Chapter 1
THE BEGINNING
The world slowly became a harder place to breath as Adolf Hitler seemed to be growing more political powerful by the day, his book only fueling the fire. Erna Lorenz felt like her life was coming down all together, her brother - a close friend of Adolf told her that he plans to take back the mother land; the end goal was to take the rest of Europe and eventually take the rest of the world. This was enough for Erna to beg her husband to take her daughter, Anneliese, and leave. Anywhere but Germany. To remain away from Europe, if she couldn't escape.
Anneliese would not face the fate the Lorenz women always suffered.
Her Husband, Josef, knew that Erna was unable to leave the country considering who her family was. They rather have her killed off then let her leave Germany. Not only was her family highly influential, but there seemed to be a murderous gene in most of them.
Erna's death would be slow and torturous if he was to leave with Anneliese, the price of leaving. A transaction of a sort, if Erna's family don't get to keep Anneliese, he loses all rights to Erna's heart. She'll just be memories in his mind. So, if the time was to happen - where Erna was to be captured, she pleaded for him to ensure her death was a quick and merciful death.
A compromise was made: Erna would follow her husband and daughter to America, but if they were to be caught or cornered, Erna would sacrifice her life in hopes her husband and daughter could escape. That's what family did; family before all else. Even if it was death.
The two knew the sacrifice of the mission to escape Germany, especially if it was to go wrong. And on a sudden Tuesday night, Josef commands for Anneliese to start packing her bag, only to bring what was necessary; she had to leave her knitting needles and her teddy bear on her bed. A goodbye to the last of her innocence, stripped from her final piece of childhood dreams.
In the dark, her father led her down the street, followed by numerous back streets until they met up with a few more men and woman with their children. Anneliese had no clue what was going on and why her mother and father seemed to be shaking in their shoes. She had no idea of the consequences that would ensue.
Being pushed into a trunk, she quickly remained by her mother's side whilst her father sat at the front of the boot of the trunk. A gun resting against the glass window or the back of the boot, now that was terrifying. And it seemed almost cruel for Anneliese to fall asleep peacefully in her mother's lap.
Well- until she heard glass shattering.
Waking up to the sun piercing through the window, Anneliese hadn't even realise it had switched to daylight, instead she noticed the back window was completely shattered. Hyperventilating, Anneliese looked up to her mother who was staring through the shattered window. Searching in the same direction as her mother, she could see exactly what had caused her mother's mouth to gape.
There was a bunch of men in cars, shooting at them with guns.
"What's going on Mama," Anneliese asked her mother. Erna hushed her, as she asked the others how far out they were from the meeting location. It was an hour away.
It was in her nativity, that Anneliese wasn't aware of the sacrifice her father had committed. Sinning his soul as he fired back at the men with the guns, leaning out of the shattered glass and aiming precisely at the other cars. Anneliese didn't know any better, but Erna did. He wasn't aiming to kill, but to slow down.
Josef Lorenz was not a killer.
And it was that exactly reason which gave them enough time to arrive at the harbour in France. They had made it. Anneliese followed the other children, men, women and her father onto the boat – paid by the money Erna stole from her brother.
For the first time, Anneliese knew what was happening. They were fleeing.
And then her mother's fingers fell from Anneliese's hand... and she knew something wasn't right. Turning to face her, she felt her mother's cold lips kiss the top of her head, empty tears falling down from her cheek and onto Anneliese's forehead.
"You be good for your father."
Looking up at her mother terrified, Anneliese whispered a deadly question, "You're not coming?"
She shook her head, "No, your father will take care of you. It will be a very long and difficult trip but please be kind to your father. Remember, always protect your father. Family above all else. Now go." She said as she heard yelling coming their way.
"Mama-"
"Give me one last hug, baby," Erna said, her eyes splotchy as the tears never stopped falling, "Mama will miss you, and she will watch you every day okay?" She held the young Anneliese in her arms for only a few seconds, until the bullets started to be fired in their direction.
