Five times Erik Lehnsherr lost something and the one time he won.
My thanks go to Dreaming-Of-A-Nightmare, who was incredibly fabulous and listened to me whine about this and even gave me advice. Kudos!
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Erik is a small boy, even for his age. His Pawpaw was a small slight man and his mama is a small thing as well. So, even if he's ten, he looks like he's around seven. Erik is a quiet soul, who enjoys helping his mother with the traditional household tasks.
He's a mommy's boy, and the neighborhood bully takes great pride in making him cry. (Fritz is going to die in three years. He's going to be slowly crushed to death under a piece of metal because Shaw wants him to be angry and hurt. Wants him to kill. Erik will have to watch as he stops breathing, will have to smell his blood. Shaw will clap him on the shoulder and whisper Good job into his ear. Fritz used to like singing alto in choir) Today though, Fritz is acting differently. Eric thinks that it has to do with the men who came through the town yesterday – the ones with the uniforms and the angry voices who had cried out against the gypsy's, the homeless, and the jews. Erik supposes this last one must be the reason he's currently sitting in a dark alleyway nursing a bleeding nose and a hurt arm. He sniffles a little bit – why does Fritz have to be so mean all the time? What has he ever done to him? Crying a little, he staggers to his feet and fashions a makeshift band aid out of an old handkerchief that belonged to his father. He ignores the swift plummeting sensation in his gut when he sees the flowers his mother had painstakingly sewed on become stained with blood. Eric quietly limps his way out of the darkness and walks down to his house. Along the way though, he has to ignore the jeers that the neighborhood gives him.
When Erik gets home, his mother hugs him with a fervor, whispering thanks to the lord into his hair. Erik won't understand why his mother seemed so scared he's is home safe, but he'll learn in the morning that nice Mr. Stein from next door didn't come home last night.
10 year old Erik Lehnsherr is going to learn about hunger and fear and ice. This is just the beginning.