Darkest Part of Me

New Chapter, New Country

Liesel looked out of the window of the car her father was driving. The German countryside was more beautiful than she could have imagined. The Schwartz family was on their way to Berlin where they were moving to. Liesel's parents decided they should move back to her father's place of origin, Germany. Her mother was Russian and her father was German which made her half of each. But there was a problem with that. She had to keep her identity as a Russian and an American a secret. World War 2 was already staring to brew in eastern Europe.

Liesel was born and raised in America before they moved to Germany. The part that she was most nervous about was getting to know people and make friends. She spoke fluent German, Russian, and English because her parents wanted her to have both of their country's languages and cultures. Liesel laid her head on the inside of the door of the car and slowly fell into a deep, sound sleep.

----

Liesel had already unpacked and put everything in their new place in her new room. Her family had moved into a medium size apartment until her father's job as a Nazi got under way. He would be in charge of patrolling the streets and at times go to the eastern and western fronts and let higher ranking officials know about what was happening. This was a pretty good job as far as salary.

Liesel's father opened the door to her room where she was lying on her bed deep in thought.

"You can go down and walk around Berlin if you want."

"Ok I'll do that."

"Ok."

Liesel walked out of her room to the kitchen where her mom was cooking.

"Where are you going?", her mother asked.

"Outside to look around Berlin."

"Alright. Let us know if you go anywhere farther than our street."

"Ok."

Liesel walked out of the house and down the stairs to the building door. The streets were busy with Berlin traffic and Berlin business. She looked around and decided she would walk around and see what there was to see.

While she was walking she saw a lot of propaganda displaying that Jews were inferior and that the Aryan race was superior. There were also ones about supporting the Nazi Party. As she was walking she noticed a store with a display window. She stopped and looked inside. There was an assortment of items displayed. The books were all set up in neat orders and showed the beautiful covers with their titles in German. Also there was dresses, clothes, and ribbons that were pretty. One thing that caught Liesel's eye was silver locket with an eagle on it.

"Those are really pretty items don't you think? Especially that locket."

Liesel jumped at the sudden voice talking to her. She turned to see who the stranger was and noticed it was male about her age. He had short blonde hair and bright blue eyes. "Oh. Yes they are really pretty", she replied.

"I'm sorry if I scared you. My name is Friedhelm Winter."

"It's alright. My head was just in other places. My name is Liesel Schwartz. I'm new here."

"I thought so. I could take you to meet my other friends if you want."

"Sure. Just let me tell my parents first."

"Ok. Can I come with you?"

"Sure. Let's go."

---

Liesel opened the door and let Friedhelm into the apartment. Her parents were both in the living room sitting one of the couches that were in there. "Hello sweetie. Who is this?", her mother asked.

"This is Friedhelm. He's going to take me to meet some of his friends."

"That's great! Have fun", Liesel's father said. "By the way Friedhelm my name is Hans."

"And my name is Heidi."

"It's a pleasure to meet both of you. Are you ready to go Liesel?"

"Yes. See you later."

"See you later, sweetie."

----

As soon as Liesel and Friedhelm were back down by the street Friedhelm said,"Wait here. I'll be right back."

"Ok."

Liesel waited for about 5 to 10 minutes waiting for Friedhelm. Finally he came back holding a small box in his hand.

"I bought this for you. I hope you like it."

Friedhelm handed the box to Liesel and she opened it. The box held the silver locket with the eagle on it from the store.

"Thank you. It's beautiful."

"I thought you would like it. I also thought it would be a good welcoming gift from your first friend in Berlin", he said smiling.

"Once thank you. It is a great welcoming gift", Liesel said. She hugged Friedhelm not being able to help herself. Not only was he attractive in her mind but he was sweet. She couldn't believe that he already was recognizing her as a friend.

Friedhelm hugged her back and then they broke apart. "Well. Are you ready to go meet my older brother and our friends."

"You didn't tell me you had an older brother. And yes let's go."

"Oops. I guess I forgot to mention him", he replied chuckling.

He grabbed Liesel's hand and started leading her to where they were going to meet his brother and friends.