"Mama!" I screamed as I was dragged out of my house. The Germans had found my small little town. My mother replied calmly in Dutch, as the soldiers took me away from her. My father always said that my Dutch was terrible but I could still understand everything they said. My mother had said to me, "You'll be safe, God will protect you." I reached for my cross that she had given me when I was little. She smiled and placed her hand over hers that her mother had given her. That was the last moment we shared together. I was then thrown into the back of an army truck, along with two other girls from town; we were driven away from my ruins of a town.

We were in that truck for hours. None of us said a word to each other. Not long after we had been taken, one of the girls broke down and started crying. I crawled over to her and comforted her. She laid her head down on my lap and cried herself to sleep. The other girl eventually came over and sat next to me. I took her hand as she placed her head on my shoulder. The German soldiers didn't pull over or stop, they just kept on driving. I kept my mind clear and thought about God as my protector. I was growing tired, I had been awake for too long. I was about to close my eyes and have a little rest when the truck came to a halt.

I held onto the girls, trying to prevent us from hitting the back of the truck. They both woke up and squeezed my hands. I whispered to them softly and calmly, "Be brave girls." There were footsteps coming from outside of the truck then the doors swung open. I squinted my sore eyes as the brightness of the sun hit them. Two soldiers were standing at the back of the truck. When none of us moved they leaned into the truck and grabbed the girl that had fallen asleep on my lap. She screamed and grabbed onto me. They couldn't pull her away from me; I wouldn't let her go without a fight.

A third soldier jumped up into the truck and hit me across the face. I cried out and let go of the girl's hand. She screamed so loudly my ears started ringing. I reached forward for her and received another hit. I growled in pain and glared at the soldier who hit me. When the girl was out of the truck they closed the doors and just left me and the other girl in the truck. I looked at her confused and she just looked back with watery eyes. She placed her head on my shoulder again and I stroked her hair. I squeezed my eyes tight and thought to myself, 'How could I let her go?'