To Be Brave (Chronicles of Narnia fanfiction)

Hannah's Exodus

February 2nd, 1939

Hannah grasped the small bag her mother handed her. It was filled with necessary belongings, and would soon be all she owned in the world. She wasn't allowed to bring a lot of material items, only those that would serve her well in a foreign country. Cold sweat crept down her neck as bodies shifted around her. The worries increased as she heard the sound of her thudding heart mixed with the echoes of footsteps.

She knew she would have to leave Germany eventually. It took her parents long enough to realize this—that they couldn't be safe. Their rights as citizens had been stripped away from them. First Hannah couldn't go to school with her friends, then she wasn't allowed to go to the park or movie theater, and then her Father lost his job as a dentist. Her Mother wasn't allowed to teach. They were very smart people, but they weren't smart enough to understand that they weren't wanted. Jews were no longer normal people.

As other children with tags clipped onto their clothing were being bordered on the train, Hannah's mother knelt down to clip her daughter's tag. She made sure it was tightly fixed onto her thin red coat. She fiddled with her daughter's braids, caressing her dark hair for what may be the very last time.

"Do you remember your English lessons, Leibling?" her Mother pestered in a quiet tone, "I want you to be able to communicate, even if it's only a little."

"Yes," Hannah replied, though it wasn't very clear English with her strong German accent. She only learned a few words her mother knew, but they may help her communicate a bit.

Her mother's face fell. She has always been a spirited person, but it was rare to see a smile nowadays. She was always beautiful when she smiled; her cheekbones lifted and her short, curly hair framed her perfectly. After her father was taken away on that dreadful night, her mother couldn't smile. If only she could've seen it once before she left, though of course the Nazis had taken away her spirit too.

"Come here," her mother said, gently. Hannah nearly tackled her, as she wrapped her arms around her.

"I'm scared," Hannah whispered. "I don't know if I'll ever see you again. What if they take you away like they took Papa?"

"Hush, hush," she tried to calm down her child. Tears streamed down he little girl's face. "Everything will be alright."

"No, it won't!" Hannah whimpered. "I can't think of happy thoughts when I know I have to leave you!"

"I'll never leave you. I'll always be right there," she softly pointed to the right side of her daughter's chest. "Your heart will have room for me, won't it?"

"If it's big enough," she said, trying not to choke on her tears.

"There is no one with a heart as big as yours," her mother said, her voice low and mellow. "Make sure that the English don't allow you to forget who you are."

The little girl slowly nodded. She nearly jumped when she heard the announcer's loud voice echo through the station. "Final call to all the kinder! Final call to all the kinder!"

With that, the mother grabbed her daughter by her hands, pushing through the pool of people. A guard with a stern, menacing face checked her number before ushering onto the train. "By, my Liebling," she whispered before being dragged away.

She was shoved into a compartment with three girls. All wore long, slim skirts. A tall girl who couldn't have been older than sixteen, a girl who looked roughly about the other girl's age, and a little girl with her light hair twisted into a Dutch braid. All of the children nervously looked out the window, waving to their parents. Hannah joined them by the window, pressing her face against glass. She locked her eyes with her mother, who was all the way in the background.