Experimentation Revisited

At first, they took us to the camps. I remembered holing my sister Marie's hand and watching the flags as we entered. Swastika's roar above the building. The blood red seemed to follow us. I wasn't sure what was happening at first, all I knew was the fear that kept me quiet as my mother was taken away from us, ushered into the crowds. I asked her not to leave, and she replied that she'd be back soon.

I never saw her again.

The Nazi's had our father answer questions about us in the lobby They found twins fascinating. Our father is haggard, dirty from other's sweat and the beatings. My sister and I remain untouched. When he was done with the questions, he left as well. He was not permitted to speak as he left us. A very tall man in doctor's garments told us to follow him. We had no choice. I keep crying, wanting to see mother. Marie holds my hand tightly.

They take our clothes and shoes, even my mother's necklace which is real gold. They shower us with other children, most of them twins as well. The hoses sting my skin but I say nothing. Surprisingly, we are allowed to keep our clothes. The doctor comes back later, and gives me my necklace. He traces the hollow of my throat and clasps the necklace with a menacing smile. His teeth look sharp in the florescent lights. He says something in German, and it doesn't sound quite right. He tells me to call him Uncle.

When the night came, we both shared a cold bunk with one sheet. It was the longest night I ever knew. The hunger in my stomach kept me awake. Marie talks to me without opening her lips. She assures me that everything will be okay. I wish I could have believed her, but I hear screams from the furnace room. I feel the heat of the souls leaving this place. I sleep only for minutes at a time, waking to stone walls like sarcophagi around us. The posters on the wall staring back at me in German, and I watch them move during the wee hours of the morning.

In the morning we are given stale bread and old milk, only to be taken out of the camp, to a truck covered in camouflage. They will not say where they're taking us, a solider stares at us across the seats and watches us intensely. The truck rumbles through the country side of Germany, I hear the stones beneath us cascade. An hour later silence penetrates me as the engine falls silent. When we stop they let us out. It's still early in the morning, and the sun rises still. We smell the grass and the trees. They have taken us farther away from home, the nature around us seems ominous. The tree's stare down ominously like the soldiers do. They know what will come of us before it happens. They've seen others like us.

The soldier's take us inside a building that is under the ground. The air here is cold and bites my face. For the first time, they separate Marie and I. When I try to run after her, one of the soldier's pulls me back by my arm. I see her disappear into a room down the darkness of the hall. The solider takes me into a room, and I see the Uncle Doctor waiting for me. I feel uneasy as the solider leaves me alone with him. He asks me to take my dress off, and to call him uncle.

I don't see Marie for another three days.

Marie stares at me with her melted eyes. I stare back, unblinking, determined to will away this terrible thing that has happened to us. I try to hold her hand. They tear us apart. The mean doctor removes the rough fabric of my cotton dress until I am naked. I shake from the cold, sure that I will die tonight. I shake until they pump a warm liquid through the IV into my arm. The metal numbs my back, licking me with it's icy tongue.

I sit in stillness for a long time.

The lights are bright, but I still have to fight the weakness of my body. Through closed lids the red aura dances in front of me, I feel Marie next to me, breathing slowly. Too slowly.

She hasn't said much since the chemical drops burned away her vision. I saw it as it was happening to her. Marie only watches with her mind now. She sees through my eyes like we used to in school.

Marie sees the mean doctor, the one who smiled when he burned Marie's eyes trying to make them blue. She sees the second doctor too, the one who told me to call him uncle. He isn't as nice as he sounds, he came into our cell the other day and did things to me. The more he does, the more chocolates I get. I still have a handful underneath my mattress. They're Marie's favorite.

She swats the red away, and opens my eyes. Marie looks at herself, the milky color of her eyes startles her, so she finds the mean doctor. She watches him as he plays with the metal instruments. As he readies himself, she thinks how nice it would be for him to suffer as she has; how appropriate it would be. He approaches, and the red comes over my vision again.

They give me nothing for the pain. I scream as they pull apart my stomach, and louder still as they prod me. The doctor shushes me, and tells me if I am good he has more candy for me. I start to shake. I scream louder. A rushing sound fills my ears and all I can feel is my heart beat uncontrollably.

Everything is very dark for a long time.

When I wake up I cannot move, and my stomach feels like its expanding. I lift up my dress and see stitches up and down my side. There are dark bruises where they played with my insides, and I just know that something that was inside of me is missing now. What did they take from me?

I barely notice Marie take my hand until she turns to me to whisper.

“They will pay.” She is adamant about this, she nods to herself and turns away. I can't ask her what she means to do, I'm in shock. I hold my mother's necklace until I drift off to sleep.

I wake to flames around us. Outside our cell, a fire rises and falls. I hear voices screaming far away in a locked room. Marie has not left my side during the night, but I am sure it was her who started it. I know this more strongly than I know that I will never see my parents again.

We sit in silence as the fire eats through the laboratory. Once it is morning again, Marie kisses my check. Though I am still weak from the surgery, my stomach no longer aches. She holds my hand and leads me through the door of the now unlocked cell. Despite the obvious, we seem unscathed from their evil deeds. We are free enough from the swastika's.

I tell her there is no place for us to go. They will find us.

“Let them try.” She smiles.

After several days I notice the color coming back to her eyes.

She is invincible.