Journal 74

My nightmare didn’t end there. I tried to run out of the warehouse, but Tony wouldn’t let me leave. He said I had to watch. I needed to see the goodness of what was happening. Tony had the two guards that had accompanied us from Bear Country hold me in the place where I was standing. I didn’t want to watch it. I wanted to run away. I wanted to run away from the madness and insanity of this place. My best friend was someone I didn’t know anymore.

The prisoners were pulled off the tables, stripped naked, washed, and then dressed in new white clothes. Gretchen, Cecelia, and a couple of other people I didn’t know assisted the now docile prisoners to their seats on the bleachers. The guards forced another group of prisoners onto the tables and then another group and then another group. This went on for what seemed like hours until the last prisoner was processed.

I was so exhausted. I wanted the night to end. I was so tired of hearing people beg and plead for their lives. I was tired of seeing the already dead tossed aside as if they were garbage. I couldn’t stand up anymore. I was dizzy and lightheaded. I slumped to the warehouse floor. I don’t remember what happened next. I woke up in my room back home in Bear Country.