A/N: Sorry for the long wait for the chapter, i wrote it 4 times in various different ways until I got it right.

This chapter is IMPORTANT! And yes, I made it short on PURPOSE. :) sorry, enjoy!

Liesel paced home, knowing that the heavy grey sky would unfetter mountains of water on her if she refused to. But frankly speaking, it was quite difficult to accomplish this with only one shoe on and a grimy sock on the other.

"Damn you, Rudy," she murmured.

She walked down the street, soaking in the colors of the houses and marveling at the combinations. Little droplets of water fell from the sky and attacked the back of her shirt. Her hair blew across her face from the strong wind and tickled her eyes. The chilling air shot through her veins forcing her to stop a minute and hunch over to ensure full warmth.

Her eyes trailed over to the last house on the street. The sky amended into a smoky black color; the type of color that could suffocate you just by glancing at it.

A girl stood there staring lifelessly at her front door.

Rain harassed Liesel onto the ground as the sky started bawling out tears.

Her hair was dark.

Her eyes were wide open with fear.

She spoke, but Liesel couldn't hear her over the rain.

The girls upper lip trembled with fear. A stray tear created a trace as it fell down her check. She mouthed:

"November 17, 1943."

The date of the Himmel Street bombings.

The date of Rudy's death.

The girl stared, not particularly at Liesel, not particularly at anything at all. Her eyes were still wide, as if they were forced open. Her body weight was held by her leg, just as if it was going to collapse right then and there.

The girl looked at Liesel, her face was pale white and frozen into place despite the cold weather.

Liesel did not move and inch.

Before turning into her house, she looked at Liesel, blankly and whispered, ever so quietly, as if she feared someone else hearing:

"Rudy Steiner… is alive."

And she turned around walked into her house leaving Liesel standing there in absolute shock as thunder growled and the rain plunged down on her threatening to drown her in her own thoughts.

Liesel didn't know it.

But this

Was

Just the first word

To her end.

To the sacrifice.

Just the first word.

Just the first word. I've gotten reviews asking for the spoiler to the sacrifice, but why don't you guys guess?!

Anyway, please review and SORRY FOR THE SHORT CHAPTER.

Remember to guess!

- Emma