The One Who Stole the Sky

What If...

"Halloa Ilsa, this is Max and we need to talk to you." Ilsa stood in the doorway and looked at Max. He waved his white painted hand unintentionally at her.

"Who is this man?" Ilsa asks.

"He's my friend. He's been my friend for years, he was an invisible man then, but now he is as bright as the sun." Liesel explained and smiled at Max. Ilsa looked at the man and remembered him from a few days before. Their first meeting wasn't even a meeting at all,  Max had bursted through the door as a stranger.

"What must you talk about, Liesel?" Ilsa asked. Liesel swallowed and presented her future.

"I want to go to Munich and become a writer." Liesel bit her lip and braced herself. She wasn't always this realistic, if this were her asking a few years ago, she would have been smiling and cheering. Some of her faith was banished and buried like her family, and so she's learned to grow up and be a realist at a young age. She was forced to mature into an adult quite young.

"Come in." Ilsa ordered them inside.

"Sit here, Max." Liesel guided her stalky friend to a chair in the living room. He did as he was told, and sat in the chair, but his mind raced around the mural painted on the north wall of the house.

"Liesel, do you recall the name of this painting? Or perhaps the artist?" Max gazed at the work.

"It's almost as if..." Max thought aloud.

"It's an 1868 tapestry." Ilsa and Max both said in unison.

"How did you know?" Ilsa asked in astonishment.

"The paint, the preservation- just small details to look for." Max smiled warmly at Ilsa who returned a warm smile back in exchange.

Liesel took a seat in the chair next to Max and Ilsa sat across the coffee table on her beautiful couch. A silence hung in the room for a few minutes, with awkward tension pulling tighter with every passing second.

"Well... what is this going- away plan you have?" Ilsa brings herself at ease and rests her back to the couch.

"I want to go to Munich and be an author, or do something great. But that legacy cannot start until I leave this town that's barely on the map, and go to a good literature and journalist university. Think about what I can become! My books will never touch shelves longer than three days time, and there will be lines of people wanting my autograph." Liesel puts a clear image into Ilsa's head of what life she wants to live.

"What would you write about that would make your book more special than the rest?" Ilsa asks.

"The war." Liesel smiles and widens her eyes.

"Think about it, no one else has written their own life in a book about the war yet. The Japanese are still trying to figure out what caused the bombing in Hiroshima. This is fresh, raw territory that I can pioneer." Liesel pounds these words out with heart, hoping to pry the answer she has been waiting for from Ilsa.

Ilsa remains silent on the couch and stares at Max.

"And would you be her guardian in Munich?" Ilsa talks to Max.

"Yes, I would like nothing more than to aide such a bright girl into a world of achievement." Max smiles and tries to cover up his itch of uncomfortableness. Ilsa nods her head and peers between the two who wear begging faces.

"No." Ilsa sternly says. Just one word, that one word shatters Liesel's heart.

"Why?" Liesel chokes on her tears, for she is fighting against the waves that mean to drowned her, but she still swims on strong.

"I don't know Max well enough, but most importantly you would be so far away and lost." Ilsa explains. Liesel begins to sink fast. She stares at Max-her life preserver, but he does nothing. He doesn't want to fight Ilsa because she is her legal guardian and he respects a mother's decision.

"Excuse me." Liesel takes big, heavy strides to the door and leaves. Ilsa and Max watch Liesel out the door.

"Pardon me, I will go talk to her." Max whispers in disappointment as he runs out the door.

"Liesel!" Max shouts. She is no where to be found. He looks towards the woods and starts off in a run.

"Liesel!" Still no answer.

"Come back! Where are you!" Max cups his hands around his mouth and screams. His hair untangles from the gel and bounces about, hitting against his eyebrows. Something in him makes him run farther into the trees, with the honey colored sky guiding his way. He stops and rests his thumbs on his suspenders, hoping to hear some sign of Liesel.

Nothing.

"Please Liesel! For heavens sake!For my sake!" Max pleads. He begins to walk now, slowly letting his hopes of finding her up. In the distance, he sees a log with a person sitting on it.

"Liesel." He smiles and whispers to himself. Carefully, Max steps as best as he can around the roots and uneven dirt. He takes a seat next to Liesel. No words are spoken, just the faint sound of birds chirping.

"Do not fret, Liesel." Max smiles.

"How can I not? Huh, Max? I am not going to live this way, this isn't me, and I'm certainly not staying here for the rest of my life." Liesel argues.

"How about on my way to the station I stop by and see you one last time. It will be early, but I can tell Ilsa to make an exception." Max bargains. Liesel tears up and sighs.

"But I don't want you to leave me. I understand you have to be in Munich, and so I would have joined you there. But..." Liesel trails off and sighs.

"I don't want to leave you either, you, me, and Sylvi would take on the world." Max laughs.

"Max, what is Sylvi like?" Liesel asks as she blankly stares at the ground with swollen eyelids.

"Sylvi is nice. She would love to meet you, I tell her about you all the time. I was actually going to surprise her tomorrow by taking the early train home." Max explains.

"That's kind of you to do that." Liesel painfully forces a smile.

"Yep, I'm sure she will be disappointed when she hears that you stayed, but maybe I'll come back with her in the winter." Max nods to his idea.

"What time should I look out for you tomorrow?" Liesel wonders.

"I will be here at 6:00, before the sun rises." Max winks at Liesel.

"Now return home, thief, and get some rest okay? And I'll see you tomorrow upon my departure." The goodbye was too hard to bear, and Liesel began to choke back her tears. She forced them back, but one drop slipped down her cheek, followed by a second.

"Oh, my poor Liesel." Max hugs Liesel tightly. And they stay like that for some time. Liesel swears she felt water drop from Max's face and soak into the back of her shirt.