"Liesel! Hurry up child we're going to be late!"
"I'm coming, mama!" She swore under her breath as she stumbled in to her tattered boots and threw her coat over her petite frame. She was almost out of breath as she made it outside to meet her parents in the street.
"Are you ready? We can't be late Liesel, not tonight."
"Let's just get it over with." She marched off ahead of them with her long hair whipping in the wind behind her, a permanent scowl fixed to her face these past few weeks since Max's departure.
Rosa and Hans made sure to watch what they said around Liesel lately. She was snappy and confined herself in her room to only come out for food and to go to the bomb shelters. They were worried about her melancholic state as she walked away from the door each morning when there was no new letter from Max.
Since she received the first letter she hadn't received any more. Hans said it was due to the pressure the postal service was under and so her hatred for the war and Hitler peaked.
Tonight the new mayor was giving a speech and there was to be a book burning. Liesel had given most of her books to Max leaving her with just one and she was not going to burn it for the sake of one short, bigoted man in power.
The streets were full of people of all ages rushing to the ferocious bonfire that lit up the town square. Not a single person would be in their homes tonight as the Nazi propaganda programme fed lies to its blind people.
Liesel stood at the back of the crowd next to her parents with her arms folded and jaw clenched. Her patience had disappeared recently and she was close to snapping at an officer if he so much as greeted her good day. She was angry and heartbroken just like many other people around her but she couldn't let her guard slip. Max was safe and that's all that mattered.
For two hours she had to listen to speech after speech and watch children of a young age toss precious books in to the flames of hatred. All those stories and teachings she watched crumble before her eyes and the ashes blow in to the wind like lost souls disappearing in to the night.
When the event was over the crowd couldn't disperse quickly enough. People scattered back in to their houses, ushering their flame-fascinated children back in to the safety of their homes. Of course, there was still the odd few patriots who lingered by the fire, enjoying the destruction of the books – some even spat on the flames.
"Ready to go home, child?" Hans wrapped an arm around Liesel's shoulder. She was comforted by his touch after not being able to hug him for so long.
"I think I'll stay a while. I'll be home before bed time I promise." He squeezed her once more and left with Rosa leaving Liesel staring at the flames.
She was the last person there. To others it looked like she was incredibly passionate about the regime so she wasn't doing any harm to herself by being there.
She couldn't tear her eyes away from the soaring flames. The colours were beautiful and the warmth was comforting, it reminded her of the days from her childhood when she would go camping with her friends and light big fires – they got in trouble quite a lot for it.
Liesel was lost in the mesmerising flames licking at the pages before her, all she wanted to do was rescue them and take them to Frau Hermann's so her and Max could read together in each other's arms in front of a fire of their own.
That's when an idea sprung to her. She looked around cautiously to see not a single person was left. It was too late for them to be out now.
Sneakily, she reached towards the bottom of the pile to pick up a book sticking out from the burning heap and stuck it under her coat in a flash. It was rather warm but there were no scorched parts, a lucky survivor of the mass burning.
She hurried home keeping her head down and headed straight to bed, briefly bidding goodnight to Rosa and Hans.
She sat on her bed with the book in her hands, unable to even open it. She didn't have the desire to read it she was just happy she took something that was supposed to be denied to her, to take something from Hitler like he hadn't taken from her – not that it had anywhere near the same affect.
In her suitcase that was left open under Max's old bed she placed the stolen book. The case was empty, every time she went to put something in she felt as if she was jinxing her chance at happiness and walked away. But this book gave her hope. She had rescued it and in turn she hoped it was a sign of her rescuing herself.
Liesel had no intentions of leaving her parents yet, they needed all the help they could get. She wanted more than anything to run away and find Max but there was no money.
More days had gone by and Liesel joined her papa with painting house windows and washing the church windows getting little pay in return. There hadn't been any bombings for over a week. People wanted to believe that this meant the enemies had forgotten about them or Germany were winning the war – as the newspapers were saying - but Liesel felt awful uneasy about it. Things were too quiet and it made her uneasy.
Rosa, Hans and Liesel were eating their supper at the kitchen table surrounded by candle light. Hans picked up his accordion to bring a cheerful mood to the room, closing his eyes and smiling softly as he was losing himself in the music. This was him at his happiest – joined by his family and playing his beloved instrument.
Rosa was also very happy. She rested her head in her hands that were propped on the table and swayed from side to side with the sweet tune that floated around the room. Liesel couldn't help but feel a bit disturbed at the wonderful scene before her. Hardly ever had she saw her parents be affectionate with each other, they were always throwing insults back and fore in the name of love. That's how they had always been.
It was something special seeing them so content with each other. They left for bed merrily and she wished them sweet dreams and told them she loved them.
Feeling rather exhausted herself she chose that night to go down to the basement and sleep. It made her feel close to Max, as if he were there wrapped up in his blanket making room for her to squeeze in beside him.
She slumped down on the bedding that was still there, sinking her head in to the pillow that still held his scent. It gave her butterflies when she absorbed his perfume and she began to cry. In the darkness she imagined that he was there, it felt as if he was but she simply couldn't feel his touch or hear his voice. She wondered if he was thinking of her right then, to which of course he was.
