Not Leaving {The Book Thief}

6

                         Liesels POV
    I spent that night dreaming. My brother Warner appeared in my dreams after a months absence. Except this time he wasn't dying, he was being bounced on Mothers knee. He was laughing with his dark curls bouncing about. He was the spitting image of my mother, the same grey eyes and dark curls. My mother turned to me, I was 8 years old in this dream. "Liesel, next year, when I send you and Warner to the Hubbermans, you might get to meet one of my friends. They are the Steiners. A very large family. About 9 children if I remember correctly. Anyways I grew up with Barbara House, now she is a Steiner though. I hope you can become friends with her children, I last heard from her the year you were born now that I think about it. She had just had a baby, a little boy. Perhaps he will be your friend?" Her voice echoed in my head. "Yes, mother." I fell asleep in my dream, causing me to wake up. I sat there panting. That was a real memory, lost on my head due to its insignificance at the time. She knew Alex and Barbara. Mother will never know what happened to her...

    But Alex knows my mother! If he is alive, he could help me to find her! She would be in Berlin right now, where I had grown up. But what if the Nazi chased her away? Where would she be. If I wanted to find her I would have to first find Rudy. I yawned and fell back asleep. This time I dreamed of Rudy.  It was similar to the dream I had about him a year ago. The dream I had about his examination. I'm pretty sure I could feel myself blushing. But this dream was different. He wasn't inside a white tiled room, he was in the dark room he was in last time I dreamed of him. The man who had kicked him was back. "Liesel wouldn't be impressed with you, your too skinny, too boyish. Perhaps it's better that she's gone, that you wouldn't have the embarrassment. Rudy collapsed on the ground again, his leg shielding... He was crying again. He had a large bruise on his side from my last dream. The man walked over to him ran a knife across his face, scarring him. Just like last timed I screamed "STOP IT!"

   I was awaken by the sirens. Louisa rushed to my side and pulled me out of bed, "We need to go!" We all rushed out of the house, the staff herding us into the shelter. We sat in the middle of the shelter, holding eachothers hands. The shelter was as hot as an oven and it was definitely past capacity. Rosie, Louisa and I sat there humming an American song we didn't know the words to. It was sung by some little American girl. Shirley Temple? Rosie and Louisa were obsessed with it. We swayed back and forth humming the childish tune. When I swayed to my right I caught a glimpse of lemon yellow. I let go of Rosie and Louisas hands and stood on my tip toes. A lemon coloured head bobbed through the crowd. "Rudy!" I yelled. "Not again" the little girls whispered. The lemon coloured head stopped moving and then it started streaking towards me. I ran to meet it halfway. Rudy scooped me up in his arms, he kept kissing my cheek. "Liesel, I lo-" the sirens had stopped and Rosie grabbed my wrists and pulled me away. I lost sight of him. "Rosie it was him!" I told her when we emerged into the moon light. "Who? Who is him?" She questioned me. "It was Rudy! My 'true love' as you like to put it." "You are absolutely crazy Liesel, he was killed in a bomb like Lenox said." She said matter of factly. "How would Lenox know?! I swear it was him! He heald me in his arms until you pulled me away!" Rosie frowned up at me. "Well... if it was him he knows your here in Munich. Now let's get back to bed, I'm too tired to stand up any longer." We spead up to reach our other roommates. We had 2 hours until the morning bell, and intended to dream about Rudy.

   The third time I dreamed tonight it was about Rudy, just like I had hoped. But he was still in the dark room. He had a blanket covering him. I looked at his eyes and it felt as if he was really staring at me, the ocean of his eyes swimming with love for me. "Rudy, where did I go? They said I'm gone." He doesn't respond. His hair has grown out and he has the lightest hint of stubble. He is as skinny as Max was when he first appeared. "Where is Max?" But of course I wasn't really gone and Max wasn't really not there, and of course Rudy wasn't really their either. But in the moment it all made perfect sense. "Are you in a camp? Can you come back? I'm in Munich." He opened his eyes, but I hadn't realized they ever closed. "I love you Liesel." And then the room went completely dark. I woke up drenched in sweat. A few of the other girls were staring at me. "What are you looking at?" I whispered. Lenox piped up in her usual bossy tone, "You were talking on and on about 'Rudy' and 'Max' and 'I'm in Munich', it is quite annoying. You need to get some help." The bell rang a few minutes after I woke everyone up. We all dressed and rushed down into the front room. I grabbed only a biscuit and ran into the restroom again. I opened the window and looked all around it. The ground was a foot drop since the building was sunken in. The street was about 7 feet from the window and a sort of back garden was too far to bother counting. I slid one leg out the window and it scraped against the uneven brick, leaving a runner in my stocking. I sat there for a bit, determining whether I could manage to fit my whole body out the window. I was about to swing my other leg out the window when a maid shoved the door open. She grabbed me from behind and carried me up to my room. I thrashed about kicking her a bit, but she tossed me into my room and shoved her pudgy finger in my face. "Don't you dare try to leave this place! There is nothing out there for you!"

    Thus my plan was set in motion. If Rudy didn't find me I would be out of here in a year or two.