Chapter 61 - The great depression

Sometime later he was woken up, this time not through strong hands that shook him but instead by small cold hands that played with his arm and pulled on the lid of his left eye. After pushing the hands away he opened the eye lazily and looked into the wide open green ones of a small boy with wild curly hair. The small boy grinned widely before running off and out the front door which he didn't even shut properly. The sun had traveled far since he had fallen asleep and now shone directly into his face. Yawning he slowly he moved to a sitting position and relaxed his shoulders which had become stiff from laying in a bad position.

A few seconds later his mother hurried inside followed by the small boy and instantly moved towards him. Although Hermann wasn't an expert on reading facial expressions what his mother displayed was terrifying. Before he could even try to explain why he sat on the couch she had already begun to shout at him. Although he didn't fully focus on what was being said he could discern that it something among the lines of "how could you do this to me?", "why are you not in bed?" and "stop being such an idiot". In the end she simply began to cry and hugged him carefully, quickly joined by the small child that also wanted to be a part of this. Despite the fact that she was crying Hermann felt warm, so welcomed and at home like he had never felt before. Perhaps it was because she was crying. Not because of herself but because she had been worried about him. Perhaps in this life and only in this he would accept this new name that simply wouldn't leave him. If not because he preferred it over his old first name then at least out of respect for his new family.

At that moment Kaiser noticed just how much he had changed. In the beginning of his journey he hadn't cared for anyone but now he had already accepted a name which had not even truly belonged to him previously. Slightly chuckling at that he snapped out of his thoughts and hugged his new mother back. After all, where was the harm in that?

When they had finished hugging his mother insisted on looking at his wounds. Now in bright daylight she could clearly see that the wounds had already fully healed and only rose colored elevations remained behind. Although she was shocked to the core she was too glad to truly care about his wounds had healed so fast. Perhaps the peace keepers had been lenient? Why would she care as long as her son Kaiser was alright and well.

As soon as they had finished hugging the small boy grabbed Kaiser's finger and began dragging him outside. He hurriedly followed the boy as the feeling of having his fingers almost ripped out of their sockets couldn't be considered to be pleasant at all. After many times of asking the younger boy to slow down or grab his fingers differently Hermann gave up and simply grabbed the boys arm with his other hand to avoid any problems.

The boy simply dragged him behind the row of shacks in which the greatest part of all people lived. Remembering the boy's name Kaiser began to ask questions. "Where are you taking me Theodore?"

The boy simply smiled back and giggled. "Surprise! The other kids and I found the spot when we could run around a few days ago. I want to show you!"

Kaiser simply smiled back and allowed Theodore to lead him to the spot through a small forest area. When they arrived at another large road after they walked out between two backyards of another row of houses the followed the road until they stood before the entrance of the orchards which were guarded around the clock by peacekeepers. Theodore walked back behind the last house, back into the small forest that separated the two rows of houses. Now the forest was much different. Where previously many small bushes had blocked all visibility and obstructed their path now few grew in their immediate surroundings. Additionally the distance between both roads had greatly increased compared to before. Somewhere around what he guessed should be the halfway point the went back up towards where they had come from. Slowly they began to encounter more undergrowth and blackberry shrubs until their way was once more unidentifiable.

Now Kaiser decided to speak up. "Where are we going? Did you forget the way? Should we turn around?" while he secretly thought [This whole things sounds like the plot of a bad killer movie]

"No" Theodore replied. "This is the way. Two days ago we played hide and seek in these woods and Hazel ran into something interesting around here". Slowly he walked in circles until he found something that seemingly reminded him. "Where here. Look!"

Kaiser walked forwards until he saw that a scratch mark had been left on a bush that was a tad bit taller than they were. "It's a scratch. What's wrong?"

"No" Theodore seemed to be really excited about it. "This is THE scratch. When Hazel wanted to hide behind these bushes she slipped and wanted to hold onto the bush and scratched it. Now come with me." With that he went around the bush carefully while holding onto a branch of it. As soon as he was out of view Kaiser heard a sliding sound before calling out for him to follow. "Come! Just do what I did!"

Carefully repeating the same steps as Theodore he stumbled down into a depression which was surrounded by shrubs. In the center of the somewhat crater-like depression a small hill arose and between it and the walls of the depression the kids had pulled a few long sticks there then built a roof with it. Underneath they had stuffed moss to sit comfortably as well as store a few beautiful stones, interestingly shaped twigs that could be considered to be treasures by children their age.

A few things still bothered him and so he turned to Theodore who still looked fascinated at what they had built. "Isn't it amazing big brother? That we found such a cool place because someone stumbled? Do you want to play with us here tomorrow?". "Why did mom even allow you to play here?" replied Kaiser. "Who looked over you?"

Theodore still smiling answered: "Lobelia did. There were also others that went with us."

At the mention of the name Kaiser had to think for a while. According to his memories she was around his age and would go to school next year, same as him. Although he didn't know her that well he knew that she was very mature for her age although she sometimes still acted like the child she was. "Rue was as well". Theodore added. Kaiser was surprised. Rue was someone he knew more from what is told about her by the book and films than personally although he had the feeling that he somehow knew her mother. She should be one year younger than Theodore so around 2 years old. As their parents seemed to know each other it became clear why Theodore knew her. Their parents and older sister probably had told him to take care of her.

For a while they stayed in that place until Kaiser decided it was time to go before his mom would get worried. As he helped Theodore climb the wall of the depression he turned around one last time. In one corner of the hill he saw something shining but he decided to examine it the next day as the needed to go now else they might spend even longer in the depression and his mother would have to search for them. When they arrived at home they, together with the rest of the family which had returned by now, began to eat after everyone had washed their hands. After his mother had nagged Theodore for dirtying his pants again as he had slid down the walls of the depression in a sitting position and dirtied his knee area from playing with things on the ground they all went to sleep although Kaiser now slept in the same room as his siblings while his uncle once more slept in his single room. After his Mary, his older sister, and Theodore finally decided to shut up and sleep he could finally shut his eyes as well.