by Annalou Mack

Created on: September 23, 2010

Nightmare in a straw stack

Dazed and shaken, Lily lay quietly trying not to move for fear of making a noise.  If those awful men knew she was not dead they would give her another blow to the head like they did to her little sister when she began to cry.  Where was she anyway?  What was all that stuff on top of her?

Lily slowly moved her hand to the right and felt her mother’s body. It was very still, so Lily was sure she was dead like the rest of her family- her father, mother and two little sisters. 

“I’ll lie here very still until I’m sure there is no one near,” Lily thought.  She closed her eyes and tried not to think of this night of horror.  If she could sleep maybe she could forget what had happened.  Perhaps in the morning she would find this was just a bad nightmare.

When Lily woke from her troubled sleep, she could tell it was beginning to get daylight .  Those terrible men were surely gone by now. She began to claw her way out of this shallow grave where she had been thrown last night.

The straw, damp from the morning dew was heavy, but the strong eight-year old was able to push enough of it aside so she could get up.  Standing in the early morning sun, Lily looked around to see if she saw anything familiar.  Nothing within her vision looked like anything she had ever seen before.

Lily reasoned that she must get help to get her family out of this grave.  Although she thought they were all dead, they had to be taken out and given a proper burial.  In the distance, Lily saw a farmhouse.  Perhaps someone there could help her.  With determination, the little girl began walking toward the house.

Lily slowly approached the front door of the house and gave a timid knock.  A woman with a kindly looking face opened the door.  The woman could hardly believe her eyes when she saw this strange little girl standing there.  The girl’s hair was matted with blood from the blow she had suffered the previous night. Her face was streaked with dirt and tears and there were pieces of straw clinging to her hood and coat.  The woman was so startled she could hardly speak.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?”  she asked after a minute . 

 “My mama and papa and little sisters are dead and buried under that straw stack over yonder.  Can you help me get them out?”

 This couldn't be happening, not

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