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The Blanket

Alejandro Gonzales

    George yawned and changed the TV to a channel that typically hosted cheesy action flicks, but was playing Schindler’s List instead. He’d never gotten around to seeing but he heard it was supposed to be one of the best about the holocaust. It picked up during a scene with a little girl in a red coat (odd since the rest of the film was in black and white) running to safety. The longer it played, the more invested he became, gripping his blanket tighter to his chest. A series of knocks made him nearly jump out of his skin. He looked around before cautiously getting up and creeping to the door. He looked through-and gasped. It was a little girl, hands clasped in front of her. She didn’t bear any particular resemblance to the little girl in the red coat, but his mind attempted to connect the two nonetheless. He shook his head and opened the door.
    “Can I please come in, sir?” she said.
    “Where are your parents? You should know better than to talk to strangers.” he said.
    “Please, sir it’s cold out and I’m really scared-” she said.
    “I can’t just let you in. I shouldn’t even be talking to you. But how about I get you a blanket instead, yeah?” he said.
    He went to the back, to his son’s old room, where he had never bothered to change the bed. He carefully removed the red blanket in the middle, making sure the other layers stayed intact, then folded it and walked back to the little girl. She wrapped it around herself, and pleaded once more that he let her in. He shook his head and closed the door.
    He went back to the movie, forgetting about the little girl within thirty minutes. He gasped more than a few times, horrified at the cruelty being inflicted upon the characters. One scene in particular sent chills down his spine. Children playing in snow that turned out to ashes from cremated Jews. It was around that time that he heard a child’s screams and breaking glass. He listened closely to confirm it wasn’t just his imagination. Hearing nothing else, he chalked it up to the movie playing tricks on his brain. He watched the rest of the movie mildly uncomfortable over what he heard but not enough to stop and investigate.
    It wasn’t until late the next morning when he went out to pick up the newspaper, he understood. His heart sank. Lying in the street, was the little girl, now a corpse, blanket blanketed in ash. He ran towards her and pushed the blanket off. He laid a hand on her cheek and began to cry.
    “I could’ve saved you.” he said.
    He buried his face in his hands and sobbed over the tiny corpse.

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