Hi, everyone, I'm back! This was among the first of my stories to return to - well it is on this site anyway - after my sudden burst of inspiration. If you have been on my profile in the past few months and seen my author's note then you'll know that I had a busy time studying and sitting my final A-Level exams. That's all over now, and with The Book Thief coming out on DVD very soon in the UK and my return to the novel itself I was just itching to write. Your reviews as well, for those of you who were asking me to continue, I give you an extension of my oneshot. I hope you all enjoy! :)
Rudolph – Rudy – Steiner stands on the perfect purgatory of Himmel Street. His lemon hair does not wisp in front of his eyes from the cool breeze, and that's because there is none. Why would he need it when he's dead? Why would he need anything? Anything he had experienced from life now, in this place, would be fake – a mere delusion.
And that was why the forever fourteen-year-old boy was standing alone on the street outside of his house now, contemplating.
He thinks back to a time that he both cherishes and loathes – his death. The day he was torn from this world by a bombing on his home. It's the moment when Liesel admitted that she loved him.
"Come on Jesse Owens! Don't you know I love you!?"
The more he repeats those words in his head, the more he begins to question the truth behind them; that is to say if there is any.
It's these moments when he wonders whether or not Liesel's words were just a result of her despair or not.
In the moment where he stood lifelessly before her and his corpse he had believed it unconditionally, holding on to that statement with every fibre of his being, as though it could bring him back.
He inhales deeply, sniffling as he remembers that he doesn't need to breathe and the lack of oxygen. Something stirs within him; was it… anger? The glowing ball in his chest pulses twice. It is anger. He forcefully rubs his arm underneath his nose, bullying himself on the fact that he can't cry.
He examines the moment again, like a police detective. He is an intelligent boy for his age, and although he had reached the peak of his physical fitness in his life, he never wanted to apply that intellect to anything else but athletics.
His mind paints an image of Liesel's devastated expression with her face hovering over his lifeless own, her nearly perfect German blonde hair just brushing his jaw and shoulders.
Her young, round face is the absolute picture of anguish and despair. Fat, crystal tears roll down her ash and dust covered cheeks, painting tracks along their way. It hurts him every time he looks back on this memory, but his curiosity always defeats him whenever he fights against his urge to discover the validity of her proclamation.
"Rudy, wake up! Rudy, kiss me!"
It hurts.
"Come on Jesse Owens!"
So much.
He grits his teeth in defiance. He will find out whether she truly meant her words.
He desperately clings to the hope that she does truly love him.
But he doesn't know what he'll do if he finds that it was the opposite.
She leans forward for what must be the one millionth time and kisses him, sweet and true on his bomb dusted lips. She holds it for a long moment and then peels herself from him. Her lips are plump and red and her index finger draws over his mouth for a long second before her face once again twists in anguish and she kisses him, her mouth smacking inaccurately against his.
"Come on, Jesse Owens!"
"Don't you know I love you!?"
"Come on, Jesse Owens!"
"Rudy, wake up! Rudy, kiss me!"
The words do not falter once. They are strong and true, broken by the broken sobs wrecking through her body and her broken soul that had lost yet another person she cared about, but they still ring in his head. They have meaning, and she is passionate and true.
His eyes peel open, a small smile stretching at the corners of his pink and clear lips. Laughter lines form just beneath his crystal blue eyes.
His ears pick up the sound of approaching footsteps. He is surprised he can hear them, for they are so soft. They patter against the cobblestone road. He turns around to face the girl approaching him, her dangerous brown eyes gleaming excitedly, a huge grin plastered over her face.
"There you are, Saukerl," Liesel calls, a touch of that bite to her tone as she quickens her pace and stands in front of him, her head tilted back. "I've been looking everywhere for you."
With a smirk, he folds his arms over his chest and looks down at her with complete adoration. If his heart were still beating it would be at the rate of a machine gun firing. And yet, when he's around her he does swear that he feels a light flutter in his stomach.
And it is that which makes him want to smack himself in the face for ever considering the possibility that her words weren't –no - aren't, true.
If he can still feel this way, even in death, then there is no reason to doubt her love as there is to doubt her standing right in front of him, so close that their fingers only just brush.
"What's it to you, Saumensch? I just needed to spend some time on my own, don't you get that?"
She doesn't back away. She doesn't even blink. Because she knows that this is just another way of him saying hello. Instead she smiles at him, and it is a smile that he will go on forever seeing.
She moves and her arms wrap around him, embracing and loving. Her face presses into his chest whilst he nuzzles his own affectionately in her golden hair.
The thought of never letting go invades his thoughts, and thanks to the eternity they've been granted neither of them will ever have to let go again.
So there we have it; a bit sad, but with a happy ending. Now the offer I'm about to make you: As I previously stated before in the note at the top some of you wanted an extension of this. Well I'm here to set up a vote for you all. It's simply - do you want to see Liesel and Rudy's afterlife continued and in more depth, or are you happy with these two separate oneshots? Let me know in your review. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this. :)