Projekt Liebe

Du Bist Sehr Shön

There had been an air raid that morning.

Dozens of Hitler youth boys were walking around the dark city, putting out flames and collecting stones and placing them into wheelbarrows. Me and some girls I knew had the job of finding children who couldn't find their parents.

Me, Zoey Harker, and Gabriella Goldridge were together.

We were mutual friends -I probably used that word right- and knew each other.

"Zoey, Birgitta, come here!" Gabriella yelled over the chaos, "I found a little boy!"

Me and Zoey walked over and saw Gabriella standing by Fritz.

"Aww, look how small he is!!" She yelled.

"I'm not small!" Fritz shot back.

"He's so cute! Can I keep him?" Gabriella said as she ruffled his hair.

"Get off me! I'm thirteen! I'm going to be in the Hitler Youth in a week!"

I sighed and pulled Fritz along with me, "Come on, Fritz."

We eventually reached a crumbled wall, overlooking a roof where Zoey was trying to help a little boy with a teddy bear get off.

"Sorry about my friends. They're a bit... special..."

More like special ed.

Fritz smiled, "It's fine! They weren't that bad anyways." He said with a laugh.

We saw Michael round the corner and started staring down the wall we were standing against. Only then did we turn around.

DOWN WITH HITLER! was painted on the wall in big red letters. Beside it was written THE HIGH COMMAND LIES! DOWN WITH THE NAZI BEAST!
And underneath the words was a little painted stencil of an edelweiss flower.

That was the mark of the Edelweiss Pirates. They were mostly made out of school and Hitler youth dropouts and they spent their days avoiding the SRD in cafés and beer halls, smoking cigarettes and playing pool and making up dumb lyrics to Hitler Youth songs. They let the air out of car tires, stole bicycles, picked fights with the Hitler Youth and BDM when they caught one of them alone.

They were now coming out during air raids and painting slogans across the city.

Later that day, I walked home from school, stepping over large areas of rubble. I checked my pocket watch, it was getting late. I sped up my pace to a jog.

That was when I ran face first into Michael.

Yay.

He stepped away before noticing it was me.

"Birgitta, I've been looking for you."

I furrowed my brows, "Well I guess I couldn't say the same. Can I help you?" I was still a bit mad at him, due to the whole thing that went down in the barn, including the exchanged death threats. He probably knew I wouldn't actually ever kill anyone.

"You... you don't agree with the Nazis, do you?" He said to me, but it felt more like a statement than a question.

I laughed and shook my head, "Of course not! You're hilarious, Michael."

He walked towards me, "Then what about in the barn with the British pilot? You really seemed to care about an allied soldier."

I walked backwards, but he kept following.

Then I ran like hell.

I rushed down the street and turned corners, Michael following close behind.

I eventually got to an alley. I was trapped.

He went over to me and wiped his forehead as he towered over me.

His hair seemed to be a bit damp with sweat—probably from chasing me around. His eyes sparkled with a glint of frustration. I noticed how handsome he looked with his hair messed up like that.

"Birgitta. I'm a spy as well."