The safety of Frau Hermann's roof that covered Max as he lay in his new grand bed reassured him that Liesel was going to join him soon. It had to be soon, her parents must be doing okay now that Han's was back, so he thought.
Max stretched his arm out to feel the empty side of the bed where Liesel should be. The bed was warm and homely but he simply couldn't sleep without the feeling of Liesel's body pressed up against him. He longed for her. His letters he knew weren't being delivered and each passing day surged his anxiety for her safety.
He read the newspaper every day and the reports of bombs in Molching angered him but there was nothing he could do. And that angered him more.
The days were long and the nights even longer. This place was his home now, he was sure of it for it was the place that he and Liesel talked about in their dreams. But it was simply just a house with large empty rooms as long as Liesel was not there. He prayed she was safe and would be on her way to him soon for he didn't know how long he could remain calm not knowing where or how she was.
That night, as Liesel, Hans, Rosa and all of Himmel Street slept, there was a swarm of British planes swooping in in the dead of night.
Yes, this was the night that many lost their lives. This was the night that the planes dropped their bombs on to the sleeping residents of Himmel Street and destroyed almost everything in their path. Almost.
The only survivor was Liesel.
The incredibly loud explosion of the bomb ripping through the roof woke her up in a fright. By now, her beloved parents were already dead as the broken concrete and brick tumbled down on top of her.
Liesel's life was spared due to her being in the basement that night, she had narrowly avoided the blast of the bomb that took her parents. She received injuries to her head, arms, ribs and legs and was trapped under the bricks that landed on her but at least she was still breathing.
Peeking through a gap in the debris she could see the night sky meaning that the entire house was flattened, and knowing this she knew her parents would be dead.
The pain was too much as she began to cry and the last thing she heard before she blacked out was the sound of the planes hurrying off in to the dark.
The dust was still settling as Liesel was stirring awake. Her body ached all over, she could barely move. A soldier had pulled her free from the debris and placed her on a stretcher aside from the wreckage. As she tried getting up he hurried to her and told her to lie down.
"No, my mama and papa, I need to find them." Although Liesel was sure they were dead she couldn't admit it to herself yet.
"I'm sorry." The solider placed a hand on her shoulder. "You were the only survivor. It was a miracle that you were in the basement."
Liesel felt her entire world crash before her. The physical pain she felt was nothing compared to the emotional pain that was hitting all over her body.
She couldn't breathe, she couldn't think, she felt her chest tighten and her heart pound as she heard that her mama and papa were dead. She was all alone.
The soldier walked away to attend to the dead leaving her alone with no one to turn to. There would be no bodies for her to say goodbye to, not that she would be able to look at their broken forms without wishing she had died there with them.
There was nothing left of Himmel street at all. Just piles of brick and dust under a grey and white sky.
In shock, Liesel picked herself up and found a nurse that was stepping out of an ambulance. The nurse attended to her right away, cleaning her face and patching up her wounds in silence. She looked as white as Liesel as she took in the sight before her, she couldn't have been any older than her.
"Do you have anywhere to go, child?" The nurse asked her, voice shaking.
"No." Her voice was hoarse, she wanted to lie down and cry or even throw herself in to the arms of this stranger of a nurse. The nurse gave her water and offered her to go to the hospital with her.
"Wait." Liesel's head was so spun she had to concentrate to think of where she had to go.
"I need to get to the train station. I have an aunt who lives out in the country." The nurse nodded and made her lie down on the bed in the ambulance. It would be a forty minute drive to the hospital and then a two hour drive to the station so Liesel had plenty of time to sleep and forget about the pain for a while.
Liesel woke to a throbbing pain in her head. She pulled a wet flannel off her and winced at an ache in her ribs. She checked herself over to see scratches on her arms and felt a deep cut on her head that was stitched up.
A hand landed on her shoulder and she screamed in surprise.
"My apologies." It was the nurse that took care of her at the bomb site. Liesel was brought back to reality and looked at her surroundings. She was in a hospital.
"Why am I here?"
"You had injuries." She began to remove the bandage on Liesel's arm and replace it with a new one.
"I need to get to the train station."
"I have arranged a lift for you. But only if you are fit to travel, that was quiet a nasty hit to the head you had. It's a good thing your body took over and made you sleep for a few days to heal."
"Wait, days? How long have I been here?" Liesel's head was running with thoughts of Max and how worried he'd be. She knew he would have seen in it in the paper.
"Three days. I will make sure you are escorted to the station with care, I'm guessing you don't have money for a ticket?"
Liesel shook her head. She had nothing. She noticed she was wearing clean clothes so her old ones must have been destroyed. She didn't have a single item to take with her. Nothing from her life with Rosa and Hans had lived through the night.
"Well I'll get the doctor to write you a pass, I'll say it's urgent that you get on that train."
"Thank you…?"
"Hannah. My name is Hannah."
