Max

I've been walking in these lonely streets that have had their souls ripped out by the bombs. Every street seems to look like the same, grey bits of rubble and dust just everywhere. I don't know where I am, because all the towns look symmetrical. All I know is that I hope that all this walking is going to pay off and I'll find what I'm looking for. Liesel. I know in my heart she is still alive. And it's my destiny to find her. As I walk, I look up at the sky. There is grey clouds that fill the sky, with some stormy clouds from last nights storm. But if I was still in that basement, the basement filled with words, I could imagine Liesel coming down the stairs and telling me while I was so desperate to hear about the outside world, about the sky for today in her interpretation. I can imagine her saying " Today the clouds are like soft grey feathers, there is no bits of sky in sight. The grey clouds have finally escaped from the ominous clouds that are now departing." She would make the sky bsound so amazing and interesting. But now as I look at it now, with my own eyes, it isn't that amazing. I don't think any of the skies that she told me about would be very interesting in real life but Liesel made them be with her words. That's why I need her right now. I need to find her. I need her in my life. She was the reason why I stayed alive in that basement. She is filled with such beauty inside and out, such optimism and grace that she just glows. She makes the world seem one hundred times better. As I walk, I come across something on the ground that seems to once have importance. I crouch down and grab a corner of what makes out to look like some metal sheet. I grab it and pull it out from under the rubble and dust and I make out that it was once a sign. This could be my answer. I turn it over and I make out one word that has got a few letters missing but I still know what it once meant to say. Molching. This is were Liesel is, I am in certain of it. I start running, looking around for some sign of life. I try and look for some buildings that haven't been destroyed. I need to find her, I keep repeating to myself in my head with such urgency.

An hour has past and I have managed to find quite a lot of houses and buildings that have been untouched. Mochling must not of been as bombed as the other towns I have walked through. But none of the houses and buildings that I found seemed to have any sign of life when I walked through them. They were as dead as the ones that were in pieces. I sigh heavily and sit on a piece of broken concrete. I don't know how I can feel this great on the outside compared to what I was in the basement, I have a clean shaven face, are in good health and shape, have been tidied up with a haircut and some new clothes, but inside, feel so empty and my heart is ever so aching. I would rather be in bad health and be scruffy and dirty like I was in the basement but have Liesel come to talk or read to me and share those wonderful memories together. Making stories, her weather reports, sharing words and nightmares. And the snow. That was my favourite memory, the one I'll never forget.

After a while, I come across some buildings. I look into the first shop and I see that there is nothing in there. I walk into the next one, this is quite bigger than the first one. I look around and I realise that it is a tailor shop. I then suddenly stop. A man is standing at the counter looking at me. He has kind eyes, which makes me not afraid and he is wearing a suit and tie. I suddenly approach the counter. I ask the man " Is there someone here by the name of Liesel Menninger?" I wait in anticipation. Please God, let this be the right place, I beg you. I look up, and the man is smiling. That could only mean a good thing, I hope. "Yes, she is in the back." "May I ask who is calling her?" I am so delighted and over the moon with joy, that I nearly don't answer the question. " Yes, yes of course. Max." I say, smiling with glee. " Max Vandenburg." I wait as he exits into the back, and I need to keep reminding myself that this isn't a dream, that this is real. She probably can't believe what the man has just told her, that I am here. Then I see her. She freezes when she sees me. She is so grown up looking, absolutely beautiful and still glowing. I smile nervously. What if she hasn't forgiven me for leaving her like that? She then pauses and then gleams at me with all her heart. She runs to me, and hugs me so tight. I hold her closely, I will never leave her again. We both start to cry, we are both so overwhelmed, and then we fall to the floor and we lie down for long a time, in each other's arms, sobbing and laughing. As she touches my hair, she says the words she thought I never heard " Your hair is like feathers" and I start to laugh again.We belong together. I'm the boy who stole the sky, and she is the book thief.