"Excuse me." Liesel bowed her head to brush by the cause of her leave. But the reason stood there, unmoved by her attempt to ignore his existence.
"I said excuse me." More stern this time, Liesel went to push through the doorway again, but Max remained still.
"Liesel, wait." Max took her by the shoulders gently and guided her back into the apartment. It was completely silent for a moment as Max bit his lip to buy time to think of what he was going to say.
"No, there is nothing you can do to keep me here. I am leaving today." For the first time since her finger went numb, she looked at Max with a stone cold stare. As for the cause of the upset, he raised his hands to his head and let out a lengthy exhale.
"Perhaps I cannot make you stay, but it is on my good conscious that I explain myself to you. For my sake and yours." The emotions of the room were stunted, dying, and failing without a hope of revival. Liesel's shattered heart turned the entire home into something dismal, but it was not her fault that she felt so used.
"For my sake? I'd rather not hear any words a martyr has to say! Because of you I may be as good as dead." Liesel shook her head, noting that this was the only instance in her companionship with Max that she ever lashed out against him in pure anger.
"I didn't know that Charlie swapped the painting out for her old one. If I would've known, I wouldn't have shown up myself." Max leaned against the wall, releasing Liesel of her captivity so that she may relax her shoulders.
"I must leave too. I am in great danger if I stay here any longer than I already have. If I am caught as an anti-Communist martyr, I will be sentenced to some terrible prison camp. I have already escaped that obligation once in my life, and I would kill myself if I were to wind up in the same position my friends and family were in only years ago." The wavy words Max spoke did not hide well under the tightly clenched brow that came naturally to his face. There is little guidance for Liesel's morality, but she cannot help to feel sorry for her unnerving friend, who stands so tall, yet shrinks away from himself. But the pictures of Charlie and him dug themselves up so that they were fresh in her mind, and abruptly her sympathy spoiled.
"What about Charlie? I saw the papers, Max, you cannot fool me." Max wrinkled his forehead with a distinct tone of annoyance that could be heard as much as seen. There wasn't anything said for quite some time, or any actions acted upon either.
"Do you think I am blind? Explain yourself!" Disgusted, Liesel turned away from her snubbed friend's challenging stare to collect her baggage once more.
"Wait." Max reached out his hand, defeated but otherwise generous enough to answer the question.
"Believe me or no, that is your decision. But what you see in the pictures in the papers is blackmail. She kissed me, not the other way around. She framed me as her lover for what I can only suspect as sabotage of my good name. Do you not think her actions have given me no consequences? Death threats, phone calls, even glares in the streets fight against me in prejudice." The two of them stared at each other, bewildered by the scenario they found themselves in. Max moved over to his studio corner and began to move his art supplies into organized piles. Liesel loomed over his presence as a ghost, observing how his every movement was born from frustration.
"If you are to leave, then so will I. Herr Getz has warned me to leave the city at once, as I have mentioned before." The way Max moved was exaggerated, perhaps even a little violent compared to his usual actions.
"Where will you go?" Liesel whispered, her body shaking at the overwhelming stress being pressed upon them both.
"I don't know. I may go west to escape the growing danger of Russia. I may even leave the country, if I can, to get as far away from the problem as possible." With little breath in his lungs, Max marched to his room and began to gather up his clothes. Liesel did not know if she were to stay or if she were to go. She stared at the door as an escape, but something kept her at bay here, in this apartment for just a while longer.
"Where will you get the money to pay? I understand you have lost much with the fluctuating economy." Jackets, shirts, pants, and anything else tucked away in Max's drawers were strewn across the floor and on his bed. The scene was primal as the man ripping out the contents of the room muttered terse words under his breath.
"Max?" No answer.
"Max?" Liesel called again, but there was no answer. She crept into the room and grabbed his hand gently. Her mouth went dry, and her legs numb, as she was terrified of what he may say under this horrific possession. He was turned away from her, but his head soon sprung to life.
"I'm sorry, Liesel. I do not expect you to forgive me, but I am sorry for the situation we are in." Max rose to his feet, which was a very long way's up from where Liesel crouched.
