Between Shades of Gray 1-40

On June 14, 1941 the NKVD burst into Lina's house and told her, her brother Jonas, and their mother that they all had twenty minutes to pack up their things and be ready to go. Lina, Jonas, and their mother all rushed to pack their things. The NKVD officers then took them and loaded them in the back of a truck packed full with other people. Lina and Jonas wondered where their father was, but their mother was unsure. Beings he worked at the college, one of the men in the truck said "He's long gone by now." This scared Lina and Jonas, but their mother said everything would be alright. The truck stopped at a hospital and picked up a newborn baby, still covered in blood, as well as the mother and threw them both in the back of the truck. They then took everybody to a train station where crowds of people were running all over the place in panic. Families were getting separated and people getting beaten. Jonas was taken by an officer, but his mother talked to the officer and gave him her watch to get Jonas back. They then were all loaded onto a train cart with 43 other people. They began moving from station to station not knowing what would happen next and Lina and Jonas worrying about where their Papa was.