Her Soul Shall Remain

December 25, 1943
Mother was crying in the bedroom.
She screamed, "Why?!"
I told her it wasn't her fault.

October 17, 1941
Men came to the door.
They told Father to pack up.
Mother was in tears.
I didn't understand what was going on.
Father told me he had to go fight off the Nazis.
We saw the car drive up.
Papa slowly started to walk away.
Just as he got to the bottom of the stairs,
I ran and grabbed him.
"Papa, please don't go! I love you, Daddy!
Please don't leave me!"
He told me that it would be alright.
He gave me a kiss on the head and started to walk away.
I tried to run after him, but Mama held me back.
I screamed and begged him to stay.
When the car began to drive off,
I tried to run after him,
but I tripped.
I saw the car disappear in the fog.
Not only had the car disappeared into the mist that day.
It was silent, except for the soft sobs of Mother.

April 20, 1942
It was my tenth year on the earth.
Mother tried to act happy.
Sometimes I had seen her crying.
I was just about to blow out the candles
when there was a knock on the door.
A man stood in the doorway,
just like the one that took Papa.
He handed Mother a piece of paper.
Mother was horrified.
Her hands were shaking.
I didn't know what it was then.

May 4, 1942
I looked at the pictures of Papa on the altar.
I wished I could have said good bye.

February 13, 1943
I got sick.
Doctor calls it cancer.
Mother starts to sob,
like the day Papa left.
I tell her, "It'll be okay, Mommy.
I'll get better!"

November 16, 1943
Mother looks over at the cold face
of a little girl who was once full of life.

December 25, 1943
Mother is so sad.
I hate to see her like this.
She starts to wreck her room.
She sits down on the bed, face blank.
A sparkle of something catches her eye.
It's a piece of broken mirror.
She picks it up,
puts it against her wrist and
screams as a stream of blood flows over her arm.
She falls to the ground.

Present Day
My soul still lingers here in this house.
Here it will remain for all eternity:
never to grow up,
never to have a first kiss,
never to tell Mama I love you,
and never to tell Papa good bye