Between Shades of Gray

by Ruta Sepetys

You stand for what is right, Lina, without the expectation of gratitude or reward.

It was the last time I would look into a real mirror for more than a decade.

I pictured a rug being lifted and a huge Soviet broom sweeping us under it.

Have you ever wondered what a human life is worth? That morning, my brother’s was worth a pocket watch.

Lithuania had never looked more beautiful. Flowers burst with color against the June landscape. We moved along, our cars marked “thieves and prostitutes.”

Or a sadness so deep, like your very core has been hollowed out and fed back to you from a dirty bucket?

I felt as if I were riding a pendulum. Just as I would swing into the abyss of hopelessness, the pendulum would swing back with some small goodness.

They chose hope over hate and showed the world that even through the darkest night, there is light.