A/N: Wrote this in seventh grade... Love the Book Thief!
Letters and Moonlight
One cold night the color of a deep black, Liesel lay on the worn rug next to Max, who was finishing the crossword.
"Seventeen down…." she heard him muttering.
She could taste the boredom in the air. Liesel got up and walked to the basement. In the kitchen, she heard her foster parents yelling.
"Get a job, saukerl!" Mama could be heard as clearly as ever.
Once inside, Liesel walked straight to the farthest corner of the basement. There lay a small group of letters stuffed in a paint can. They were all the ones she had written to her mama. Her real mama. After sending all the ones she had written before, she wrote more, until the letters were more like diaries or journals. And she told no one. Not even Max. There she knelt, writing about her day; the weather, Rudy, stealing, books, Max and dreams, writing into the early hours of the day.
Footsteps, loud and quick. Max! Liesel, rubbing sleep from her eyes, hid her letters. She grabbed a paintbrush and curled up, pretending to sleep. Deep, slow breaths.
*** A SMALL NOTE***
Max knew Liesel was awake. Of course he did. He merely pretended to not know about her letters, which he had stumbled on while fighting Hitler. But he never read them.
Liesel felt Max's warm hands pick her up as carefully as I pick up souls. Soon, she felt her familiar bed.
"Schlaf gut," she heard Max whisper. "Sleep well."
Once his footsteps disappeared, Liesel pondered what to do now. Her eyelids drooped as she realized how sleepy she was. She was soon dreaming.
***ANOTHER SMALL NOTE***
Liesel's dream consisted of two things;
Her mama
Her letters
Liesel opened her eyes. Moonlight crept through the small window and engulfed her. A strange light. Almost white and blue, mixed together. The taste of innocence and Jews. She knew she was dreaming the moment she sensed someone-or something- was there. A face appeared, along with the rest of the body. One word crawled its way out of Liesel's stunned mouth.
"Mama."
There floated her Mama, her real Mama, glittering faintly in the moonlight. She seemed calm and like she was moonlight herself.
"Hello, little one."
"Mama? Is that you?"
"Yes. You remember your letters? All the ones you wrote? The reached me Liesel. Those letters gave me hope. Danke. Thank you."
"You're welcome, Mama. Where did come from?"
"That's not important. I only came to give you hope. And say thank you. I must leave."
"Goodbye, Mama."
Liesel felt herself drifting to sleep. The last words she heard were her mama's.
"Sleep, little one."
***A CONVERSATION FROM THE NEXT DAY***
"I saw her, Mama."
"Quiet, Saumensch."
"But, Mama-"
"I said quiet!"
Rosa Hubermann knew exactly were Liesel's mama was, as did I. From a letter, sent while Liesel was in school. She was dead. Gone. And Rosa would never tell Liesel. Because she had hope.