Innocence in Blitz.

It was that time of night again. It was the time when all of those horrible, scary noises started, and Mummy always cries. Daddy runs around closing all of the curtains and moving furniture about, but not in a fun way, like when we make play forts. He always moved the couch to the doorway. The tables and chairs always went up against the windows. Daddy always did this, then sometimes he started to cry too. I hated seeing Mummy cry because she shook like when you had been out in the rain too long, or was playing in the snow without mittens on. When Daddy cried he tried to hide it, but I always knew because he became very snuffly and used his handkerchief which he usually kept hidden in his shirt pocket.

I was in the usual spot that I knew I had to go to. Mummy always took me there and we waited for Daddy until he finished running around. It was in the little cupboard under the stairs, which I didn’t mind because it seemed really important to my parents for me to be there, but it was really stuffy and smelt like old shoes. Mummy was holding me which she always did when we were in here, and Daddy came in and shut the door behind him quickly, putting some wooden planks across the handle, like he always did. We had to come in here nearly every night now, ever since that broadcast on the radio which mentioned something about a war. A man called Mr Chamberlain came on the radio, interrupting the lovely music we were listening to that Sunday morning as we were eating breakfast. Mummy told me that he was the Prime Minister, and Daddy called him some names which I was told not to repeat. I knew that we came in here regularly now, and everyone seemed so sad when we were in here, so I tried to make it nicer for them this time. I brought my most colourful stuffed toys in here ready for when we had to be shut in. I had a yellow teddy and a bright pink kitten which had a really fluffy tail. They always made me happy, along with my colouring pencils, which were in here too. I decided that Daddy would appreciate the yellow teddy the most, so I quietly scrambled out of my Mummy’s arms so I could reach over to where I put the teddy earlier. I held onto his soft ears tightly, squeezing with all my might, hoping to transfer some happiness into the silly bear that would make my Daddy feel stronger. I then picked up the pink kitten delicately. This one was definitely meant for Mummy, and I even sprayed a little bit of her perfume on it earlier so it smelt like her too. I scuttled across the floor so I was in between my parents, before I handed the animals to their new designated owners for the night. I smiled up at them both with all the love I could muster.

“These will help you stay happy, they have always worked for me, and I don’t like seeing you cry. I picked them out especially for you two.” My voice started to break as I saw more tears well up into Mummy’s eyes, and I saw a single tear roll down Daddy’s cheek before he briskly wiped it away with his shirt sleeve.

“Thank you, darling. You really are such a thoughtful girl.” Mummy said whilst she tried to dry her eyes.

“How did we manage to get so lucky by having you to look after us, eh, Gracie?” My Daddy spoke in his usual jokey way now, scruffling my hair up like he always did when he was proud of me. It ruined all the hard work Mummy put in to plaiting my long, auburn hair, but I didn’t mind.

I thought it would be best to start drawing some pictures to hand on the wall, because I knew we would be in here a lot. I thought it would be nice to make the walls prettier and brighter. We had to keep the lights off other than a single candle that Daddy always held, so the pictures had to be very bright.

“What could be the brightest thing I could possibly draw?” I thought to myself earnestly. I wanted it to be the best thing possible for them, I needed to make it special. “A rainbow!” I exclaimed to myself. “A rainbow, with some pretty flowers underneath, and I will draw me, Mummy, Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa sitting by the flowers, with a bright blue lake as well!”

I started drawing fiercely with my tongue slightly stuck out as I concentrated hard on my masterpiece. After a few minutes, I looked over the paper with scrutiny, before smiling proudly at what I had created. I knew that this had to make Mummy and Daddy feel better, they always loved my drawings, they usually hung them up on the walls in the living room, so this one will be extra special. I held my work up so that my parents could both see it at the same time and so that I could see both of their reactions at the same time. I was excited to see their faces, I could just feel that they were going to love it, and they were going to smile again, and we were going to be happy again.

That’s when the floor started rumbling.

The sounds outside were getting louder now, and I could hear my Mummy crying louder as she held me and tried to hold my ears, but I could still hear it. I could still see my Daddy’s eyes grow really wide as he stared at the door.

“The sirens aren’t stopping, they’ve usually stopped by now!” He hissed to Mummy, who was rocking me in her lap now.

“What was that noise?” Mummy asked through her quick breaths.

That’s when there was the loudest crash I had ever heard in my whole seven years of living. I thought it was bad when I dropped a china plate on the kitchen floor, but this… There was ringing in my ears as Daddy came towards us and held us tightly. It felt like a giant had come to our house and kicked it with his strongest boots. The walls were moving, and dust was starting to fall from the ceiling. Crumbs were falling too, which covered my drawing before I was even able to show them properly. I was scared now. Tears started rolling down from my eyes as we all held on to each other.

The world was falling down. The door fell down. Where we would usually see the living room, we could only see dust and smoke. I could see the street outside on fire. I could hear screaming. I could hear crying. I heard the ceiling crack.

“Quickly, Susan, we need to move!” Daddy shouted as he started to push me and Mummy out across the door that was now on the floor. He pushed us out of the cupboard so hard that we ended up falling over the planks that were on the door earlier.

I heard the ceiling crack again. This time, it didn’t stop. The ceiling broke, and it broke so quickly that by the time I turned round to see where Daddy was, it was already crumbling across the floor. Mummy screamed but kept pulling me in the direction that Daddy had pushed us.

I pulled on her arm before saying “We need to wait for Daddy! We always wait for Daddy!” I was still crying, I wanted to get my drawing, I wanted us to listen to the lovely music on the radio again. I turned to look to where my Daddy was before the ceiling started to break, but I couldn’t see anything through the dust that was dancing across the floor.

“Simon!” My Mummy cried, as she now looked in the same direction as me, but she must have seen Daddy before I did. I felt some sort of happiness that we would be all together soon.

That’s when I saw Daddy’s arm under the bits of ceiling. It was red. He was holding my drawing.