"How are you to pay?" Liesel dismissed his apology because she did not want to confront the topic head-on. She was not sure if it would be kind of her to forgive him, or if she should hold a grudge against his situation.
"Sylvi's ring. I had pawned it off for a fair amount of money. It's enough to buy me a ticket and maybe a few month's rent somewhere decent." Liesel had forgotten that this scheme most likely did not include her, and it broke her heart when she came to this realization.
"I am to return home, whether I am taken in or not, and resume work with Herr Steiner." Max turned his head when Liesel spoke.
"You've talked to him about coming back? When did you talk to him? I thought he and Ilsa were mad at you?" Max's temper was diffused; now sober, he began to draw upon the conclusions Liesel made synchronously.
"I haven't spoken to him since that one phone call. I refuse to call Ilsa, for I know she is hating me with every passing second." Liesel forgot she was still kneeling, and came to her feet as the conversation took a dismal turn.
"I see. So you will not join me wherever I may go?" Quickly, Max blurted out the question before his cheeks showed color at the bold verbiage.
"I did not think I would be offered to come. But you, you do not want to come back to Mulching with me?" Liesel didn't think about what she said, and she let her feelings get ahead of her on accident. Her friend smiled, something she hadn't seen him do as often as he used to.
"Ilsa hates me, and the last thing I would want is for you to lose your family." Somewhere amongst the intensity of the conversation, Max made it a point to relieve the tension with a comical phrase.
"You are my family. And if she can't accept you in her life, then she means nothing to me." Liesel argued, trying to convince Max to follow her back home.
"But Liesel, you must understand that I am on the run. I endanger your life with every passing second you stand here. I cannot afford to lose you, so if you are to return to Mulching, I will not follow you. If I am to die, I don't want you involved in any way." Avoiding the swelling emotions, Max turned back to his bags and continued to pack up his things. Liesel remained by his side. She was an unmovable anchor, tied to the bottom of the ocean with no intentions of moving.
Max picked up a book of some sort and paused as he looked at its cover. He opened it, skimmed a few pages, then quietly shut its leather cover.
"Take this with you, but only open it when you feel like you may need it the most." Max handed Liesel a black, leather-bound book with a brass buckle on the cover. It was not creased or damaged, and it smelled like a new book.
"What is it?" Liesel asked, wanting to open it but then remembering what Max had said.
"You will know when you read it. But don't open it, not yet." A fragility seeped into their countenances, as they knew their time together was coming to a close. Their hearts raced just a little faster, and their tears moved just a little slower, but neither was willing to confess something so intimate.
"I have nothing to give you, I am sorry." Liesel lead the way to the door where she stood, praying that this emotional torment would end.
"You have given me many things, Liesel. Now that our days in Munich are coming to a close, I would like to congratulate you on your novel. I would like the thank you for being my best friend and my only family. No, don't. Don't cry, because then I will too, and I don't want any of that." Liesel was barely able to let out a faint laugh towards the end of his speech before having to wipe her face.
"Do you want me to come to the station with you?" Max offered through a multitude of voice cracks and stutters.
"No, I think it will be better for me to go alone. It would pain me more if you were to come, I believe." Liesel attempted to calm her hysteria, but it only worsened.
"When is the train to Mulching coming?" Max asked shortly.
"Tonight, late tonight. But I cannot stand to be here another moment. It is torture for me and for you." Max shook his head in agreement to Liesel's conclusion.
"I left Ilsa's and Herr Steiner's number on a paper in the kitchen for you in case you call." Liesel knew that this was it, right now, this was their final minute together.
"I will call when I think it safe. We cannot afford them wire-tapping me, right? Now come here." Max hugged his friend and she relaxed as she started to come to terms with reality.
"Goodbye for now. Come find me if you can, okay?" Liesel opened the door and picked up her bags.
"I promise you I will. I promised you the first time, and I promise you again." Max kissed her forehead platonically, as he did when he left her during the war.
"Goodbye." Liesel left the room without turning around to see Max one last time. She couldn't bare it, and she left as fast as she could, down the elevator and to the train station without so much as a thought about Max.