The Forbidden Six

December 9th, 1937

That Saturday morning, Jakob went to get the mail. The mailman handed him a single white letter. Jakob flipped it around and read the return address. The ten year old disbelievingly blinked and quickly ran inside.

"Werner?" he called. "There's a letter for you." When there was no answer, Jakob ran to his brother's room. The room was vacant. He ran to the living room, another of his brother's usual haunts. His mother sat on her favorite chair next to the window. The cold winter sunlight streamed onto the side of her face, illuminating her blue eyes. "Mutti? Where is Werner?"

"I think he's at Liese's. Why?" She looked up from the pair of pants she was hemming.

"Werner got a letter and I'm going to bring it to him," Jakob answered, being as cryptic as possible.

"Just be back by seven."

Jakob sprinted past Leyna's house and Pieter's house to get to Liese's. He rapped on the door and impatiently waited for the door to open. The letter was firmly clenched in his hands. Liese peeked her head out and saw the small brunet boy.

Before Liese could speak, Jakob held up the letter. "Werner got a letter and he has to read it right now. It's extremely important."

She nervously invited Jakob inside. She called for Werner and Jakob handed him the letter. Werner paled upon reading the return address. He opened the letter and quickly looked over it. Jakob stood by, trying to read it.

"What does it say? Werner, I want to see. What does it say?" Jakob stood on his tiptoes. Werner held the slip of paper away from the boy's line of eyesight.

Liese appeared over Werner's shoulder and read it. Her eyes widened and she took the letter in her hands, wrinkling it. Her eyes roved over it a few times. Thirty seconds of silence passed.

"I bet this is just Mena or Leyna pranking us," she declared, folding it up. Jakob still stood, trying to see the contents of the letter.

"Anne, it looks pretty real."

The two stared at each other. Werner raised his eyebrows and Liese frowned. Jakob tried to follow what was happening and was quickly lost.

"What does it say? Tell me," he complained, interrupting them.

Werner turned to his little brother. "It was nothing, Jakob."

He pouted and crossed his arms. "You're lying. What does it say?"

Werner turned back to his friend. She nodded and climbed the stairs, leaving the pair of siblings alone.

Once she was gone, Werner knelt down so he was on the same level as his brother. Jakob watched, an uneasy expression surfacing on his face.

"I'm...not going to be home very often anymore," he started.

"What do you mean?" Jakob bit one of his nails.

"I'm going into the army."

There was a beat of silence before Jakob burst into noise. "You can't go into the army! You're not eighteen. Werner, you can't. You can't!"

He ran out the door, leaving it open. A cold breeze swept through the house, bringing snowflakes with it. Werner stood in the doorway and watched as his younger brother ran down the street. He took no effort to stop him.

"Werner?" Liese's voice, uncharacteristically soft, floated down the stairs. Werner turned to see her standing at the landing at the top of the stairs. Her hand rested on the railing. "I heard Jakob leave." She descended the stairs and pushed the door closed. "I know the army is hard but as long as we have each other, we'll be okay. I'll make sure to come visit you. I don't really know how the army functions but—" She was interrupted by Werner's arms surrounding her. She let out a breath and hugged the boy. They stood there for five seconds before Werner pulled away.