635798

October was upon us. Aalyshah, Abbey, and Mutter had gone back home. Vater never got out of his stupor. 635798 was still with Arzt Mengele.

My sisters and Mutter left shortly after I told Vater what he had done. Vater walked around in a sullen mood. He had hideous bags under his eyes, he slouched, and his skin seemed to have aged a few years. He became a zombie. Sometimes he replied to us. Other times he stared at us blankly and then quickly shuffled away. Mutter didn’t understand what had happened to him. I didn’t tell her. Jürgen kept quiet as well.

Vater’s mood wasn’t helping my sisters. Aalyshah resented him more than ever. She couldn’t even look at him anymore. She no longer called for him. If she needed something, Mutter or I had to ask for her. Vater never received a thank you. He sometimes turned to Abbey to see if she needed something too but she would always run away. Ever since I explained to her what went on in concentration camps, she feared soldiers. She hid herself whenever a Nazi walked in the mansion. I lost count of how many times I found her underneath a table. Jürgen and I scared her too. She knew we didn’t exactly do anything. It was just the fact that we were soldiers that frightened her. To ease the tension, Jürgen bought my sisters and Mutter train tickets to Berlin, Germany. They accepted them greatly.

Once gone, Vater’s stupor worsened. He kept proclaiming that his family abandoned him when he needed them the most. It was his own fault. He never told them what was going on. Vater stopped working. Well, I shouldn’t say that. He still went to work, just stopped participating. He kept quiet at roll calls. I ushered prisoners into the gas chambers without his help. He stopped using his rifle. It sat on his back untouched for a month. He even stopped paying attention to Jonji. More often than one would like, he forgot to bring the dog along with him. This was how others knew something was wrong. They asked me why Vater wouldn’t talk and why he sulked around now. Everyone noticed how blank his eyes were and how little he ate. I didn’t tell them what happened, but I knew what was going on. Finding out you’ve betrayed your best friend did strange things to a person.

I was only able to pay 635798 a few visits between the past month and now. Each visit was scarier than the last. Arzt Mengele had moved her from Block 10 to his clinic in Auschwitz I – Birkenau. I have never seen so many horrors in my entire life. Children – skinnier than sticks and no more than thirteen years old – roamed these hallways. Some seemed happy; others seemed scared. Some children didn’t seem to have a clue as to where they were and what they were doing. Each child had some sign of experimentation on them. All of them had tiny red dots covering their arms, showing they had blood drawn. A few children had stitches in the oddest of places.

The first time I got a touch of the experiments was my first visit to 635798 in her new place. The surgery room door was opened and unfortunately, my curiosity got the best of me. I peeked inside. A set of twins – both male – stood naked in the room. “Doctors” measured everything, even genitals. For five minutes I watched this, and that led to the beginning of the surgery. Both boys screamed as their stomachs were cut open. I watched the blood flood the floor. The boys flailed. They cried. They yelled for their parents. They wished for the pain to stop. They prayed for God to do something. The two of them got stitched back up. Before they could leave the table, both had needles stabbed into their hearts. Instead of drawing blood, they seemed to be injecting something. One twin began twitching vigorously. The other choked. This went on for about two minutes before both died. Through the conversation the “doctors” had right after, I found out they were killed purposely. The purpose of the experiment was to see how they acted when injected with a chemical.

I should’ve just kept walking.

635798 changed. She lost even more weight. Her spine threatened to protrude through her stomach. Her arms and legs weren’t sticks; they were twigs. Her wrists and ankles stuck out like perfectly round balls. The only reason she was surviving was because Mengele gave her a piece of bread every day and only one glass of water. 635798 still had no clothes. When I dropped off her uniform, I caught Mengele throwing it away as I was leaving. Her bed had sheets, but that was only because it was getting colder now. Her body was covered in scars from experiments. Mengele updated me daily when it came to these.

