Liesel & Rudy One Shots

Winter Mornings With Bomb Nights

Rudy had seen the start of the Himmel Straße bombing. The first woke him up,  the second kept him in bed. He watched from his uncomfortable spot on the bed as pieces of metal fell from the sky and on to a piece of his life. He could tell his siblings were awake as well. They were kicking and letting out muffled cries as they his younger siblings his under their blankets. The older siblings were running around the house, trying to get everyone together.

The lemon haired boy knew he had to help, but his body wouldn't let him. His mind screamed, "hurry, get out of bed," but his body replied with, "in a minute, I want to see this." The street looked horrifyingly beautiful. The explosions lit up the streets, exposing the rugged brick buildings and chipped signs. Debris danced through the sky before it laid across the cement ground.

He watched the bomb fall onto Liesel's home and he swore his heart stopped. The house blew up into pieces and fell next to neighboring homes and shops. He couldn't point out bodies from where he was and he didn't quite want to. Although, his blue eyes searched anyway.

He remembered how he fell for her over the years. How she was always interested in something new and wasn't afraid of just about anything, except Frau Hubermann. He remembered the day he saw her for the first time.

It was snowing that day, but he and the other children wanted to play soccer. Tommy Müller was goalie and he was doing a horrible job of doing so. A girl, who was watching from the sideline, cheered Rudy on. He gave he a wink before he kicked the ball, right pass Tommy.

As the snow began to lighten up, a black car drove down the street. It wasn't one that belonged to the government and definitely not one that belonged to anyone on Himmel. Most people didn't own a vehicle. The car stopped in front of the Hubermann home. Hans and Rosa were standing outside, as if they had been waiting for the car. A woman stepped out and greeted the couple. The two looked inside and Rosa began asking about a boy. Rudy watched Hans, he was talking to who ever was in the car. Then, she stepped out of the car.

She was short and dressed in a pair of boots and dark green coat. Her blonde hair framed her face as she looked up at the couple. Rosa began talking to her, her tone sounded harsh from where he stood. She began talking to the woman again and the girl turned towards him. Her eyes were brown, almost chocolate.

"What are you looking at?" Rosa asked the kids. Most turned back to their game. Rudy continued watching the blonde girl. As she stepped inside, a ball hit his head.

"You ready lover boy?" A friend asked. Rudy smiled and went back to the game.

He later learned that the girl's name was Liesel Meminger. He heard from students that her brother and mother were killed because they were communists. Liesel had barely escaped, but she hit her head as she was running which caused her to be such an Dummkopf. Liesel heard very few rumors from those students, due to the fact that she had been in the kindergarten class at the time.

He remembered learning about the truth, how her brother died on the train and how her mother didn't give her an explanation as to why she was leaving her.

He remembered how she reacted when he found out about her "boyfriend" who was really a Jew hiding in her basement. He remembered how she calmed everyone down in the bomb shelter by telling a story. He remembered that in her story, she called him the lemon haired boy and how she described different parts of her time with the Hubermanns.

He remembered how much he loved her.

He was taken out of his thoughts when his eldest sister took hold of his shoulder and shouted at him to move. But he couldn't hear her over the ringing sound in his ears. Just a few feet behind her, he saw a figure. An old, pale man. The man gave a warm smile as the bomb fell onto the Steiner home.

He couldn't hear, only see. The man was standing next to him, a hand on his shoulder. He watched himself being lifted from the rubble and laid next to his family. He scanned the bodies, Liesel's wasn't there. He turned to her home, waiting for a sign she was okay.

And she was. A soldier helped her out from her basement. If he had been able to breathe, he would've let out the air he had been holding in his lungs. Liesel went to her parents first, the first bodies she saw. She talked to them and cried. Then, she found his body. She quickly went to him and sat next to him.

"Rudy, wake up!" She grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "C'mon Jesse Owens. . ."

You don't think I want to?

She kissed him. Soft and true on his lips. And he could vaguely feel it, it was enough. He turned around before he could see the Bürgermeister and his wife take Liesel with them.

It was hard watching her after the bombing. It was harder when she completely avoided the topic when talking with friends. It eventually got to a point where he figured she'd forgotten about him and her life on Himmel. Then she wrote The Book Thief, and he knew she'd never forget.

And that she loved him, too.