"Baby," She whispered, unwrapping her from a hug and holding her shoulder, "Promise me you will finish this war, promise me that you will end this... no matter what."
"But-"
"Go!" Her mother yelled, as more men with guns grew closer. Her father had to pick up Anneliese and carry her into the boat, but she was beyond hysterical as she screamed for her mother to join them and to run. Why wouldn't she run?
Her mother was cornered. She had no escape. Her eyes were wide as she witnesses her mother's end. Beaten with metal poles until she couldn't stand, and once the boat was out of the harbour, she heard her mother's death.
Crack-crack-crack.
The gun firing stopped.
At the time, Anneliese hadn't realise how lucky they were, that the men hadn't tried to shoot the boat. Instead, she was wrapped tightly in her father's arms as he tried to calm down her tears, unstoppable.
Her world was falling apart as she felt her father's tears fall onto her bare shoulders. They were alone. For what wasn't the first time, Anneliese said goodbye to death as a friend.
And Anneliese would remember the last few seconds she could see her mother. A glimpse of a man she knew all too wellX her uncle, as he slowly walked away from the crime scene. It was darkness sinking; night's incarnation. The cruelty of the world on full display to the young Anneliese.
The two eventually made it to America and somehow made a home from the tragedy that arrived before there success. Forming a community alongside the other immigrants, Germans and others alike, all worked and lived together to reduce costs. After all, there so-called nice American neighbours had made it increasingly more difficult for any of them to get jobs.
And yet, it would only be a year later, that Josef would be able to afford a quiet cottage in New York City. Having to face the true brutality from there new German-hating American neighbours. The two had heard plenty of horrible slurs over the years, been pegged as spies, witnessed hangings, and hid the few German books they had left – avoiding the chance of their American neighbours burning them. Without a choice but to deal with the hardships and judgement of their names, surname, and culture and their language. The two knew it was still better then returning to the motherland of starving Germans.
They had an American flag on their roof, a red, blue and white painted letter box to convince their neighbourhood of their patriotic love for America. The family of two did anything to be accepted.
Inside the house, grand art works of German artists plagued the walls, but never a painting of family members... much like her old home. Her American lifestyle was a significant downgrade, and in her petty nativity, sometimes she wished she stayed. Unable to speak her native tongue anywhere but within the store, and she had to sneak around to receive the German schooling her father wanted her to have.
Of course, when the rare occasion of an American was invited to the house. They switched this with frames of great American literature, American flags and English was only spoken. It was a massive punch in the stomach for the young Anneliese, to lose her entire identity.
Yet, Anneliese put up with all the change. Staying at home, as she was required to make and mend the clothing her father and herself wore. It was an easy way to ensure that not only they saved more money to send to those from their original community, but she could add a touch of German fashion.
To the two Lorenz's, fashion was their last resort for any sort of connection with their hereditary. It was through subtle at stitching styles, how the collars were slightly broader and the colour combination. Small aspects, but it meant everything to Anneliese and her father. In fact, Josef had made a living from becoming a hatter.
The American customers were unaware that it was both German owned but made through German techniques. Anneliese wasn't completely sure how her father knew how to make hats, but that didn't matter. He had created an anonymous company, making enough for them to live a highly comfortable lifestyle. Leonard's Hats was the first time Anneliese breathed.
It was nice to be able to afford to live comfortably again.
During her time in New York, her father tried enrolling her into a nice high school - wanting the best education that America could be offered. Such opportunities were not provided, if it was her foreign last name or the slight accent that seemed to follow Anneliese everywhere. They would not let her in.
So he continued home schooling her, after all... Josef used to be an established scientist in his own right. And as Anneliese grew older, the more intelligent she became. And the income grew as well, as she contributed to the family income by fixing up clothing as her sewing skills was unbelievable – enough for her to attend a small study group of females interested in chemistry.
Later, Anneliese would get a job of a lifetime - earning enough for her father to retire. The man needed rest, and so did Anneliese... but she was young. She could keep going.
Anneliese didn't know about it yet, but her mother's sacrifice meant that she would change the fate of the war – for good or for evil.