635798 no longer had a healthy liver; it was damaged by accident. Part of her small intestine was gone. A rib was missing. A lung was punctured, so 635798’s breathing was haggard. Her left wrist was purposely broken. One side of her hair was shorter. Blood was drawn from almost all places of her body. One mark concerned me. It was on her spine. Mengele explained to me that during an experiment, they were testing both 635798’s and her look-alike’s spine. When injected, both women became paralyzed in the legs. Somehow 635798 healed (though she still had trouble walking) but the look-alike didn’t. 635798 was also missing some of her molars. Mengele refused to tell me why which was okay – I didn’t want to know. I was also informed that 635798 was partially blind in her left eye. Curious, I looked at both of them. Her left eye was a green-brown instead of a chocolate brown like her right eye. Since these experiments frightened me, I asked Vater to come along with me and convince Mengele to let 635798 go. It was his chance to pay Levi Cohen back.

But he never came.

I was making my way over to 635798’s room now. Each room either had a screaming child or children playing together. When they weren’t experimented on, the children looked like regular children. Their hair wasn’t shaved and Arzt Mengele gave them plenty of food. Some even got candy. The only reason children ever got stick-thin was for experiment purposes only. Each child was wrapped in a tight uniform. From a distance the uniforms looked thicker than they usually were. The children all had shoes, too. They couldn’t lose them as easily as they would outside. Look at 635798. All she did was walk outside to go to and from work and she never wore shoes the whole time I knew her.

I knocked on 635798’s door. Voices hushed. Someone’s feet shuffled towards the door. An old man with glasses opened the door for me. I was let in once confirming who I was. Arzt Mengele was to the side, surrounding a table along with other doctors. They seemed to be looking at some sort of paper. I turned towards 635798 as the old man shuffled away from me. 635798 was sitting up in her bed, though weakly. The doctor on the stool next to her had to hold her up. A stethoscope was roaming her back as she took her haggard breaths. She made eye contact with me, her green-brown eye twitching. I sat at the edge of her bed and waited for the doctor to finish whatever he was working on. 635798 lied down again as the doctor walked to the others.

I pulled myself closer to 635798. “Hey.”

She grabbed my hand and squeezed weakly. She didn’t smile.

Arzt Mengele had turned around by now. “Ah, Wolfgang! Welcome! I was just about to feed my friend some soup.”

635798’s mouth set.

Arzt Mengele set 635798’s hot water (it couldn’t have been soup) on the stool. 635798 tried to sit herself up, but her arms almost gave out. I caught her by her sharp shoulders. I moved myself around. Now I was behind her and she had something to lean against. Arzt Mengele put the “food” in her lap. Her hand shook as she used the spoon.

“We give you tasty food, don’t we?” Arzt Mengele asked.

635798 nodded her head slowly but I caught her rolling her eyes.

“If you want anything specific, just tell us!” Arzt Mengele said happily.

635798 shrugged. She still had the habit of not speaking when we were around other people.

Arzt Mengele left for the other doctors. I helped 635798 with her food when she needed it. Otherwise I sat back and watched, running my fingers through her matted hair. I listened to the doctors from time to time. They were planning on doing yet another experiment. I couldn’t make out what they wanted to do, but it dealt with how 635798’s skin reacted to something compared to the look-alike’s. 635798 put her bowl on the stool. Not even half the “food” was gone.

“Eat more,” I whispered.

She shook her head slowly, depression growing onto her face. “I can’t.”

“Why?”

635798 curled herself, wrapping the sheet around her. “Hurts.”

I sighed. 635798 reached the point every prisoner reached here. Due to lack of food, prisoners became malnourished. That’s exactly what happened to 635798. Now she was going to have trouble eating for a while.

Arzt Mengele made his way back over. “We need our friend for an experiment. You’ll have to stay here, Wolfgang.”

I nodded, not wanting to argue. 635798 grabbed Arzt Mengele’s hands as he stuck them out. Arzt Mengele pulled her into a standing position and I almost winced aloud at the sight of 635798’s figure. She noted my tension. I didn’t have time to apologize before she covered herself as much as she could with her arms. A doctor wrapped her in a blanket and the two of them began to follow the others out. I held my breath, waiting for 635798’s legs to collapse. Her knees rarely bent as she took baby steps out of the room. At the doorway, she glanced at me, eyes pleading. I was about to stand up but a doctor pulled her away.

