The Boy in the Basement

Chapter 32

The train station wasn't terribly busy when we got there. It didn't seem too significant at first, but in reality it was scary. The nearly empty platform meant that there were not many people left to be sent to war. he war may come to a soon, I thought.

The past week had been a bit tough. Actually, very tough. All of us missed Max terribly. I hated to fact I couldn't go and visit him as often as I had. A lot of stuff reminded me of him; arts, books. But I tried my best to keep the art store the best it could be. In a way, keeping the store alive made it feel like he was with me still.

As soon as we got to the train Papa was to go on, Mama hugged him. For a brief moment, I thought I heard a sniffle. They hugged for what felt like forever, and then Mama walked off slowly. Liesel jumped into Papa's hugged him tightly.

"You've grown up so much since you first came here, I barely noticed." Papa said. "Promise me you'll take care of Mama? She's not as strong as she seemed."

"I will, I promise," Liesel said. "You'll come back home soon, right? Everyone else is leaving forever, and I don't want you to leave forever, too."

"I'll do my best to come back." Papa gave her one more big hug, and then Liesel went to find Mama. It was my turn to say goodbye, which was going to be incredibly hard to do. "You've grown very much, too. More than I could imagine. You know, I still remember when you were only 4... you were so small, and shy. But you've become a strong, smart, kind and wonderful 25-year-old woman, and I couldn't be more proud of you." He hugged me tightly.

"Thank you, Papa." I could feel my eyes tear up a bit.

"Take care of Rosa and Liesel." He said softly. "Mama would try her best to do everything on her own, but she needs help."

"Of course." He kissed my forehead, and we pulled away from the hug. The train let out a whistle. "Well, I'll see you soon, I hope."

"I'll come back, I promise." He got on the train, and I went to join Mama and Liesel. The train slowly pulled away from the station, and Papa got smaller and smaller until the train was only a small dot in the distance.

"Mama? Are we going to be alright? Will we make enough money?" Liesel asked.

"Ya, we'll be alright," Mama said. "It's just the two of us, so we can spend less on food and what we need."

"Besides, I'm going to help you both," I assured her. "We'll make it through this."

"I don't want to lose Papa." Liesel said softly.

"We're NOT going to lose him!" Mama snapped. "He's going to come home." I could see ears in her eyes.

"Come on, let's get home." I said. Mama was upset, that was clear. I knew she would hate it if people saw her emotional like this, so we had to get home. The whole walk home was silent. Mama looked more vulnerable than ever, and Liesel was softly crying. She immediately ran upstairs when we got home. Before I could do anything, Mama actually began to cry.

"He's gone," She sobbed. "He's gone..."

"Mama, he's going to come back." I hugged her. "He's not actually fighting, you know. He's only cleaning up after the bombings. He's in danger, but not in as much. He'll come home."

"But when? This war could last years. Hans could be gone for years, and Max could have to hide until he's old." Mama wiped her eyes. "It's all so stressful..." That's when I realized that Mama felt this quite often. She had been holding all this in, and probably for years. This was probably the first time she had allowed herself to be emotional and vulnerable in a long time.

"I'm not sure. But America got involved in the war. Perhaps they'll put an end to all this soon. They're capable of it." Mama didn't respond, she only nodded. "You should probably go lay down and rest, it's been a long day for all of us." I led her to her room, and she lay down.

"How is it you're so calm?" Max asked.

"I don't know," I admitted. "I think it may be because I've been through so much tragedy already, so I can't work myself up over it. I'm going to go check on Liesel, alright? I'll come back soon, I promise." I quickly went up to Liesel. Surprisingly, she wasn't crying anymore. "I see you're feeling a bit better..."

"Ya, I am." She said. "I think he's gonna come home."

"I think so, too." I sat down next to her. "Mama is quite upset."

"I imagine so. They've spent their lives together," Liesel said. "You know Mama, though. She'll make it through."

"I hope so." I said softly. It may take a while, I thought. "So, are you hungry at all? It's getting close to dinner." Liesel nodded. "Alright. I'll go get dinner really, then."

"I'll help." Liesel said. We both went downstairs and began heating up soup. The whole house was so quiet and tense; we had lost two people in the past week. It was an entirely different environment than what we had grown accustomed to over the past 2 years.

Dinner was done 10 minutes later. I went to go see if Mama wanted to eat, but she was sleeping. I almost woke her up, but decided against it. She needed sleep more than she needed food at the moment. So I went back to the kitchen and sat across from Liesel.

"She's asleep right now. I think she really needs a good night sleep." I said.

"Don't tell her, but I've heard her up from quite a few nights," Liesel said. "Usually she just walks around the kitchen. I think she's just been restless and worrying about Papa and Max. I've never dared to say anything because I know she hates it when people see her upset."

"She's just kept it in for so many years. I think it's gonna take her a while to get better." I said. We both ate in silent for a while, our minds racing.

"Is America going to take over Germany?" Liesel suddenly asked.

"No, of course not. Why do you ask that?"

"They're so powerful, and they're against us," Liesel replied.

"Yes, that's true. But they won't entirely take us over. I don't think they're that bad. America is just trying to do what they think is right." I said. "It actually seems like a fairly decent place..."

"You think so?" Liesel asked. "I've always thought they were strange in america. So patriotic..."

"You're right, they do have a lot of pride." I shrugged. "But they're not so bad, even in they are against Germany." Liesel smiled a bit. "No matter what, I think things are going to turn out just fine." I had to keep telling myself that, and telling it to Liesel. We couldn't lost the small bit of hope we had. If we did lose that hope, our lives would become pointless.