Liesel couldn't waste any more time. She hopped off the bed and the room spun for a moment but before Hannah could notice she steadied herself and proceeded to leave the ward.
She waited outside while Hannah got her a train pass, trying to look away from the fresh casualties that kept arriving. They were mostly soldiers, all bloody and limping carrying their comrades in a mad rush to save their lives.
Liesel felt sick. She was so alone right now and the smell of burning was thick in the air around her reminding her that the war was still on going, that it didn't end when her parents died like she felt it had.
"Here you go, there is a bus just ahead that is going to the station. Everyone is trying to get away from here."
Hannah gave Liesel a card with scribbled writing on it and pointed her in the right direction. Before Liesel could thank her she ran off to help a young man who was holding his bloody neck.
Tired and beaten, she made her way to the bus. It was almost full but there was a free seat towards the back which she took. She lay her head back and closed her eyes, hoping she would be in Max's arms by the end of the day.
The train was a long ride. She slept for a while but as soon as she saw the wide open countryside she was too excited to be tired.
The train soon stopped at its destination and the people piled off dispersing in all directions.
Liesel looked around frantically not sure where to go. She pushed through the crowds to get outside and saw a truck letting people climb in to the back.
"Excuse me!" She tapped and old man's shoulder who was sitting in the driver's seat. "Where are you taking these people?"
"I'm just dropping them off at homes nearby, do you have somewhere to go child?"
"Yes. There's a big house owned by a woman called Frau Hermann, I don't know where she lives but I need to get there." She cringed at her lack of detail but she couldn't remember the address.
"Frau Hermann? Why I know her! I deliver her groceries every week, hop in sweetie."
Relieved, Liesel sat in the seat next to him and he honked the horn to signal to the people in the back that he was ready to go.
They went to three houses in total before eventually driving down a long grassy lane to see the grand Hermann house for the first time.
It was beyond anything Liesel had imagined. It was like a mansion. This is what her husband's dirty money had paid for. But all Liesel could think of was Max. Was he still safe? Had Frau Hermann kept him safe like she promised?
She thanked the man for his help and made him stop the car half way down the lane. She got out and began to run as fast as her sore body could take her, to the gravel driveway and stopping before the grand wooden door with coloured glass windows.
Her breathing was ragged and her ribs ached, she could feel a warm trickle down her arm where her wound had reopened but all this she ignored as she lifted the metal knocker and announce her arrival.
The door opened after a few seconds to an older lady who wore a pinny.
"Can I help you, miss?" She was startled at Liesel's state but was wary to let her in.
"Is Frau Hermann here? Is there a Max Vandenburg here?" Her eyes filled quickly but she wouldn't cry, not yet.
"May I ask who you are?"
"Liesel?" A voice came from behind the woman, a gentle, familiar voice that still sounded frail.
"Frau Hermann?" She sent the woman away and pulled Liesel inside, shocked to see her hurt.
"Oh, Liesel. I am so happy to see you, I saw the paper I heard about Himmel Street, I am so sorry. Where are your parents?" Liesel didn't answer, she bit her lip to prevent the tears spilling over.
"Oh, sweet girl come here." She took her in an embrace that Liesel had needed for so long.
"Is Max here? I have to see him, please tell me he's safe." Frau Hermann held her shoulders and smiled softly nodding to the door behind her. Liesel followed her gaze realising that he was in that very room. This was it, this was the moment she had been waiting for since the second he left her sight.
Shaking, she placed her hand on the door that faced the back wall of the house and pushed it open.
"Max?" The room was incredibly big and filled from top to bottom with books. It was the library he mentioned in his letter.
As if he had seen a ghost Max jumped up from the leather arm chair he was sat anxiously in and killed the space between them. As if they had been apart for a lifetime she flung herself at him and he caught her desperately, kissing her with all the might he had in him.
"Liesel, you're here, you're alright." His hands brushed back her hair and pulled her for another deep kiss, kissing away her tears that were now spilling out of her.
"Oh, Max I'm so happy to see you. It's been hell, I can't- I can't…" She all but collapsed in to him.
"Shh, it's okay now. Everything will be okay. Come on, we'll get you cleaned up." Clutching on to her frail body Max carried Liesel upstairs to his room.
He placed her down on the bed and saw the blood oozing from her arm and the cut on her head.
"Liesel, tell me what happened." He grabbed fresh band aids and a bowl of water and began to mop her up.
"I was in the basement when the bombs hit. Mama and papa got killed instantly, I was the only survivor in the street, Max. I got taken to the hospital and then I came straight here." Max sat back on his heels at learning Rosa and Hans didn't make it.
"I'm so sorry." He breathed.
"I'm just glad we're together now. It's been so hard without you." He finished wrapping her arm and sat next to her.
"It's been agony without you too. You should rest now, I'll bring you food for when you wake."
"Don't go." She gripped his shirt urgently, not willing to face another second away from him.
"I'm right here." Max lay her back and cuddled up next to her, gently wrapping his arm around her waist. He hummed a soft tune until she fell asleep.
"I'm not going anywhere, I promise."