30 April, 1945

I knew it was a bad idea. I’d found a good hiding place days ago, even if there were too many rats. But it was out of the way, mostly dry, and nobody went there. There had been lots of soldiers all over the place before I decided to find a place to hide, and they all looked really mad. But the rats had stopped being scared of me after the first day, and the only way I could get them to leave me alone was to share the food I’d gathered before I found the place. So I’d run out 2 days earlier, and I was really hungry. And the night before, the rats kept waking me up by biting my fingers and toes. A few times, they’d drawn blood. I’d jerk and scream, and they’d run away, but they kept coming back.
 
So here I was, out in the streets again, even though it was really scary, and there was an awful lot of noise in the distance. I knew really bad stuff must be happening, because I hadn’t seen hardly anybody since I came out. A lot of the garbage cans I’d looked in had been almost empty, too. I thought a lot of people must have run away when the other soldiers started coming. I’d been moving farther and farther from my hiding place to try and find enough to bring back again, but the scary noise was getting louder as I did. Sometimes I’d see bright flashes, followed by low booms, off in the distance, and twice now I’d heard what sounded an awful lot like a huge roar, like a monster. The first time I’d heard that, I’d almost turned around and fled. But then my stomach cramped again, and I told myself that monsters weren’t real, but hungry rats were, and kept going.
 
So far I’d been keeping to small streets and back alleys. That was where most of the trash cans and dumpsters were, and it was easier to hide there, too. But I’d been out a long time, and had only found a little bit after hours of looking. I knew I’d have to risk some of the bigger streets, if only to get to a part of town where the restaurants had still been open recently, where I might find enough to take back with me.
 
But the big streets were almost empty, too. I had the feeling that a lot of the houses had people inside them, but no one was out. I guessed they were scared of the fighting. I did my best to stay in the shadows anyway.
 
I was just turning a corner when it happened. I was moving along a brick wall, the building casting a deep shadow on the sidewalk. Then, without warning, everything went white. It was as if the sun on a clear day was suddenly right in front of my face, and I couldn’t see anything else. I could feel a huge weight against my chest, pressing me into the bricks behind me. It felt like it was squashing me flat, and I tried to scream but nothing came out. Then I heard the sound—like a thunderclap that never ended, going off right next to me. It seemed to go on forever, until it finally was too much, and the white turned to black and the pressure and sound turned to nothing.