Not Leaving {The Book Thief}

10

                 Rudy's POV (finally)
      I laid there, curled up in a trench. It has been 2 1/2 years since I have seen Liesels porcelain face. Liesel. Had she already replaced me? Found someone not fighting for the Nazi? A man without a boyish body? I felt a sharp pain in my sides. "Stop crying arschloch. Get up!" He kicked me repeatedly in the side. "I said get up!" He yelled in my ear. I pushed myself out of the mud only to be kicked back in. "That's for not listening to me the first time." As soon as he walked away a pulled myself out. Men were fried all around me, burnt to a crisp. Every night I prayed that we would just be defeated already. It may be selfish but that's what Liesel made me. She was the only thing I had left to live for. Max was in Norway with my grandparents who, lucky for me, hated Germany. They tried to convince me to stay with them but I told them I had to find Liesel. "We can't hold you back from love, your our last chance at great-grandchildren" They teased. Children with Liesel. The thought was so alien I didn't even blush. Max had looked at me chuckling. "Oh shut up." That was probably my last happy moment. Dreaming about a future with Liesel. Was there a future with Liesel? She would be nearing on 17 now, old enough to fall in love and have others fall in love with her. She probably thought I was dead. I had roamed Munich for months after that night in the shelter but me and Max were forced to leave after someone tipped off the police about Max. When I returned to continue my search for Liesel I was immediately drafted into the war. They have been watching me since they had requested me to join that elite school. I've only been fighting for 6 months and I have already been shot once. But it wasn't some great war hero story. I had just learned to shoot a gun (sort of) but I miss aimed drastically and shot my foot. I nearly blew off my little toe but I ended up shooting myself just below it. I hoped that I would at least get to see my father again but I was sent to defend our borders.

Authors note : This takes place August 28th, 1945. Bear in mind the war ended September 2, 1945...

   As I made my way through the burnt bodies, far behind the rest of my regiment, I heard shouts. I had no idea what was happening. "Take cover!" The message finally reached me. I sprinted back into my trench. As soon as I landed in the trench I was covered in a layer of dust. I struggled out of the trench, my legs had been hit with debris from nearby vehicle. My ears were ringing, my head was flooded with the familiarity. Memories of Liesels sillouete against the white sky, hearing the news of my lost family for the first time. I was blinded by the added amount of bodies. "Rudy... help..." I turned around quickly. "Liesel? Liesel!" I ran, or limped, towards the meadow of earth, where she laid alone. I reached down to caress her porcelain face, but I found only warm earth. I felt around the earth searching for her until I stumbled into the bodies. The sun hurt my eyes, the sky burned through my eyelids. I rolled on to my side and puked up what little food I had earlier that day. My head was beating in time with my heart.

   I must have fallen asleep because I woke up in the arms of a man, a doctor? I blacked out again not waking up until I was in a large white tent. A nurse who looked not much older than 14 ran over and took my temperature and poured cool water down my throat. "Do you have anyone waiting for you back home?" She asked quietly. This was a common question asked by war nurses to comfort us, so we would have something happy on our mind. I didn't respond. "Do you have a family? A sweetheart? A best friend perhaps?" She asked a bit more bold. "A best friend and a girl..." I croaked out. "Tell me about them." She asked routinely. "She is a beautiful book thief and he is..." I couldn't find the right word for Max. He had become my best friend, besides Liesel, in those months roaming Munich. "...a bird in constant flight." Liesel had pointed out to me how his hair looked like feathers and added on to that, comparing him to a bird. "What do those mean?" She asked, out of honest curiosity. I hesitated to answer, why should I tell a stranger about the last people I had left? "Well, she stole books when she could have stole food. She devoured books, reread them hundreds of times. And he looks like a bird, his hair looks like feathers. She even told me that." I confessed. She was about to question me more but I rolled over and puked on the ground. "What is wrong with me anyways?" I asked. "I assume it's heat stroke, you were out there for a good 9 hours!" She exclaimed. I decended into sleep once more. But something strange happened. I dreamed. I know this isn't an extremely wierd thing but I have never dreamed, even when I was extremely young and other kids were waking up screaming. But back to my dream. Liesel stood in a light room in a blue silk dress, her head framed in curls. She looked radiant. But once I noticed her eyes something in me diminished. She didn't have a sparkle, her eyes had glazed over. "Dead" a voice echoed behind me. A tall man with blonde hair waltzed his way over to me. The second thing I noticed was a swastika arm band. "WHAT DID YOU DO!" I screamed swinging a punch. But instead of him sinking to the floor in pain I did. But the man never swung at me? The room slowly went dark and Liesel dissapeared.

    I woke up screaming with a swarm of nurses around me. "He has heat stroke! He's probably just hallucinating!" A voice called. "That isn't a symptom!" Another voice intergected. "Lies-Liesel... where is liesel... I need Liesel..." I cried. The nurses all left except for the one who had been with me earlier, the 14 year old. "Who is Liesel? Is she the thief?" She asked, you could hear how tired she was. "Liesel... I need to find Liesel... I mean yes, she is the... the thief... the book thief..." I said crazily. "Where is Liesel? I could help you right a letter!" She said, eager to be helpful. "I... I think she is in Munich. But I don't know where. We were seperated in a bombing a few years ago." I answered, coming out of my crazed state. "Well I guess we could right to the newspaper? Maybe they could help!" She said in her childish tone, not understanding how things worked. "Okay, write this out to Munich then." I said playing along. "Dear Liesel Meminger, I have been in this war for 6 months. I don't have any friends here..." I looked up to see the nurse frowning, "... except for my nurse who is kindly writing this letter." I added. She looked at me and smiled. "The bird has flown to Norway. You might be wondering why I have a nurse watching me. I am suffering from a heat stroke at the moment and woke up from an awful dream, I lost you. With love, Rudy Steiner." The little nurse scribbled on, struggling to keep up. "Thank you, you really have helped me." She only smiled and scurried away to find an envelope. What if I have lost Liesel? What if there was another bombing? All this time I've been worried that she thought me dead but what if she wasn't alive to even think about me. I didn't sleep that night in fear that I would dream of Liesel.