The "Not So Ellis" Island

Rolf Schröder was a 17 year old man, he was born in the year 1898 in Berlin, Germany into a very poor family, his father abandoned his mother when Rolf was only 5 years old. Rolf was too young at the time and only vaguely remembered his father. Times were always tough after his father left. He was always the man of the house growing up, he never went to school since he had to work from a young age in order for him and his mother to survive, he did eventually teach himself to read and write though. They lived in a very poor neighborhood in a small humble home. That was all they could afford at the time. He always dreamt of getting his mother a nice house, and giving his mother the life she deserved. Unfortunately, the economy in Germany was bad and it was only  getting worse.  A small job in a weapons factory wasn't going to cut it. Little by little, they saw less people living in their neighborhood. These people had either starved to death, or had moved to the United States.

Rolf was a very shy guy. He had many insecurities since he was poor and never went to school. He rarely ever talked to anyone. He was way too shy to talk to girls. He didn't have time for a girlfriend either. He was always busy with all the overwhelming problems in his life. The only person that Rolf felt comfortable with was Aldrik Müller. Aldrik was his best friend, they had grown up being neighbors and they had even worked in the same factory for years. In 1913, Aldrik and his family moved to the United States, They moved to an American city named "Milwaukee". Rolf had never heard of it but he wished Aldrik the best. Times were never the same after Aldrik left. In 1914, the war Started after the killing of Franz Ferdinand, "just what Germany needed", thought Rolf. Deep down, he was scared. He was afraid that the so called "War to end all wars" was going to be too much for him and his mother to survive. In 1915, the war had taken it's toll, times were getting really bad, not only for Germany, but also for his small family. Rolf's mother had caught pneumonia and was getting extremely sick. Rolf had to quit his job to care for his mother. They had no income coming in and this only made it worse. His mother died the summer 1915.

Following the death of his mother, Rolf was in a really bad situation. He fell a victim of depression, nothing ever made him happy anymore. He begged for his job back but he didn't succeed. He lost his home because of the war, Russian soldiers had come into Berlin that fall and destroyed his whole neighborhood, he was lucky to have survived. However, he wanted to die. In such a short period of time, he had lost his best friend, his mother, his job, and now even his house. His life was turned around. He was sleeping in the streets. He thought of committing suicide, but he always got through it. He thought back to when Aldrik left. "Milwaukee", all he remembered was Milwaukee. He thought of moving to the states and didn't have to do much thinking before he decided to go. He thought to himself, "I have no reason to stay anymore, If I die on the way, it was meant to be". So he left.

When Rolf got onto the boat, he discovered a new fear; boats. All he could think about was the Titanic sinking a few years back, but he faced his fears and set sail. He quickly noticed that he was the poorest lad there, everyone on that boat was high class. While on the boat he was treated like garbage. No one treated him with respect. He hated the trip, but he couldn't wait until he made it to Milwaukee and reunited with Aldrik. The trip was hell, until he noticed a girl. She appeared to be around his age, maybe a little younger. She was a beautiful short girl, she had long black hair and beautiful hazel eyes. Rolf had only seen her once but he had memorized every detail, the way she smiled, her soothing voice, the cute little mole on her cheek, she was perfect. She had beautiful flawless skin and he simply ran out of words to describe her. All he could say was "wow". "God must've been showing off when he created her" he thought. She simply brightened up the room when she walked in. He had never been good with girls but he was suddenly compelled towards going up to her, so he did. Before he could think of something to say, he went up to her. "Hi" he said. "Move!!" she said as she pushed him away. He smiled as she walked away.

That night, Rolf couldn't sleep, he was still thinking about her. He wrote her a little poem. As he was writing that night, he was suddenly alerted by a crowd of screaming people. He panicked and hurried to see what was going on. His fear had become a reality, the boat was sinking! The people scrambled their way to higher ground all piled together like cockroaches. Rolf decided to not panic, he wasn't even going to try. That's the way god wanted it to be he thought. He said a little prayer as he was getting ready to die. He suddenly heard a scream for help. To his surprise, it was "the girl". Her dress was stuck on a chain and she couldn't get out. He ran towards her and helped her out. She said help me! he got her out and she said "I lost my grandmothers necklace". "Really?" he thought, "she's seriously worrying about a necklace right now?" but he put on a smile and said he would help, as he looked around he found that the necklace had fallen into one of the lifeboats on the side of the boat, he said hurry it's this way, they jumped into the boat and decided to take off in it. From afar, they saw the ship sink. This wasn't part of Rolf's plan but he wasn't complaining.

"I never got a proper chance to introduce myself" said the girl, "my name is Anina Schultz" she said. Nervously, Rolf replied "Nice to meet you, my Rolf is name........ Name is Rolf I mean, Rolf Schröder". Anina laughed, nice to meet you Rolf. There was an awkward silence. He began daydreaming. The way she said "Rolf" felt like a dream. As they kept talking, they found out that they were both orphans who were trying to get away from the war. They talked until they got to a deserted island in the middle of the Atlantic. They were already in love. They were there for about a week. Supplies were very limited, they ran out of most of the supplies they had in the boat. They ran out of fresh water to drink really quickly. They tried exploring the island to find fresh water but they ran out of luck. They were convinced they would die there. They slept on the beach every night looking up to the stars holding hands under the moonlight with the sounds of the waves crashing on the shore. They felt miserable inside but they were happy that they had each other, they got to know each other better than they had known their own family. One night, Anina was shivering, Rolf held her in her arms although he didn't have much heat for his own, they were both very cold and dehydrated. Rolf knew he was going to die. He was in so much pain yet it didn't seem to matter as long as he was by her side. Her beautiful smile made up for years of pain. With their time running down, Rolf said " Anina, if I die here tonight, I want you to know that you made my life worth living again, I love you". With his last breaths he recited her the cheesy poem he had written on the boat; Rolf died that night and so did Anina, but they died in each other's company and that's all that seemed to matter.....