A Journey From Germany

Chapter 4

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Time Skip- 1 week
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Gretchen Pov

It was mid-day and I was making sandwiches for Daniel and I heard a knock at the door. "Daniel can you please get the door" I said placing the sandwiches on the table.

"Frau Schneider? May I ask what you are doing here?" I heard Daniel politely ask the visitor.
"I'm here to inform you that we are leaving to Bern at 10:30am tomorrow. My husband and I will stop by at 10:00am so we all go together and the time will allow you to get to know the kids a bit better, but I know it's only a short ride." I heard Frau Schneider say.
"Thank you for informing us." Daniel said.

I went up to the door.
"Frau Schneider, may I ask if you want to stay for luncheon?" I asked.
"I'm afraid I can't stay long" Frau Schneider said, almost reluctantly.
"It's only a sandwich, is there any dietary requirements you need" I asked.
"Oh, I don't really care" She said.

We all went into the room and I quickly made Frau Schneider a sandwich and gave it to her. After we ate we said good bye. Daniel and I packed a cheap leather bag and put what little we had in there.
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The next day Daniel and I got a first class compartment which we shared with the Schneiders. I learnt that Rebecca's children's names and the ages, Anne who's 9, Hans aged 7 and Charlotte who's 5.
After we sat in an uncomfortable silence for several minutes until Anne spoke.
"Fräulein, can you tell me about yourself?" She asked, and Charlotte nodded eagerly.

"Well, my name is Gretchen Müller and I'm 17 years old. I grew up in Munich and had a more or less happy life" I said simply, the girls continued to look at me, wanting to know more. "I am German and don't think I have any other cultural background" I said slightly embarrassed.

"What about you Herr?" Hans asked Daniel, almost jumping off his set.

"I'm Daniel Cohen and I'm 18 years old. I grew up in Berlin before I moved to Munich late last year for work. I'll be your tutor for a while and help Fräulein Müller look after you" Daniel said. I have to admit, it was odd to hear Daniel address me as something other than Gretchen.

"When's your birthday Fräulein Müller, and you too Herr Cohen?" Frau Schneider asked. I just realised that I don't know when his birthday is
"My birthday is July 18th." I said after I thought about it for a few seconds, since I found it an odd question.
"August 2nd." Daniel said.

"So do you celebrate your birthdays as a couple or not?" Frau Schneider asked, I shot Daniel a look, but he seemed calm.
"We met earlier this year. However we weren't together at the time, I was with my family in Berlin" Daniel said. It wasn't a complete lie, we met earlier this year, in mid-August, and I didn't know Daniel in July.

"Oh..." Frau Schneider said "Umm, I don't believe that I've introduced you to my husband properly" Frau Schneider said gesturing to the man beside her

"My name is Paul Schneider. And Herr Cohen, might I ask where abouts of Berlin you lived? You know how it's like multiple city's in one, I happened to be raised there before moving to Switzerland" Herr Schneider said.

"Oh, I lived in the Waidmannslust district, it's a peaceful area where most people know other people within their age range. It's normally quite and rather diversed in religion, politics and culture. However in recent years it's more narrowed, I'm sure you noticed when you visited Berlin earlier this year, that is if you didn't live near the Reichstag building, it's full of politics, and often the same party or parties" Daniel explained, Herr Schneider nodded slowly.

"I lived in the heart of Berlin, so I lived near the Reichstag. I think I know the area you were raised, it was rather close to the heart of Berlin, as in less than a 20 minute walk away, roughly?" He asked, Daniel slowly nodded

"I've been there, it's a nice place to raise a family. I knew a few people there, they were very lovely. I myself don't understand Herr Hitler and his goals of ridding Jews. The nicest people there were Jews. They minded their own business and were polite if you asked for help. However I do admit, we do need better employment, that's probably why Herr Hitler is raising to power. Say, do you know any Jews? I work with a Jew and he's weird at times, but a nice person, I want to see if other people get treated differently" Herr Schneider asked

I noticed that Daniels face flashed with colour "I'm Jewish myself, so is my family, so if I answer it'd be very biased" Daniel explained. Herr Schneider than looked at me for my answer.
"I was raised in an environment that disliked Jews; however I did know a few. I must say if I wasn't raised the way I was I would've been friends with the one in my class. She has a very good sense of humor and I laughed at her jokes" I said in all honesty.

Herr Schneider nodded, I don't know if he connected the dots that my family were National Socialist supporters. However I was certain he didn't know that I once saw Hitler as a father figure.

"It seemed that your family probably supported Herr Hitler, however you don't. Seeing as you are with Herr Cohen" Herr Schneider said, I looked down. "It's fine Fräulein, you know what you want, and I'll imagine you won't ever dare put someone else in danger on purpose" he continued.

After 3 hours we finally arrived in Bern. Frau and Herr Schneider lead Daniel and I to their house. It was near a river and the house had two stories, as well as a bunker which most houses in Swizerland have. Daniel and I shared a room at the end of the left hallway on the second floor. The room was larger than the box of a room I had in Munich. There was a single bed and a door leading to, what I guessed was the bathroom. I sat down on the bed and Daniel sat next to me. "I'll have another single bed for Herr Cohen come, I'm afraid you'll have to make do for now" Frau Schneider said before leaving.
"We're safe, for now" Daniel said before lightly kissing my hair

Word count: 1251

A/N

Why was this chapter so hard to write?
Maybe because of the timeline in the first book.
We don't know when Daniel and Gretchen met, only that the book starts August ...
Although, this is late September since Geli Raubal had just died at the end of the first book and this is set almost straight after.

Another block was Daniels birthday, we know when Gretchen's real and fake birthday's are (She got another birthday when she got a fake ID. EDIT: I got Daniel birthday wrong, I thought it'd be in February, but then I realized that his birthday is after July and before August, which isn't possible, so it has to be late July or early August )
So you can guess that I want this to be as factually accurate as possible.

I hope you have a good rest of your day/night

Co-A/N:
"To gain your own voice, you have to forget about having it heard."
- Quote by Allen Ginsberg