As I waited, I looked around the room for the umpteenth time. It only held a table, cabinets, a nightstand, a stool, and 635798’s broken down bed. I observed the medical supplies every time I was alone. There were numerous scalpels and scissors, but I’ve never seen most of the tools. Some things I mistaken for syringes but after a closer look, they definitely weren’t syringes. Knife-like objects were hidden in drawers and I found plenty of experiment plans. These went back right away. I was too scared to look through them.

I jumped when a siren sounded across the hall. Wait. No. Two sirens. I scrambled towards the doorway, tripping over my own feet. No one was running out of the rooms as I scanned each side of the hallway. Heads poked out, but they seemed to be doing the same thing I was doing. The sirens were screams then. I didn’t know whether to be glad or frightened. What could possibly be going on that caused screams to be so high-pitched? The screams didn’t stop. They continued, turning into cries. The cries descended, but then something happened to turn them into screams again. This process continued. I stepped into the hallway, ignoring the frightened eyes of the children staring at me. The screams guided me to a door that was at the head of the others. I put my hand on the doorknob but froze. Was it my place to see what was going on? Did I want to?

I backed away and waited for someone to open the door for me instead.

It took a few minutes, but it happened. A doctor walked out of the room, giving me a glance of what was going on inside. My stomach dropped. No. I did not want to see what was inside. 635798 and a woman who actually did look like her sat next to each other on stools. Both of them were covering themselves. Red blotches were sprawled across their sin and they seemed fresh. Tears were running down 635798’s face as she looked side to side.

Another doctor walked out, leaving the door open. I witnessed the source of the screaming. Two doctors walked into view, each carrying a pot. Steam spilled over the pots’ edges. It was thick, meaning whatever was inside was just recently boiled. The substance – I soon learned it was water – was poured over the women. They screeched. From where I stood, I could see the water practically cook their skin. Red blotches followed the water. 635798 and her look-alike were curling themselves and flinching whenever a doctor came near. 635798’s heaving buzzed my ears, sending chills up my spine.

Without thinking, I ran inside the room, screaming for everyone to stop. The women jumped and the doctors looked up from their clipboards. Everyone looked at me. I stood up straighter, trying to catch my breath.

“What are you doing here?” Arzt Mengele asked me.

I looked at the two women whose eyes were shaking, frightened. 635798 was looking back and forth between the doctors and me.

“Wolfgang. This room is off limits,” Arzt Mengele said.

I pointed to the women. “But-”

“It’s only an experiment, Wolfgang. They’re fine.”

The look-alike glanced at 635798, shaking her head.

I shook mine too but didn’t say anything.

“Well, I guess we’re done here, then,” Arzt Mengele said to the other doctors. “Get our friends back to their rooms.”

As a doctor grabbed 635798’s broken wrist, she gasped and pushed him away. I held my breath, waiting for the doctor to react. He did, unsurprisingly. It was a blur to me, but I saw it. He pulled his hand back and smacked 635798 square in the jaw. The sound echoed. 635798 almost fell but luckily her look-alike caught her. The doctor tried to grab 635798 again, but he received another push. Before I could run forward to save 635798, she was thrown to the ground. A crack sounded and sent a chill up my spine. Her ankle was sitting in a disjointed position. I ran over and hid her under me just as the doctor was going to jam a hammer on her back.

“Friends don’t hurt friends,” I said loudly so I could be heard above 635798’s screaming.

The doctor huffed, throwing the hammer on the floor. He moved on to the frightened look-alike, picking her up gently. Doctors followed them out of the room as Arzt Mengele helped me stand 635798 up. She was forced to look at Arzt Mengele.

“My, my,” he said, shaking his head. “What are we going to do with you?”

I raised an eyebrow.

Arzt Mengele looked at me, ignoring the frighten look he received from 635798. “She’s known for pushing doctors away. Literally. She doesn’t follow orders sometimes. It’s like she’s rebelling.” The doctor shook his head disapprovingly. “I’ve warned her.”

I put my hand on 635798’s shoulder and she flinched. “And what was this warning, may I ask?”

Arzt Mengele picked up 635798 so she didn’t have to stand on that ankle. From there, he explained to me what was going to happen. 635798 was crying and I could feel my stomach drop as if I was on a rollercoaster. Arzt Mengele was sad that they had to do such a thing, but it was for a good cause. When he said good cause, he meant it in normal Nazi terms. Definitely not mine.

