It’s Thanksgiving of 1934. My family and I are spending the holiday upstate New York. Finally some peace and quite, I thought to myself as we’re driving up to the hotel. A tour guide who seems to know a lot about nature greets us. He starts off by showing us our rooms, the dining room, and then the lake. The mood suddenly changed from light to heavy, as we grew closer to the lake. In a firm voice the tour guide shouts, “Listen here! This lake may just look like water, but this lake behind me carries some of the most harmful crocodiles and alligators. But worse, salamanders. These salamanders can grow up to six feet and are more than capable of killing human beings. ” My heart dropped at the sound of his sentence. I took a very thick swallow, and straightened my back. I am fifteen and a half, I am fifteen and a half, I am fifteen and a half. I repeated the sentence with my eyes closed until I grew more confident. After dinner, I crawled into bed and fell asleep surprisingly quickly. Later that night I hear something that sounded like a knock. I got out of bed, looked around, but no one was to be found. I thought maybe a glass of water would calm me down a bit. As I head to the dinning room, I notice small torches over engravings on the wall. I started to read them but it was very hard to understand. This dark corridor was much longer than it was in the daytime. I speed up, reached the dinning room, and got some water. On my way back I decide not to take the corridor, but to walk alongside the lake. I stopped to examine the salamanders. Maybe I can find a positive characteristic to help me get over my fear. I had my eye on one specific one. I named him Bernt. I just wish he could come alive so I interact with him. I strolled back to bed imagining what I would do first if my unrealistic wish came true.
“Up, up, up!” I rubbed my eyes to see who my disturber was. My dad of corse. He explained the plans for the day with a huge grin on his face. My head hit pillow and I mumbled to him, “Go without me.” He stormed out and I was left alone.
“Hi” I heard. I jumped up only to find the most disturbing looking creature. It resembled Bernt exactly, but had humanly features. He had rough, thick dark grey skin, and long nose. He was indeed six feet tall. He had two short arms, two short legs, a mouth and, eyes.
“Who are you?”
“Well, I’m Bernt! Ya see, whoever reads those engravings on the wall at exactly 3:52 AM gets their wish granted.” He rambled about how happy he was to be “a human.”
He claims a man that was blessed and wanted to share his luck wrote the engravings 200 years ago. “Lucky me” I mumbled to myself sarcastically. We started talking and I really did get over my fear. I told him everything there was to know about Earth, while he told me about the sea world. He was very fascinated in religion. “I am a Jewish girl. We are a very small nation, but we are very blessed from God.” Bernt couldn’t understand the concept of God. And so, I told him about biblical times. I told Bernt I would bring back some food for us to eat. I was trying to treat Bernt in a very soothing manner so he doesn’t get afraid by the world. He requested seaweed. I retuned to a destroyed room. He started making grunts and jumping around the room. He became uncivilized.
“I found it! You lied to me! I found the Bible!”
“And what was it that you found Bernt?” I said calmly.
“The Jews are not the chosen nation! They’re just lying apes!”
“Get out. Get out now!” I said with a raised voice.
Bernt got very close to me and said, “I swear at 3:52 AM I will wish all the Jews will die. But not just any death oh no. Each one will die a slow and painful death. You disgusting creatures.” He walked out of the room. I was left in awe. I supposedly wish for this creature to come a live to get over my fear, but it did the exact opposite. I don’t even know what it is that Bernt found. I have never been more confused and stressed in my whole life. My heart literally ached.
A year later the Holocaust occurred in Europe. It isn’t a coincidence. I do believe that I am the reason for it. The guilt and regret will never stop eating away my heart. Bernt was a true monster to wish for something so disturbing. The tour guide was right. Salamanders are more than capable of killing human beings.