Thistles & Lies

"It'll be good for us. For you. Germany isn't the best place right now, and this new country is going to be better for us. I'm sure there's a school which allows uniforms too."

A man looked up in the mirror of his car and narrowed his eyes at the sixteen year old who was looking out the window. Despite everything being cramped in the car, the boy didn't complain about having to sit in the backseat like a child would do. The man shook his head. His son had always been so quiet since the news of having to leave behind Germany and Berlin. His son didn't care for the information his father was saying about the new country.

The man took one good long look at his son's appearance. At sixteen, his son still looked life his wife. The same black hair, and the baby blue eyes. His son was wearing a orange 'n' red t-shirt, some blue jeans, and green sneakers. Despite his son knowing to always answer, he didn't make an effort to do so, and the man groaned loudly, gripping the steering wheel tighter.

"Creek," he snapped. "Answer me when I'm talking to you. Did all those years in school not teach you a damn thing? You always answer your Vater when he needs you to!"

Creek sighed heavily and didn't answer. It took a full good minute before Creek began speaking to his father. "Why should I? You're just gonna tell me to shut up, Vater."

Creek's father snarled and rolled his eyes. He didn't know why he allowed his wife to name him Creek, but she said the name was important to her for whatever reason, and really it was stupid to think a child would be name something like that. Yet his son seemed to make friends and wasn't bullied for the name. He was sure his son was going to at least get teased for the name.

He even made a bet on it with his friend.

"You…!" Creek's father hissed, closing his eyes. "Just make something out of this new place. It's what Mutter would've wanted."

"Why do you always throw Mutter at me?" Creek questioned. "You were the one to divorce her. When she was suddenly run over by that truck, you acted like you were married once more. Vater, I was five when this happened. You're lucky I wasn't old enough to understand what happened."

"I…" The man gazed down the road, he hated knowing Creek was right on that sort of level. But he regretted divorcing his wife under something he had done a long time ago. "You're lucky you even knew her at all! You're ungrateful."

"Of course I am. I'm always ungrateful to you," Creek mumbled, slumping back in his seat. "You forget America isn't exactly the best place. Compared to Canada, we're heading into a lower Germany."

Creek's father sighed. "Maybe so. But, I doubt Canada will take us in. We're going to need citizenship anyways."

"Which would be easier to get in Canada."

"Do you have thoughts on every little thing I'm trying to do for you? Geez, you're worse than your Mutter was." His father growled. "Here I thought you'd be different once you settled with your Vater."

Creek placed a hand on his chin and gazed back out the window. He didn't respond, no matter how hard his father tried to make him talk. The man sighed heavily as he gave up on making his son talk.

It sounded like Creek wouldn't be forgiving his father for a while.

**Thistles & Lies**

"Here we go," Creek's father smiled happily. "Home sweet home."

Creek made a move to get out of the car, grabbing his satchel before looking up at the old house. His stomach dropped a little. It was old for sure. A round porch, must've been three or two stories tall. Not to mention the paint on the house was a bit off putting. But the flowers were nicely taken care of and there was a gate cutting off any surrounding people passing by.

"Uh, you sure we get to live here, Vater?" Creek asked, jabbing his thumb at it.

"Ja, son, I'm sure. Owner we bought it from said we could have everything in there. He had it repainted too." Creek's father beamed widely. "Nice guy, don't ya think?"

Creek scoffed. "Wait until the guy realizes he sold it to Germans."

"We're not Nazis, Creek." His father growled. "So, our country had a horrible leader who killed many Jews. We've made up for that, and not all Germans were bad. Most of them pretended to follow Hitler."

"...Like grandpa?" Creek questioned.

The man went pale at the mention of his father-in-law, a stubborn soldier he was back then. "Like grandpa's family, Creek." he corrected.

Creek rolled his eyes and got a box from the trunk before moving into the house. His eyes followed upwards to the stairs and he sighed before taking them up towards his room, and his jaw dropped. The two rooms were huge. There was a lot of space for a lot more items.

The bed was in the middle of the room, a window not far from there, a walk-in closet with a bathroom connected to it, and Creek wondered how much money this place was for his father to afford it. More so he wondered how much the original owner wanted for it.

"Nice room, huh?" Creek's father beamed, putting down more boxes in Creek's room. "You're going to love living here, son. I promise you, this is for the better of us."

Creek moved towards the window. "I see a town." he blankly said, pointing to the town. "Can… can I go see the town, Vater? I'll unpack later, I promise."

"Ja, sure."

Creek took off in a hurry.

**Thistles & Lies**

The town was an okay size for Creek to get a look at. It wasn't like Berlin, but still a good size. An upside to this, Creek could get an idea where he would work if he needed money for things. He ran a hand through his black hair, gazing across the street with his baby blue eyes. His eyes caught a salon next to a pizza place, and blinked.

"Weird place for that," Creek mumbled under his breath before walking across the street. The cars weren't moving anyways. He was safe, and he always looked both ways.

"Never seen you here before!"

Creek looked to see a man with blond hair walking towards him. He slowly nodded and rubbed the back of his neck. "I just moved here with my… uh… Vater."

Vater? The man thought before shrugging it off. "Well, my name's Travis. Welcome to Simport. Where did you move from?" he held out his hands for Creek to shake.

"Uh, Berlin," Creek answered. "My name's Creek."

"Creek? Weird name." Travis replied. "I like your name. I never been to Berlin, is it nice there?"

"Very," Creek nodded happily at the memory of his old home. "I don't know much about Simport... trial and error I guess to get to know the town."

Travis nodded and gave his goodbyes and Creek sighed heavily before running a hand through his hair once more. The German teen looked back the pizza place and sighed. No way would he get a job in there. Creek rolled his eyes and began walking once more to the seashore.

The German allowed out a smile as he walked onto the boardwalk to sit down on a bench. There, he just watched the waves come from the water. It always calmed him down.

"Shit sucks here," Creek mumbled angrily. "Why didn't we stay in Berlin? Things were more… known there for us. We could get 'round much easier too."

Only the sound of waves answered him.

A/N: Set in Simport, Maine, because that's the only place I could think of...