The Big Escape

Chapter 1:
My name is Jacob Silverman and this is my story.


It was dark. All I could see was dirt. Dirt everywhere, covering my entire body, covering the ground, covering the world. I could not see, I thought I was blind. I had to try to use my other senses to figure out my surroundings. I felt the hard ground beneath me, I smelled gunpowder and smoke. It was then that I heard the screams. I tried to recognize what was going on. I thought I was the last one, and here I was, surrounded by screaming civilians. The screams of the innocent, the screams of the terrorized. Each scream was louder than the last. I then heard footsteps. The footsteps were getting louder, I knew I was next. I realized that this was my last chance and I took it. I stood up and ran. My eyes still covered in dirt I ran toward the light that was shining through. There were only flecks of light but it was enough for me. I ran towards it because, it was the only thing I could run towards, it was the only thing I still believed was real. I heard a loud bang, it sounded like an explosion mixed with a collapsing building. The next thing that followed was a sharp pain in my leg. I had been shot. The blood was running down my leg and the pain was getting worse, but I kept running. I kept running because I knew no matter how bad the pain in my leg got, it could never relate to the pain of being captured again.

I was seventeen years old the day I was captured. I had been living in Russia, trying to save money to start a new life for myself. My parents had died two years ago, and I was an only child so I was alone. I dropped out of school when my parents passed away so that I could get a job and move to America. America, the golden land. There are rumors that America is so beautiful that the streets are literally paved with gold. The rumors also say that there are jobs for everyone and that there is no discrimination no matter who you are. I knew I needed to get to America to save my life and my legacy.

To save money, I had been sleeping on a bench in my synagogue for the past year. It was the only place that would accept a Jewish person these days. I worked as an assistant in a shoe repair shop. I was very skilled at repairing shoes, and I had even taught myself how to make shoes from scratch. My dream was to move to America and start my own shoe store. I figured that by living in my synagogue I would be saving myself. I would be able to save a lot of money. Eventually, I had enough money to leave and I was ready to go to America. However It turns out that the same idea that would help save my life, would also be my downfall.

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Chapter 2:

The day everything took a turn for the worst was when they came. The most evil people in the history of the Earth. There are stories of super villains and horrible murderers, but no one compares to the Nazi Soldiers. They show no mercy, no compassion, no pity. They kill anyone that acts or looks different, and those that are not killed, are tortured or imprisoned. It was a Friday night, the synagogue was clearing out after religious services and then everything got much warmer. The walls began to glow orange and red; the ceiling was flickering; the temperature began to rise. It felt as though the light was jumping from wall to wall and even into the souls of the congregants lighting them ablaze.

We all flooded out of the building, watching it collapse into the a black abyss of ashes as the flames engulfed it. We were in such awe of what was happening that we did not notice that directly behind us, there were dark, tall, dangerous figures grabbing us and throwing us into their cars. The next thing we knew we were captured and were going to a place far away for the town we called home. We were going on a long journey, to the heart of the evil and the persecution, Nazi Germany.

We had been traveling for days, long excruciating days. Every other day a loaf of bread would be tossed into the back of the caravan to be shared amongst the entire group of us captured. There were twelve of us total, six men, three women and three children. We would always make sure the women and children had enough to eat first, so there were many days that I went without eating. Finally we arrived, we were quickly thrown out of the caravan. I was able to take one good look around before we were forced away. The ground we were on was very dry and hard. There was only one building that we could see. Other than that the barren wasteland was completely desolate for miles and miles. The building was not in a good condition, the pipes outside were completely rusted. The roof was a very pale blue and there were holes in many spots of it. There was no plantlife, no animals, no people to be seen except for us and the men casting us into the dark building.

It was in the dark prison where it all happened. It was pitch black, there was but only one hopeful ray of light, pushing it’s way through a crack in the door. Then there was a bang, followed by screams of terror and fear. Footsteps, bang, screams, footsteps, bang, screams, it was a cruel pattern and there was no way to know when you were next. I couldn’t tell for sure, but I could feel the man approaching deep in my gut. I knew I had one more shot, so I took off running towards the ray of hope. Then the sharp pain of being shot jumped up and down my leg, clinging to it for dear life. I was free. I was lost, scared and shot, but free.

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Chapter 3:

The brightness was blinding outside, I thought for sure I would be recaptured. Then an unknown force gave me the strength to keep going. I knew it was a long shot, but I decided to get even riskier, the adrenaline was pumping through my veins, the pain was subsiding slightly in my leg, I felt as though I was invincible. I jumped back in the no empty caravan and tried to escape. Much to my surprise the keys to start the car were missing. I started hearing voices, and I knew that I needed to escape while I still could. I tried to hotwire the car, which was something I had never done before but it was not working. I turn to find a man staring at me from out the window. I close my eyes thinking that this is the end, but when I open them, the man is gone and sitting on the door are the keys. I started to wonder who this man was and why would he was helping me. My thoughts were interrupted by gunfire raining down on the caravan like a thunderstorm. I start the car and bolt away.

After driving aimlessly for hours on end, I finally arrived at a small town. The town was overlooking the ocean, it felt like the town was grabbing to the earth for dear life, trying not to be whisked away by the ocean. I felt the same way, like I was grabbing on to earth for dear life trying not to be whisked away by my enemies. Then it clicked in my head, ocean equals boats. So I went down to the docks and sure enough a large boat was about to travel to America. I asked how much it was and it was just as much as I had saved for America, I had been hoping to save it for America, but I reluctantly agreed to pay the high price on the condition that someone would help me with my leg.

I only had to wait for thirty minutes before the boat was on it’s way. For once everything was finally going my way. We were on our way to the golden land. The boat was in relatively good condition, It was rusty and could use a fresh coat of paint, but it was big and the inside of the boat was kept in great condition. I made my way over to the doctor on board, because I was promised he would take a look at my leg. The water outside was roaring and crashing, it was almost violent. I finally made my way to the doctor’s quarters where after a long and painful procedure, he got the bullet out of my leg and bandaged my leg up. I was already starting to feel better.

That night the waves were still crashing against our boat, as if it felt we didn’t belong in the ocean. I was about to fall asleep when I siren woke me up. I carefully climbed down from my hammock to find that I was standing in 6 inches of water. I opened the door and ran outside, to my horror, the boat was being pulled into the clutches of the ocean and everything was pure madness aboard the boat. I luckily was able to navigate the chaos and find a lifeboat. The two men and woman on the lifeboat quickly As the lifeboat was being released, one of the waves rose to a dangerous height and pulled one of the men into the water. The woman was screaming with all her might as we crashed into the ocean. There were three of us, and we were lost.