Find Sara's work at the Sidney and Berne Davis Art Center in Fort Myers Florida. The Dark Art exhibit runs from October 6 2023 to October 25th 2023.
Sara Larkin earned an honorable mention in the Beyond Earth Art exhibition online with Ten Moir Gallery, October 2023
This project was born from the events of October 7th, 2023, and the worst attack on Jews since the holocaust. I may not practice Judaism, but Ashkenazi blood runs through my veins on my mother's side. I created this project because we see it happening on TV, but it is still so far away from us and our reality. We tend to watch it on the news and see the story as a whole, not the individual stories. This is a fictional story based on the true events of the attack on Israel on October 7th, 2023. I hope it moves you with sadness and compassion for the innocent people of Israel.
"סבל וכאב"
"Suffering and Pain"
10/13/23
It’s Saturday morning, 7:14am. I grab my cup of coffee from the single cup coffee maker, grab the paper off the kitchen table and look in on Sophie to see if she’s still sleeping as I head out to the back patio to catch up on the day’s news. She’s so funny, she sleeps with her mouth wide open. The birds are chirping, the sun is rising, and I have to say, it was the beginning of what I thought was a beautiful day.
In what seemed like the same moment that I sat down, I heard the faint sound of what sounded like gunshots. At first, I couldn’t wrap my brain around the noise. I couldn’t quite determine exactly what it was, so it took a few seconds before it registered in my brain. I heard more gunshots, and they sounded a little closer this time. As I started to realize what was happening, I lost the grip on my coffee cup, and it fell to the floor and smashed into pieces. I raced into the house screaming for Sophie and Anna to wake up. “GET UP!!! GET UP!!! SOPHIE, ANNA, GET UP RIGHT NOW!!!!!!”
I literally snatched Sophie out of her bed, her little eyes still closed. I didn’t mean to be so rough but the thought of those gunshots getting closer was all that was spinning in my head, and I had to get them to the safe room NOW! Sophie immediately started crying as she wrapped her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck. I didn’t even have time to console her, I just didn’t have time! She buried her head in my neck as I raced into my bedroom to get Anna. She was already out of bed and coming towards me.
With tears steaming down her face, she asks me “are those gunshots?! David! ARE THOSE GUNSHOTS?!” I screamed “YES!!” as I grabbed her wrist and raced to the safe room. The level of panic at this point was palpable. When we got to the saferoom, I handed Sophie off to Anna and I ran to get my phone from my bedside as fast as I could. I heard gunshots again, this time sounding like they were right outside, and now people are screaming. I grabbed my phone and raced back to the saferoom. Theres no more time!
As I’m running down the hallway, Anna is standing in the doorway with Sophie, Sophies head buried in Annas chest and wrapped around her like a blanket, sobbing. Tears are streaming down Annas face as I quickly glance at her, terror, and fear in her eyes. I didn’t have time to think! I ran past her into the saferoom and nearly knocked her over as I simultaneously grabbed her and shoved her and Sophie down into the corner. I slammed the door shut and pushed the table up against the door trying to jam it. I rushed to Anna and grabbed the blankets off the shelf and collapsed next to her and Sophie all in one swift move and covered us up to hide from the evil that we had no idea was about to descend upon us.
For a few brief moments, there was silence. All the sudden I could hear the neighbor’s dog barking like crazy and snarling. I heard voices. Men’s voices. Suddenly the front door of our home was kicked in and it sounded like a bomb had gone off. Sophie screamed with her head still buried in Annas chest, so I squeezed them both tightly and quietly told her “Shhhhhhhhhhh” as I put my index finger to my lips and looked at Anna. It was in that moment when I looked into her eyes, under those blankets, That I knew… I knew we were about to die. That’s when my tears started to flow. The fear and terror in my wife’s eyes as she stared at me, tears flowing from her eyes like a waterfall, was more than my heart or my soul could bear. I kissed her and I kissed the back of Sophies head as I squeezed them as tight as I could, and I whispered, “I love you. I love you. I love you.” I couldn’t stop myself from repeating it.
