Long Lost Everything// Band of Brothers

Chapter 2: Second Chance Redemption

Berlin, Germany
1939

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Alice had followed the instructions on the paper and met the man the next day. From there, he took in her personal information, writing it down as he went before asking her to give her life story and her reason for fleeing. He wrote down, word for word, everything she told him. From her friend back home to her mothers passing, she told it all and without shedding a single tear. They sat for an hour going over what would happen the next day. She was to leave all personal items at home and simply walk out at midnight. A car would be waiting in front of her house at the stroke of midnight and wait there until she came out in case anyone was to prevent her from leaving.

By noon the next day, she had left her house to visit the pawn shop with all the jewelry Elias had given her and within an hour, she had money in her pocket and was ready to treat herself to a nice lunch with most of it before stashing it in her undergarments and heading home. She wore a smile on the inside, but on the outside, she wore the same displeased blank face she had most days. The only time she smiled on the outside was when she saw little kids playing on the street. It reminded her of home and her best friend. But even after, the thought of her having left her best friend tore her apart because he didn't deserve to be practically ignored and partially forgotten about considering he was the only kid in her grade that accepted her as more than an outsider.

That night, she managed to find a piece of paper she kept hidden under the sole of one of her shoes. It was a picture of her and her mother when Alice was young, probably about 4 or 5, and on the back in her mothers hand writing was 'I love you, my dearest Alice' and underneath that was the mailing address for her friend back home. She quietly wrote out a long and complicated letter to which she had intended to send after she left and was safe.

'W,

I know it is probably ignorant and foolish to contact you after all these years, but I figured now might be a time to explain everything in more detail than you've heard in the past, but first of all, I wish to apologize. I never meant for me to be isolated in the house or to be taken out of school so young and I never, ever meant to shut you out like I did. None of it was in mine or your control and you never deserved to have me turn my back on you like I had after mom passed. I don't expect you to forgive me right away or even at all, but I hope you know how truly sorry I am for how things went.

When mom first got sick, my father couldn't afford a nurse or a maid to stay at home and look after her and he wasn't ready to pull his oldest out of school to take care of her so I guess I was the odd one out. I had to learn young how to cook and clean and properly care for someone when all I wanted to do was be at school with you. You were my best friend in the whole world, but for such a short time. When mom passed away, my father got...complicated. He drank more, yelled at Michael more and was more strict with me than he had ever been before. After the burial, he pulled me out of school completely and hired a tutor with the life insurance compensation money we got from mom's passing. I spent the next 6 years studying at home to finish school, but after everything I did so he would stay sane, he still wouldn't let me out of the house. Not to see you. Not to see anyone unless I was with Michael and he wanted nothing to do with my friends or anything in my life so my only freedom was to stay with him and his friends.

I can't hide that I had changed then and I can't deny I changed now. You see, every time you saw me out with my brother, I was trying to be on their good side. And for some unknown reason, being on their good side meant being a completely different person. Looking back, I never should have joined their gang of misfits. Every time you tried to talk to me I wanted to hug you tight and never let go because you were the only one who seemed to understand the circumstances. But I couldn't. And you didn't deserve any of it. But no matter how much I wanted to go back to being your friend, my father and my brother got in the way of that. And without reason! I tried so hard to get them to let me see you even if you had to come to our house, but they still denied it. I hate to admit it, but I built a wall. A wall that seemed impossible to break.