Karl, Friedrich, and I became great friends right away. I introduced them to Amalie and Evi, and they seemed to all get along pretty well. After a year of being friends, I couldn't hold back my secret any longer. I really trusted these guys, and I wanted to tell them. It was now 1913 and we were in seventh grade.
"Karl, Friedrich, I have something important to tell you guys."
"What's up dude?"
"It's gonna seem crazy, but you have to believe me."
"Yeah sure man, what is it?"
"I…"
Here goes.
"I'm from the future."
"Hahaha good one Heinrich,"
"No, I'm serious."
"Oh yeah? What am I gonna say next?"
"That's not exactly how it works."
"Then how are we supposed to believe you?"
Shit, I didn't think about this.
"Hm, good point."
"What exactly do you mean you're from the future? What year? 1930? I wonder where I'll be in 1930…"
"No Karl, much later. I died in the year 2021."
"What?! That's so far away! That's impossible!"
"It's true, I promise you. I think I can prove it too."
"How?"
"Next summer, in July of 1914, a war is going to start."
"A war? Does Germany fight in it?"
"Yeah, we do."
"Well, do we win?"
"No, we don't win this war."
"Oh… what's it called?"
"World War 1."
"Woah, that sounds pretty important!"
"It is, it's a really big war and a lot of the countries around the world fight in it, even America."
"Damn, the Americans beat us then huh,"
"Yeah, unfortunately. Anyways, just wait until then, and you'll see that I'm right. Will you guys believe me then?"
"Yeah dude, if a war called World War 1 actually starts over the summer we'll believe you. But I seriously doubt it will."
"Just wait, I promise I'm not lying."
"We'll see."
Now, we wait. Thank god I was a history nerd in my last life.
The date was July 28, 1914 and it finally happened. I was with my family listening to the radio when I heard it.
"This just in! Austria has officially declared war on Serbia, following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand yesterday. Will Germany decide to join? We'll have to wait and see."
"Oh great, a war. I just pray that Germany doesn't get involved," my dad said.
"I'll say my prayers," my mother followed.
Less than an hour after that, I heard a knock on my door.
"Holy shit Heinrich, you were right! You really are from 2021!"
"Keep it down!" I stepped outside so my family wouldn't overhear.
"But yeah, I told you."
"Holy shit man! How the hell does that even work? Why'd you come back here?" Karl said.
"What's it like in 2021?!" Friedrich excitedly asked.
"Basically, I died in 2021. All of a sudden, I was born here, I don't really know why, but I was. I cant really go back even if I wanted to. But, I have a job to do here. I need you guys' help too."
"Woah really?! What is it?"
"We need to stop a man called Adolf Hitler. He's considered in the future to be one of the worst men that's ever lived. He rises to power in the future, and becomes the dictator of Germany. But, he started what's known as the Holocaust. He slaughtered six million people while in power, and we need to stop him."
"Wait, six million?! How is that even possible?"
"Well, he runs the country, and he hates Jewish people. He believed that they were an inferior race of people and that they needed to be executed. He runs a political party called the Nazi party. The three of us go on to become high ranking Nazi's in the future, so we have the power to stop it."
"Wait… we kill people?"
"No, we don't. Originally, we did. All three of us, but this time we aren't. We're gonna prevent any of it from happening in the first place, from the inside."
"How do you know all this? How do you know that about us specifically?"
"I'm Heinrich Himmler, one of the more infamous members of the Nazi party. I was reading a book about myself when I died in 2021. I recognized both of your names from another book I read. We're all extremely high up in the Nazi party and in the SS, an organization controlled by the Nazi's."
"That's… jesus man that's a lot to wrap my head around," Karl said.
"Yeah seriously, I mean fuck man wow," Friedrich said.
"I know, it's a lot to take in. But I need to know. Are you guys in this with me?"
"Yeah, yeah of course I am. We need to do this to save six million lives right?"
"Yeah, we do."
"Well, I'm in too. Let's stop this Adolf guy together."
"Thank you guys, seriously thanks. I knew I could count on you guys."
"Do Evi and Amalie know about this?"
"No, they don't. You guys are the first people I've ever told this to."
"Thanks for trusting us so much."
"Don't mention it, you guys are awesome."
"Will you tell us about your past life?"
"Maybe some other time, yeah."
"I cant believe we were in history books…"
"Not for a good reason though, this time, we'll be in history books for being heroes."
"Wait so… is Heinrich Himmler even your real name?"
"Yeah, it is. I had an old name in my old life but, that isn't me anymore. I'm Heinrich now, this is who I am."
"So… what now?"
"Not much, we're still young. We just have to wait for the future. It's a long time away, so we can just continue living our lives as we are now."
"We cant even do anything yet?"
"No, World War 1 has just begun, what we're trying to prevent, is World War 2."
"Damn, that does sound far away."
"It is, but, it's never too early to start. I have a man in mind who we can take care of first. But, we have to be careful, it could fuck everything up. This man though, is one of the highest on my priority lists."
"Who is he?"
"He's another terrible man, like we would've become, one of the worst of all the Nazi's even. He was so evil he got the nickname 'Angel of Death'. His name, is Josef Mengele."