her weight. 635798 was nearly a feather in my lap. Her ankles were protruding worse than ever before and her legs had no fat on them. Just bone, causing them to be no rounder than a flagpole. Her arms were even worse; she winced whenever I touched her wrists. Her cheekbones were like bicycle handlebars and one could see them from the universe. Then her eyes – Dear Lord. Just two hollow black holes.

I kissed the top of her head. “I wish I could get you out of here.”

635798 bunched up the uniform on my chest in her fist.

A whistle sounded off, making 635798 and me jump. 635798 whimpered into my chest. My hand was outstretched towards my rifle when I looked up. I froze. To my surprise, a blackbird was perched on the brick post. I shook 635798. When I got her attention, I pointed towards the bird. Her eyes widened. Her gaze went from the bird, to me, then back to the bird. It whistled again.

“Birds never come here,” I said.

The blackbird tweeted. It began to jump across the post, looking from side to side. Only seconds passed when it flew away.

“That was strange,” I said, rubbing 635798’s back. She was still staring at where the bird was. “What was it doing here?”

I felt 635798 shrug.

“Well, I better be going,” I said.

635798 gasped and hugged me tighter.

I ran my fingers through her hair. “You’ll be fine for tonight. Just go to bed and try not to think of what I told you.” I pecked her lips with mine and kissed her forehead a few times.

635798 sadly nodded and stood up. I did so too. I climbed back over the post and retrieved my rifle once I got to the other side. 635798 quickly grabbed my right hand and squeezed. Then she rapidly turned away and headed towards her barrack.

I took only five steps when I heard a noise from the men’s ward. I quickly turned towards it. A male prisoner was looking at me, his face a mixture of shock and a smirk. I gasped as soon as I realized who it was.

“What are you doing out of your barrack, Shlomo?” I yelled.

“I could be asking Six the same thing.” All shock was gone from the prisoner’s face. His smirk became harder. “I see her coming out every night and I always wondered why. Now I know. You two are in love, aren’t you? Don’t act like you aren’t. The atrocity! The Führer wouldn’t like this, now would he? Wait until I report the two of you! That way I can get back at you for what happened when I first arrived.”

I felt anger swell up inside of me. My body started to tremble and I couldn’t control my breathing. “You’ll do no such thing!”

“Watch me!” Shlomo yelled.

I spun my rifle to my front and shot. Shlomo somehow dodged the bullet. He began to run. I kept shooting, each of my bullets echoing in the night and following him but still missing. The last bullet made the dirt explode around Shlomo’s feet. He was out of sight within seconds.

I groaned angrily. I was about to throw my rifle to the ground but a frightened noise stopped me. It was coming from the woman’s ward. I slowly turned around to face it. 635798 stood a distance away but I could still see her. Her body was shaking violently and her eyes were wide. Whimpers were echoing throughout her area.

“Six, please go to bed,” I said.

She shook her head violently.

“Shlomo won’t report us, Six. And if he does, it’ll probably be to Jürgen. You know Jürgen already knows about our relationship.”

I thought I saw a tear slip down 635798’s cheek.

“Please,” I beseeched, “just go to your barrack. Everything will be alright. I promise.”

635798 nodded and quickly turned around. I stood where I was, watching her slip inside the barrack. All was soon quiet. I turned away from the fence. I didn’t know what came over me but I grabbed my rifle and threw it to the ground.

“SHIT!”

My voice echoed. Tears of anger and fear slipped down my face. My stomach suddenly felt queasy.

I retrieved my rifle and sprinted down the grassy path, a blackbird whistling behind me.