War is hell. I was captured by the Nazi war machine and put in this prison camp over 2 weeks ago. They have been cremating American soldiers alive every day, and I have the feeling that my platoon is next. One night, as dusk was setting in, our malevolent guard assembled our platoon. His usual bossy, superior attitude was absent from him that night. Instead of being long winded, and using elaborate insults abundantly, he simply said “report to the crematorium.” My platoon and I said nothing. We did not move, for our feet were stuck in the eternal quicksand of despair. Our souls assumed the weight of doom. This weight crept slowly from our souls until it engulfed every inch of our bodies. The only thing that brought us back to reality was the distant shriek that resonated in our ears. The blood-curdling scream of a human subjected to the unbelievable, animalistic torture of the German war machines. For machines are all they are. One look into their eyes would vaporize any doubt about this. I mindlessly took my first step toward uncertainty. After I entered the vivacious chamber of red and yellow flame, what would be next? Would it be like a door to another world? Exiting one life, and entering another? Then, the most terrifying thought that had ever dared to enter my mind barged in and stole every ounce of my composure. “What if the door of red and yellow flame turned out to be a closet? An endless black closet with no light and no way out. Blacker than a black hole, endless and forever. That is what made me lose my mind. That word forever. When it was used before, I dismissed it because of its irrelevancy. Because of the sheer impossibility of it. But now, that word was staring me down, face to face, almost as if in a sense of vindication. My whole soul melted in the terror of his inescapable glare. I absolutely snapped. I ran as fast as I could. I ran to escape that which I could not. I did not notice, but the guards regarded me as frivolous, if not at all. Then I realized why. American tanks were rolling into the camp. The machines were retreating from our machines. Although I was liberated from the German war machines, I was never liberated from that terrifying glare. I was entranced in its eyes forever.