The price of silence…

I thought about the book, the diary by the girl. I had been surprised that a book could have been written by a woman, let alone a mere girl. Evie had laughed at my ignorance. When I was reading it, when I turned every page and discovered that the lives of that family were going on regardless of what was happening outside, I scoffed.

“But surely people knew what was happening?”

Evie looked straight at me as if she was explaining to a child.

“Yes they did know, but it didn’t stop them from ignoring it. People fail to speak up for those that do disappear.”

I thought about the story of Marian and how she would have disappeared if she had not run. The question that kept returning was, ‘Why did they keep silent when evil was all around them?”

My own life gave me the answer.  

An extract from AWOL.