“Find them!!”. “Get the saferoom!!” “Kill them all!!” They were screaming in Arabic. I heard them coming down the hallway. The saferoom door flung open with a crash. I squeezed Anna and Sophie so tight, pressing Sophies face into Annas chest so hard so she would be quiet. I kept whispering to Anna and Sophie, “I love you, I love you, I love you.” Those were the only words I could make come out. The blankets came flying off us and I was immediately smashed in the face with the butt of his AR15. I saw a bright flash, like from a camera, and at that point I went unconscious. When I came to a few minutes later, I could faintly hear the terrorists yelling in Arabic. It sounded like they were really far away at first. My ears started ringing really loud and I opened my eyes, and I couldn’t see out of my left eye. It was already swollen shut and I could feel the blood flowing down my forehead and into my eye. I could taste it. Then I fell back out.
When I woke up the second time, a few minutes later, my whole world stopped. My whole life flashed before my eyes like it was on a movie screen. Time seemed to be standing still as my life was flashing before me. The day of my bar mitzvah when Uncle Joe spilled red wine all over my cousin Ruths new dress. The speech I gave at my brother’s wedding when I had a little too much to drink. The day Saba passed away and mom thought she was having a heart attack. The day I married my Anna and the day my beautiful Sophie was born. Then I realized that Anna was screaming at the top of her lungs. I can’t see out of my left eye and my hands are tied behind me. I looked to my left and see the guy with the AR15. He’s grabbing my daughter away from Anna so violently as Anna is fighting and clawing and kicking to hold on to her. Sophie is screaming and crying at the top of her lungs. I start screaming at the terrorists. “LEAVE THEM ALONE!!! DON’T TOUCH THEM!! LET ME GO!! I struggle to get to my feet when I’m hit in the back of the head again. Unconscious I go for the third time.
I open my eyes and the terrorist has me by my hair in the back of my head. He’s shaking my head so violently back and forth and screaming “WATCH!!!WATCH!!!!WATCH!!!! NOW YOU WATCH THEM DIE!!” as he’s pulling me by my head to my knees. I looked at Anna across the room. She had a gunshot wound in her stomach and she was covered in blood. I screamed as loud as my lungs would let me. “NOOOOOOOOOOOO ANNAAAAAAAAAAAA”. She looked at me, red tears streaming down her face and reached her hand out for me as she was gasping for air. I was screaming like an animal. Not words. There were no words. Just animalistic sounds of grief. Laying on the floor in front of Anna was Sophies lifeless little body, covered in blood. Her arm had been torn off and lay by her feet. She had too many bullet holes in her to even recognize her face. At that moment every fiber of my being was screaming and trying to get to my family.
The terrorist kneeled beside me and jammed his handgun into my chin, forcing my face upwards. “Watch!” he screamed at me. I suddenly went deaf. The other guy grabs Anna and rips her robe off exposing her panties and bare breasts. I can see them laughing and screaming, but I can’t hear anything. The terrorist across the room has a gas can in his right hand and starts dumping it over Anna as she fights and gasps for air. Gasoline is filling her lungs as they grab her face and force her mouth open to pour it straight in. They pour gasoline all over Sophies body as well. I can’t even hear myself screaming. My legs give out underneath me. The guy with the gun shoved up into my chin is slamming my head into the wall shaking me trying to make me watch. The guy across the room looks at me and smiles. He screams something at me, but I can’t hear him. One of the other terrorists throws him a lighter and as he smiles at me, he kneels down and sets Anna and Sophie on fire. I thought, God, what have we done? I felt the air leave my lungs right then. “LETS GO!” And with that, the terrorist with the gun in my chin, pulls a machete from his thigh holster. “Anna, Sophie, I’m coming”. I was thankful it was all about to end. Still holding my hair on the back of my head, he slid that machete across my neck until it came out the other side. There he stood holding my bloody head, screaming “death to the Jews!! Death to the Jews!!” as he emptied the clip of the handgun into my body, tossed my head into the fire and walked out the door as the house and my family and I burned.
This a fictional story
Based on The True Events of October 7, 2023 In Isreal
Any similarity to real people is purely coincidence.
Written By Sarajane Larkin
©Sarajane Larkin
All Rights Reserved