After Dead ( The Book Thief Fanfiction )

The strong word

"Come on Liesel, please take a bath" Ilsa begged Liesel. Liesel was lying in her bed, her sight lost in the ceiling. Ilsa was standing in the entrance of the room.

"I'm not in mood" she said, almost in a whisper. A tear rolled down her cheek. " I promised I was going to kiss him, but he died, he-" Liesel's voice sounded devastated. She had no more hope. She was broken from the inside. " He left me" And in that moment Liesel started to sob. She cried, violently, in the pillow. Her heart was broken, completely broken. I watched her, breaking down. Ilsa ran to her, and hold her in her arms. She passed her hand softly in Liesel's hair. "WHY?!" Liesel sobbed. For the first time in my whole existance, I felt guilty. I felt guilty from taking Rudy, to take Hans and Rosa Hubberman, I felt guilty from taking her brother, from taking the whole Steiner family, from taking everyone in the Himmel Street. But specially, I felt guilty from taking Rudy Steiner. The book thief's best friend and true love. I could see the pain in her eyes, in the way she stared at the ceiling, in the way she cried. In that moment I hated my job. Then I wanted to take The Führer with me, take his life away, but my policy says that I'm taking lives away when the times come. I couldn't return Rudy, and I couldn't take the Führer's life.

"Oh honey, it's okay"

"No, it isn't okay, I love him, and I miss him, and now I hate the people who made this! I hate the ones who threw the bombs! I hate the Führer! I HATE WAR!" She took some breaths and remained in silence.

"Hate is a strong word" Ilsa replied

"I hate words"

"Then, why do you read?" Liesel wiped the tears out.

"Because I'm captivated by them, as well as the whole German people are captivated by the words of the Führer" She said, with a sight.

"Dead is unstoppable, you know that?" Ilsa says, with sweetness.

"I know, but Rudy didn't deserve to die that way, I wanted to call me Saumensch, I wanted him to keep telling me he wanted that kiss, and I really wanted to kiss him, but I was afraid, and now I hate myself, for not making his own wish in life come true. I'm so dumb!" She said, with an angry tone.

"You are fourteen, this type of mistakes happen"

"But he died, and he couldn't even make it to the 20's! He was also fourteen!" Her voice was breaking down again. Ilsa grimaced.

"Come on, get ready because we need to get to your parents's funeral" Liesel nodded lightly.

"Now go and get a bath, quickly" She shook her head with disapproval.

"Well, at least get something nice" Liesel nodded and got a beautiful gray dress from the closet.

At the funeral, Liesel was quiet. People asked her to say something nice about her parents, but she didn't accept. She did cry. Quietly, so no one could notice. At the end, everyone was telling her she was a brave girl and she needed to stay strong for her parents. She just looked at her shoes, with sadness. Also, everyone told her that they were happy that she was the only survivor of Himmel Street.

"Why do I had to be the only survivor?" She said to herself. Ilsa looked at her with compassion. Getting back from the funeral, Liesel asked if she could go to the store for some candies. Obviously, Ilsa accepted. Liesel ran through the Grande Street, in the direction to Himmel Street. She smiled. She ran as fast as I could. She arrived and she closed her eyes regaining breath.

"Rudy, you won't believe me, but I can get to the Hermann's house without going through the window! I can get you food, and whatever you want from that house! Also I-" she looked up. And saw nothing. The boy with the lemon hair wasn't there. She was standing alone, in the middle of destruction. She fell to her knees. She looked into the debris, and found an old picture. A man was standing next to his son, they both were happy. The boy was holding a soccer ball. He was grinning, with his lemon hair covering a bot of his eyes.

"Oh Rudy" Liesel eyes filled with tears "Why did you leave me?" She pressed the picture to her chest. She stood up, and- with the picture still pressed to her chest- she ran to the Amper river. She left the picture and some stuff she grabbed form Himmel Street in the side of the river, and dove in with clothes.

" I'M READY FOR THE KISS, SAURKEL!" She shouted with tears in her eyes.

" I KNOW I'M A STUPID SAUMENSCH FOR NOT ACCEPTING BEFORE! BUT KNOW I'M READY!" She shouted again "GODDAMN IT RUDY! I MISS YOU!" She didn't go further, because she didn't know how to swim, but the water was below her neck. The water was freezing, same as the day when Rudy took Liesel's book out of the river. << What about a kiss, saumensch?>> she repeated in her mind. And then she said it out loud.

"WHAT ABOUT A KISS, SAUMENSCH?" And that's when they heard her.

"Hey! Girl! Get out of the river! It is freezing cold!" A man said, walking by.

She got out of the river, shaking of cold.

"You always made my life difficult, Rudy"

"Liesel, this time you really should get a bath, you swam in a cold river, you need to warm up" Ilsa begged her again, for the second time in the day.

"I don't need a warm up" she said, with a cold tone, cold as the Amper's water.

"Yes you do sweetie, in your body and in your soul" Ilsa sat next to Liesel. "What about some reading? Reading always cheered you up" Liesel didn't accept.

"Or maybe some writing?" Ilsa asked again.

"Writing?" Liesel asked. Her eyes open widely.

"MY BOOK!" she ran outside the house to Himmel Street. She walked through the debris, looking for a black book. She looked under ceilings, under houses, under everything, but she didn't find the book. I hold it in my hands, with extreme care. "How could it go?"

"I have it" I said, but she didn't turn to see me. She didn't hear me. She kept looking for hours. Ilsa arrived two hours later of searching.

"I'm sorry Liesel, but we should get home, you can come back tomorrow" she nodded and walked with Ilsa Hermann back to Grande Street.