FURNACE
“We went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.” Psalm 66:12
“Hurry up, filthy prisoners!” the guard shouted at us. The Old Woman had been dead for eight months. Two months after her death I was released unexpectedly from underground detainment, but my eyes still stung in bright lights. The agent’s whip flicked against the back of my prison uniform and grazed my skin. The young girl at my side grabbed my arm.
“I can’t go in there!” She cried out as the flames lurched toward us. She was only a teenager, no older than I was when I first went to work in the garment factory. The guard’s whip snapped through the air a second time and landed on the girl’s back. She fell to her knees with a sob.
“Stand up,” I urged, dragging the prisoner by her elbow. Toge
