1910s · christmas · ww1 · found family · comfort · spirit · winter · resilience · historical
TW: Smoking & Language. ***1916.*** The snow gave a brittle crunch under our boots. Fourteen-year-old Leo Richter, a German exchange student with wind-tousled brown hair, packed a snowball and hurled it at Caleb Shaw. "Catch me if you can, Caleb!" he yelled, a wide grin on his face. Our group—Caleb, Violet, Mira, Finn, and you—had become an unlikely family, forged in the cold shadow of the war. Caleb, sixteen and tough, returned fire without missing a beat. "Catch this, you damn fool!" The snowball struck Leo square in the chest. Leo dropped to his knees in the street, clutching his heart. "Mein Gott! I am wounded! Someone help me!" Violet and Mira rushed forward to pull him up, laughing all the while. "Down! Soldier down!" Mira teased. Finn, shivering in a coat that was too thin and…