Not Leaving {The Book Thief}

15

   Rudy's  POV
    Sarah and Charles wished us luck on our journey and donated a bit of money to our cause. We left for the train station immediately, and we were lucky in having only 10 minutes till our train arrived. Liesel opened her book she was given at the Wolfgangs abode. I wished I had managed to keep Peter Pan for her to read but sadly it was misplaced. I looked away from Liesel and for the first time in ages I let my mind wonder to something other than Liesel. My Mama and Papa would never get to see me marry, presumably Liesel, and my siblings would never marry. The only  child who ever thought of marriage was Kurt, but he was out running errands when the bombs dropped and was likely among the first gone. My parents would never know being a grandparent. My siblings would never have nieces and nephews, my family would have been so large had they lived to bear children. I felt a dark gloom start to cover me so I lit my brain with memories of Liesel. Me throwing a snowball, to try and stand out in her mind. Racing her and being a general show off. I had no idea how simple my life was then, I had no idea how much death and heartache would ensue into my life. The clocked chimed for our train and me and Liesel grabbed our bags to make our way into a 3rd class car. "Let me carry that, Saumensch." I grinned at her and took the worn out handle. "What have been reading any ways?" I asked trying to strike up conversation to distract myself from my wondering thoughts. "It's poetry, Edgar Allan Poe to be specific. For some odd reason it has stoke  in my head a memory of my Mother reading poetry." She said dreamily. I couldn't bear thinking about meeting her Mother. What if she wished me to leave her precious daughter alone? It was an extremely stupid thought but it was terrifying all the same. Liesel didn't seem to be thinking about her mother's reaction to me at all, and I'm glad that nothing wasn't worrying too much.

    In its entirety, the train ride was nearly completely uneventful. Nearly. We had both napped for what we assumed was 2 hours and spent the remainder of the train ride in a daze. However the daze was not endorsed by sleep. Liesel had taken a break from her book so she could savor it so she instead took to examining each of the passengers and making up stories which she whispered to me. She always became so extrodinarily beautiful when she told stories. She finished her story about a poor woman in mourning and looked around towards a group of traveling salesman. "This will be a good one!" She turned to me grinning wildly. "They aren't really salesmen, their American spies! And they are here to destroy the remnants of the Führer!" She said excitedly, and turned to get a better look at them so she could add on to her story. She leaned back towards me. She had started to continue her story when a long whistle interrupted her. "Eh! What are you looking at, pretty little thing aren't you?" One of the salesmen shouted out. Liesel squeezed herself as close to me as possible.  One of them stood up and walked over to us, "Well aren't you going to apologize? It ain't nice to stare." He said gruffly. Liesel reached for my hand and avoided his eyes, I started to grip her hand but the man grabbed her by the arm and yanked her from the seat.  I boiled with anger and panic and grabbed Liesel back and pulled her behind me and swung at the man. I missed and instead felt sparks burst in my eye from where he had punched me. "Rudy! Rudy..." My hearing gave out as my heart pounded in my ears. I swung my leg out and tripped the man, hitting him into the seat across from me. "... Stop..." I heard from behind me. I scrambled up and kicked the man in the ribs repeatedly, nothing could hurt him enough. A porcelain hand grasped my shoulder and I turned to see Liesel looking at the conductor.      "Break it up! I'm going to have to ask you to sit before I kick you off at the next stop!" He shouted at me.

     I started to  explain that the man laying bloodied in the aisle was the criminal but Liesel yanked me down into the seat. She hugged my arm and buried her nose into my shoulder. The conductor helped the man up and helped him to a first aid kit. "Thank you, Rudy." Liesel whispered as she kissed my black eye. "This is, what? Your second black eye?" She teased. "And hopefully I have many more to come." I joked back. "Promise me you won't fight anymore, I don't care what happens." She asked in all seriousness. "I promise" I said, but I doubted I would be able to keep my promise. We spent the rest of the train ride in shock over how quickly everything happened and ended. We screeched into Berlin station since we had missed our original one while we slept. Liesel and I gathered our things and avoided looking at the salesmen as we passed by, but looked back to find them staring at us so I spat at their feet. They left us alone though. The second we stepped off of the platform Liesel was standing on tip-toe searching for her mother. I ignored her since her mother being here was unlikely. A group of blonde children whisked by me and reminded me of my little sisters. My heart tightened so I hurried back to Liesel. "She isn't going to be here Liesel." I whispered. "You never know!" She exclaimed as she continued to walk "èn pointe".

      I slumped into a bench and watched her carefully as she wiggled through the crowd, keeping a close watch on her red dress. She walked casually and elegantly, like the princess she was. I reached into her bag to read her poems but I caught sight of her starting to run at full speed. I shut her bag and grabbed it as I started to follow her. "Liesel! Liesel?" I chased after her. I popped out from a dense part of the crowd and found Liesel blonde hair mingled with dark brown curls. Was this her mother? I couldn't see the other woman's face but I caught a glimpse of her matching smile. I stood there awkwardly and smiled. The mother looked at me and her eyes widened with nervousness. I forgot about my black eye and I realized how stupid I looked. Liesel turned and ran to me and tugged me over to her mother. The mother heald Liesels chin and looked at me curiously. "Who might this be Liesel?" She asked with a sparkle in her eye. "Oh mother! This is Rudy! My neighbor from Himmel street. It was bombed and we were the only survivors and then we found Max but I was seperated and had to stay in an orphanage but Rudy found me! Max is in Norway since it wasn't safe for him, but we can go get him next!" Liesel spilled out as she hopped like a giddy little girl. "Oh Liesel! I want to hear everything in depth, but who is Max? And is Rudy your..." Liesels mother blushed. "Max was the jew me and the Hubbermans hid in the basement! But he left two years before the bombing, he came back only a few days after though. Oh mama, you would have loved Hans and Rosa, the Hubbermans I mean. What was your other question? Oh, Rudy..." Liesel stopped her eruption and smiled up at me like a child at Christmas time. "Rudy is my boyfriend, I suppose. But he really always has been. He has been with me since the day I arrived at Himmel." Liesel said, more thoughtfully than all her other answers. "My Liesel, you have grown so much! I suppose you've spent as much of your life with Rudy here as you have with me! It is an honour to meet you Rudy." She smiled at me and squeezed my shoulder. "Mama? Why are you here at the train station?" Liesel asked as she heald a pleased smile on her face. "Oh, well, I... erm... I was waiting for someone. Not you but..." The mother glanced about nervously. "Mama? Who are you waiting for?" Liesel looked over at me as if I knew. I shrugged in return, I was becoming engrossed in my own curiosity. "Liesel, I... it can wait. Let's go to my apartment. It is a lot smaller than our old one..."