Mica’s Escape From Communism

MICA’S ESCAPE FROM COMMUNISM

Mica’s parents had been arrested for opposing the communist regime in Romania. She’d be next. Overwhelmed with panic, she remembered her father’s words: “Take the hidden diamonds from the basement. Sew them into your coat, hide them in your boots, and swallow the two dearest ones.” While doing so, Mica prayed the blue diamond wasn’t cursed.

All the time, she was going over the secret route that her father had shown her on his map. He told her to bike two kilometers to the border between Romania and Hungary. She hoped to be at the border by midnight. Then she’d need time to dig her way under the border fence to run to the train station on the Hungarian side.

Escape would be more difficult in the snow. Barking dogs and howling wolves frightened her. She leaned into her bike’s handlebars, trying to make herself invisible. This section of the forest was eerie as if night had passed it by. Only the light from the moon could help her. She prayed, God, please protect me. I’m all alone.”

Frightened, Mica pedaled as fast as she could. As her path turned closer to the mountains, she studied every moving tree and every shadow, to assure she wasn’t being followed. She tried to be one with the night and disappear with her bike.

She pedaled faster, all the while, crying and replaying in her mind the dangers of her escape. She remembered her father’s last words: “Be strong, Mica. Do whatever you must to survive, whatever! Think with your mind and act with your heart. Use your willpower to survive.”