The Forbidden Six

December 19th, 1932

Anneliese Tisch's life was a dream and she never thought of it as anything different. She had friends who cared about her, a brother who she mostly got along with, and a loving family. Her town, Kassel, Germany, was beautiful and a wonderful place to grow up in. What else could anyone want?

As she dressed for the day, she heard a knock at the front door. Her brother, Augustine, ran to get it. The sound of Augustine scrambling down the stairs filled the house. He opened the door and Liese heard one of her friends speak.

She fixed a blue bow in her dirty blonde hair and admired how well the color went with her blue eyes. Dabbing a bit of rouge on her cheeks, she exited her room and descended the stairs. She found Leyna Hernon, one of her best friends, sitting at the table in the breakfast room. She smiled at Liese, who quickly returned the grin. They exchanged pleasantries and Leyna began to speak.

"Are you ready to go? I found a shortcut to Mena's house. It goes through the forest instead of on the streets," Leyna said with a glimmer in her hazel eyes. A strand of light brown hair fell in front of her eyes and she flicked it away with a toss of her head.

"Oh, mein Gott im Himmel, yes! The forest is so much nicer than walking through town, anyway." Liese clapped her hands twice in excitement.

Leyna looked at the clock on the wall. "If we don't take the shortcut, we're going to be late. We're going to Mena's first, ja?"

Liese flew into motion. "Ja. Mena's house and then school." She grabbed her brother's lunch from the kitchen then scooped her bag onto her arm. She walked down the hall to yell to her brother who was on the second floor.

"Augustine, kam hier. I want us to actually be on time today. I've been late to school the last two days and it's your fault."

A short, blond nine year old boy ran down the stairs with his messy hair and an untied shoe. He bent down to tie his shoe and Liese tried to make him more presentable. She ran a hand through his unruly hair.

"If you just let me comb it..." she said under her breath.

He swatted her hand away. Liese sighed and gave up. Her blue eyes flashed with annoyance and she went to grab her rucksack.

The three kids left Liese's house and began their walk. Leyna took a turn down an unfamiliar street. Augustine trailed behind the two girls. Liese made sure to turn around every so often to check that he was still behind them.

"Do you like my dress? I made it yesterday," Leyna asked Liese, holding out the yellow dress for her friend to see. "My mom helped me. She's the best seamstress I know. Someday, I bet I'm going to be as good as her." Her eyes shone with pride and she smiled.

"I love it," Liese responded with a small nod of her head.

Leyna thanked her.

She took another turn and began to head into the forest. Small gusts of wind blew leaves over the ground, making a rustling noise. A small layer of snow crunched under their Oxford shoes. Normally, the trees would block out most of the sunlight, but they were bare. Snow sat on the tree branches and fell with little puffs. Liese hugged her swagger coat closer to her body. A clump of snow fell on her head and she indignantly shook it away. Augustine laughed at her.

Once the tree thinned, the three turned down a street and saw Mena's house. The small yellow house had fallen into a state of disrepair. Vines grew on the outside walls and over the windows. It was far from downtown and so it was naturally quieter. The wind whipped around the lonely house, which stood at the end of the street. One of the bricks from the chimney had fallen out and laid on the gable roof, which had dark brown fishtail shingles. The wooden house had latticing on the side, as was the norm.