Not Leaving {The Book Thief}

18

Rudy's POV

    Liesels Papa left about five minutes after Liesel told him about how her life had changed after he left. "When I left you fell in love, found better parents, and learned to read and write. I suppose I should leave again, maybe this time your brother will come back and you will marry Rudy." He stood and pushed Liesel aside, not roughly but as if he was pulling back a curtain. He left without a second glance at his grown daughter.

  Liesel grabbed her suitcase and pulled out the remainder of our money. "Max is all we have left now." She said. Her eyes were dry from her mamas harsh words so she only could harden herself. "It's one in the morning, just rest. We will go to the train station and get a ticket to Denmark, we can take a boat from there." I said. She sat her purse down and got in bed, she turned away from me. I reached into my coat and pulled out the velvet box. "When she sees Max again she will get better. I dont care how she gets better, just that she does." I thought. When Max greets her, oblivious of all things that had just happened to her, she will be sucked out of the darkness.

   I dusted off the velvet box and sat it back in my coat pocket and laid down by Liesel, facing her darkening blonde curls.

  Liesel grabbed my shoulder and shook me awake. "Can we go now?" She whined. "Just wait, I would like to change out of the clothes I've been wearing for the past two days." I said. I pulled back the thin comforter and grabbed a blue shirt and walked to the tiny bathroom that didn't work at all to change.

  I walked out feeling only slightly cleaner but Liesel was tapping her foot impatiently while holding both of our suitcases. "Ready?" She said impatiently. "Yes, saumensch." I grinned at her. She smiled slightly but immediately tried to pass it off as a glare. "I saw that!" I yelled and grabbed my bag from her hand.

  The walk to the train station was short and the ticket didn't cost too much. It was the cost of the boat that worried me, if we got trapped in Denmark it would all go downhill from there. "You excited for the train ride?" We hadn't striken luck this time as we had to wait two hours for our train to get here so I was trying to pass the time by talking to a deeply sad Liesel. It wasn't working out so well.

   The train came into the station normally and without cheers, even though that wasn't normal in the least I felt like a two hour wait would end with great fan fair. Liesel got into the train in a most simple fashion and nodded to a child who grinned at her courageously. She pulled out her book and read. It was still Edgar Allen Poe. "I thought you finished that awhile back?" I asked, even though I knew she hadn't. She looked up at me and shook her head sending her curls into flight as they bobbed around her face.
She smiled for the first time all day as she tried to fix her hair back into a loose bun.

   "Are you excited to see Max again? And my grandparents. Don't listen to a thing they say, the old loons." I joked. "Did you tell them about me she said as she fit one last pin into her hair. "I told them about a rude little saumensch!" I said and I tried to pull a pin from her hair which was bursting from its pins.

   "Rudy!" She giggled and she held up her book to deflect my hand. A very old couple looked at us and glared, the old women turned her nose up in disdain. "Well I think it's time for me to sleep." I slouched into my seat and crossed my arms and ankles.

   The train lurched around as we reached Aarhus, Denmark. We had made it through half of Denmark and needed  to hurry and find the cheapest boat to Norway. Liesel was already up and holding our bags but she didn't look ready to go at all. Her hair had fallen out again and her eyes were puffy from her long nap. "Part two begins!" I yelled.

Boat ride was uneventful, they arrive in Norway in the next part. I skipped through the boat trip because something exciting happens next and I want to get to it soon!