The cold night let no one sleep. Even if there were 40 of us all bunched up inside a little barrack that probably was only meant for 10. However I felt no cold for my mother was by my side, and along with her, her love. And with it she filled my heart with warmth. Her presence was all I needed to get through the day. Because even though I had been forced to leave the life of playing with my friends and going to school for one of picking coal with dying strangers all day long, I had her.
She gave me strength. She gave me hope. She was the reason I didn’t fall on my knees after a long torturous shift of carrying pounds and pounds of rocks while being screamed  at by cruel, vile men in gray uniforms. Most of the other kids had no one. Their mothers and fathers all slain viciously in front of their very own eyes. I could be nothing but thankful for being allowed to have her be alive. However I could see her growing weak.
As time was passing by she began to be less and less productive. Her legs and arms could not keep up with the demanding labor that was implemented on us with no rest. Then one day as we were carrying coal to the factory my mother dropped one of the sacks. She could no longer work. There was no energy left in her frail body. So then they came. The men in uniforms. They kicked her to the ground.  I became filled with rage, took a rock from the ground and smashed it onto one of the men. He was left unconscious with a bleeding head. As I did this the other men looked at me and aimed their rifles. I was staring at my death through a steel barrel pointed directly at my heart.  My mother pulled their gun down and said with a fragile, broken voice, “take me instead.” The soldier smiled and then walked towards me with another of his soldiers. They held me down and forced my eyes open. Then the soldier that was at my mother’s side pointed his rifle at her head….
As I saw my mother fall to her side, my chest filled with a pain greater than what I would’ve felt if they had shot me. I saw her life fade away, along with her love, leaving me with nothing but a frozen heart.