The Book Thief Sequel- The Past's Bridge

Chapter Ten- Fear

Liesel's Perspective

I woke feeling the cold wind invading my body and a relentless pain from the back of my head. I felt a large lump as bits of flaky dry blood came away in my hand.

Max.

"Max?" My croaky voice barely made a whisper as I assessed my surroundings.
I was lying on a patch of cold wet grass by a river bank.

I got up assessing the water. The day was grey, reflecting opaquely into water, turning it into a pool of muggy silver.

This was the same river Rudy had jumped into to save my book. My memory of him had started to fade, but picture of him soaking wet in the river was an image I could never forget.

I was in Molching.

I seemed to be the only one around. No Max. No men.

A looming fear clouded over me for whatever had happened to him. He couldn't be dead. Not yet.

I started to walk back away from the river when I noticed that a note was being weighed down by a rock near to where I woke up.

It read, 'Girl', on the envelope in bold. The envelope was dirty and damp, and had clearly been handled for quite some time before it reached its resting place.

I opened the envelope hastily.

Girl,
Unfortunately you were caught in the cross fires of an attack launched on a very dangerous man. A known Jew. For now, he is being taken care of as he should be treated. We ask that you speak of this to no one and continue your regular routine. Max Vanderberg shall not be returning.

The believers in Germany

At the bottom of the note, my stomach dropped at the little black symbol, marked permanently on to the paper.

A swastika. The Nazi symbol.

That little black symbol loomed heavily in my memory. It had taken away everything I loved for what it stood for...and now it had taken away Max. My Max.

As I walked away from the riverbank through Molching, I contemplated visiting the Hermann's for help; the people who had given me a home for the early years of my adulthood.

This idea was cast aside when I came across a construction site. The construction site conducting the re-building of Himmel Street. The foundations of the previous houses were being used to create bigger and better houses, but yet nothing could replace the original Himmel Street. Once full of life and love, was now just brick and dust.

At that moment I decided I would do anything I could to get Max back. They had taken everything I had once, and they won't do it again.

Max will be coming home. I will find him. I must.