“Can’t you do something else?” I asked quietly.

635798 lifted her head up and looked hopefully at Arzt Mengele.

The doctor shook his head. “’Fraid not.”

I sucked in a breath. “And when is this going to take place?”

Arzt Mengele pursed his lips. “Mmm. It’ll have to be tomorrow. Don’t need any more angry doctors.”

I almost fell to my knees. 635798 choked out a cry and tried pulling herself away.

Arzt Mengele hugged her close. “Don’t worry. It’ll be quick.” He took her out of the room.

Once he was gone, I fell down to my knees. What was I going to do? She needed me and I had no power to save her. Surely Vater did. He was Mengele’s friend. Mengele had to listen to him. But would Vater help? He was still in that stupor. He never listened to anyone anymore. Vater had given up just like the prisoners.

I punched the ground and screamed.

When I arrived in 635798’s room, her ankle was wrapped and she was lying in bed with her back to Mengele. She was absolutely silent as she stared blankly at the wall. I sat down at her side. She didn’t flinch.

“Watch over her, please. I need to make the arrangements.” Mengele left.

I put my hand on 635798’s arm, trying to get her to look at me. She shoved my hand away.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked.

No response.

I lied on my stomach and began to run my shaky fingers through her hair. “C’mon. Just let me hear you say something.”

Again, no response.

Pushing 635798’s blotchy-red shoulders, I forced her to lie on her back and look at me. She did, but she still didn’t say anything. Her eyes were wide, never blinking. Mine stung from my tears. Before I could wipe them away, she did it for me. Then she turned away again.

“C’mon, Six. I need to hear you say something,” I said. “If it’s about tomorrow, I can help stop it. I’ll try everything I can. You’ll be okay.”

“Let them do it,” 635798 whispered.

My head shot up. “What?”

“Let. Them. Do. It.”

“Why?”

635798 shifted. “I don’t wanna be here. Here any. Anymore. I ca-can’t. I’m tired of. Of everything.”

I strained my neck to look at her face. Her eyes faced the wall but looked at an inner thought. She wasn’t crying and she didn’t blink. Her face was empty.

“You have to stay. I need you here.” My voice cracked.

635798 was frozen for a few seconds before shaking her head.

I dug my face into the crook of her neck. Her matted hair tickled my cheek. “Please?”

“I’m done.”

I looked at her eyes, a tear on my cheek. “Please?”

“I’m done, Wolfgang.”

I waited. I wanted her eyes to change, to show some emotion. I wanted them to blink. I even wanted them to shed some tears. But they didn’t. They didn’t do anything. Both eyes stayed at the wall. Her chocolate brown eye didn’t melt and the green in her left eye didn’t disappear as I wished it would. Instead, it seemed to grow brighter. I tried coaxing 635798 into saying more but she didn’t. She never looked at me.

I kissed 635798’s temple before leaving the room. She didn’t call after me.



“Vater!”

I stood panting in the dining quarters, searching for Vater. In the midst of all the soldiers, I found his cap-less head in the back of the room. Like usual, he was alone. His food sat untouched on the table. Vater barely ate anymore. His guilt ate him away instead. I called out his name again, but he kept staring ahead, his chin resting on his folded hands.

“Vater!” I shouted again, greeting him. I waved a hand in front of his face and received no response. “Are you going to listen to me?”

“Depends,” Vater mumbled.

My hands slammed against the table as I leaned forward. “Want to save Cohen’s daughter? Tell Mengele to stop all arrangements.”

Vater looked down at his food. “Can’t. Too late. He won’t listen.”

“Of course he will! Aren’t you two friends? Please, Vater. Six is in danger. If you don’t stop Mengele, she may not be with us tomorrow.”

“She will. She always survives.”

I shook my head. “Not this time. Help her. I need her, Vater. She has to survive this war with me.”

Vater stood up and headed towards the door. “I made a deal, Wolfgang. I told Mengele he could do whatever he wants with her. I can’t go back on that now. I’m sure Six will be fine no matter what happens.”

I wanted to scream. Why couldn’t this man read between the lines? “Vater, she’s going to die! Die! They’re sending her to the gas chambers tomorrow!”