The Forbidden Six

December 28th, 1938

Pieter silently laid on his uncomfortable bed. There was nothing for him to do. Why go to his friends' house when nobody wants him there, anyway?

Ever since he got kicked out of Otto's house, he had been bouncing from household to household. The people he was with at the moment were not that enjoyable. They weren't exactly the most charming of people. One upside was that they had a few other kids, who he got along with. Pieter didn't get much food. He got whatever was leftover from his foster siblings. Their house was small and Pieter was staying in the basement. The small bed— which he lay upon— was situated in the middle of the room. A draft swept through the area and he shivered.

The doorbell rang. His "foster mother" could be heard above him, her steps loud and clunky. Pieter didn't even budge. Why should it? It wouldn't be his friends.

"Who are you?" he heard her crisp voice say.

He did not like her in the slightest. He could move out. He had no money. He had tried to get a job, but nobody would take him because he was Jewish. Without any money, he was stuck with this foster family. There was nothing he could do.

"I'm Anneliese Tisch, this is Werner Busch, Mena Thurman, and Otto Bauer. We're Pieter Engel's friends," a voice said. "I believe that he's staying here, correct?"

"Pieter is in the basement." There was a pause. Liese probably looked at her with a dubious expression. "It's his bedroom," she explained.

The door closed and a group began descending the stairs. They hadn't visited him for a month. They only visited when they wanted something. What could they possibly want this time?

Liese was the first one to step into the basement. Pieter covered his head with a pillow and pressed it against his face. Maybe they would go away if he didn't talk.

"Heda," Liese cheerily greeted him. Her cheeriness seemed to mock him.

"You haven't visited me the entire month," he said, his voice muffled. He removed the pillow since it was suffocating him. He sat up. Everyone had congregated at the bottom of the stairs.

Liese glanced at her friends with a grimace on her face. "We thought that you...you might need a break from us for a while."

Pieter sat upright. "And you decided that an entire month was needed?"

Liese fiddled with her necklace, clicking it open and close. "Uhm..."

"Well," Otto interrupted, "We took a month to plan something for you. We're really sorry about what happened."

Pieter gave them a suspicious glare. "Why did it take a month?"

Liese bit the inside of her lip. "Follow us and we'll show you."

"And why should I?" Pieter frowned, taking a defensive side. "What was I supposed to think? You ignored me for an entire month. You know what that means to me. If you don't talk to me then I think you hate me!"

"Piet, we don't hate you," Mena said.

"It seems like you do."

Liese turned to her friends, a helpless expression on her face. Mena slightly raised her hands in defeat.

"Pieter, please," said Liese. "We made something for you. It's our apology for ignoring you."

He relented, reminding himself "acta, non verba" which meant "actions, not words". If they were doing something for him, it must mean that they were truly sorry. After all, why would they go through all the trouble to seek him out if they hated him?

He crammed shoes onto his feet and followed his friends out the door after putting a coat onto his shoulders. The group turned onto a familiar street with a tall hedge. They entered Mena's house and entered her parlor. A warm fire lit up the room, along with a few candles. A blanket was laid out in the middle of the room, kind of like a picnic. A small mound was hidden underneath another blanket. Otto took the blanket off, revealing food underneath. Pieter reluctantly smiled.