A Place Called Heaven

Prologue

This is the ghetto

The place of the damned

Where a friend and foe

Hold no distinction

Where many believe

That Heaven lies just over a wall

Where the sound of a gun

Brings hope instead of fear--

Hope that death will come

And relieve the pain

Where day brings more fear than night

Where men are demeaned

Past the point of filth

Until they're not human

Where men betray their families,

Their religion, and their minds

For a scrap of life

That they'd just as soon take

Where orphans over-populate

Because parents are driven to insanity

Where a blind eye is turned on the conditions

And yet exploited for amusement

Where children grown down instead of up

This is the ghetto,

The place of the damned

Where many believe that Heaven lies just over a wall, a train-ride away, and into the ash-filled horizon.

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"Do you promise, David?"

He pulled the smaller girl into a tight hug. "I promise, Hannah; no matter what happens, I'll never leave you."

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WHOOO! WHOOO!

The trains whistled sharply, piercing the air. Thousands of people crowded around a worn and beaten gate. Barbed wire hugged its borders, and the hinges creaked with rust and misuse. The air hung with a kind of negative energy, as if it foreshadowed disaster. The wind was brisk and cold, slapping the faces of those unfortunate enough to be in its way, and throwing their hair about in a tumultuous fashion. The people themselves looked as if they hadn't washed or eaten in days, which they hadn't, and there was an air of apprehension about them. But still, through the thick of it all, there was still a glimmer of hope in their eyes. For so long they'd been oppressed by the Nazis in the ghetto, and now, at last, they had word of hope. These trains, they were told, would lead them to a place called Heaven, where they could finally live free of the Nazis in one community, with other Jews.

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"David!" A blur of blonde ran down the street towards a dilapidated building. "David, she's gone! I saw her die, I was right there, standing right next to her. Oh, David, it was so terrible! Aunt Dassah, she--she's dead…" The little girl ran into her brother's arms and sobbed.

The words hit David like a sack of bricks, though he knew it would be some time before he actually realized their validity. It wasn't so unexpected--inhabitants of the ghettos were dying often--but that she was gone...finally gone... It was as if a rock of foundation had been swept from under him. He wasn't sure what to think, since the woman had been close as family. Dassah wasn't really their aunt, just their surrogate guardian. Since their parents had died Dassah had taken the two children under her wing, and had even given up her chance of a better life--of escape--to stay with them in the ghettos.

A myriad of thoughts rushed at him, not giving him even a breath's time to digest each one. But for each one, a handful of words repeated themselves: She's dead, really really dead. He felt some of the impact affect him, though he wouldn't believe it quite yet--probably not for some time. When his parents had died, it took him several weeks to believe that they would never come back. But he didn't have several weeks this time... He only had a couple hours before the trains left. The trains were all that mattered now. With Dassah gone, he realized, the only protection that they could have would be at this...Heaven. That's what it was called. It sounded so wonderful--a place where the Jews would be sectioned off to live in peace and free of the wrath of this Führer. It was a Heaven that they long deserved, and David had to get there. He had to.

The child in his arms forced him to refocus his attention. Hannah needed him now more than anything.

"Hannah, calm down, child--it's ok. She wouldn't have wanted you to cry, right?" She nodded against his shoulder. He sighed grimly. A tense silence followed for several minutes. He rocked, back and forth, slowly rubbing circles on her back, trying to offer comfort in any way that he could. Her sobs had almost died down when he felt that the inevitable had to be asked.

"How did she die, Hannah?"

It was a one-word answer. "Shalom."

David grunted a reply. Shalom--the cruelest of the Judenräte, or Jewish Nazis--was a traitor. Before this invasion had started Shalom had been a well-known and respected rabbi in the Jewish community. Now he did the exact opposite of his name's-sake. His name meant peace, but he caused more deaths than the rest of the Judenräte combined. His favorite weapon, ironically, was a shotgun he had made with a Star of David on it. He hadn't liked David or his sister from the moment he saw them, and knew that the closest person to them was Dassah. David was hardly surprised to hear his name from Hannah.

David looked down at the small child in his arms. Barely ten years old, she was wise beyond her years. "Hanah, listen to me." She wiped her eyes and sat up, gazing up at him through tear-sprinkled lashes. "We're leaving. Today. I'll take you to Heaven, just like I promised. I won't leave you, just like I promised. And when we get there…we'll be able to say, 'Look at me now--I'm in Heaven,'" he said quietly, averting his eyes. He couldn't stand to see the hope in her eyes when he knew that the trains weren't really going to Heaven. He didn't know how he knew, he just did. This place wasn't Heaven, but whatever lay at the end of those train tracks had to be better than the ghettos, and David was going to make sure that Hannah got a seat on those trains. Wherever they went, David and Hannah would go too. He just hoped that he wouldn't regret it.