Chapter 1: Waking Up
To tell you the truth, I'm not exactly sure how it began…I've tried to block from my mind that first year, those first days especially…I'll start before the war and try to go forward without confusing you.
I remember waking up, my eyes were still closed, the last visages of my dream were leaving me. As I slowly gained consciousness I kept my eyes shut. There was a soft pitter patter on the window at my side. So, the rain had come down all night. I was warm and cozy in my bed, and I realized it must be Saturday, because my alarm hadn't woken me up yet. I looked at the clock it was 6 a.m., I started to wonder what had caused my body clock to ring when it hit me…Today was the day I was going to London! I jumped out of bed and ran down the hall, but I quickly realized that no one else in my house was awake. I forced myself to calm down and have a bowl of my favorite cereal Captain Crunch. By 7 my mom and my sister Abby were awake. We were already packed and had planned to be at the airport at 10 for our 12 o'clock flight.
Nothing really eventful happened on the plane, I slept part of the time, and was only half awake when we stopped for our connecting flight in Texas. We made it to Heathrow Airport at 7a.m. London time, but since we flew from California it felt like 11 p.m. We were met at the airport by our tour guide who took us on a walking tour of part of the city, and even though my body told me that it was midnight my mind could not comprehend how I would want to sleep when at the same time I could be seeing the beauty and wonder of this exciting and completely foreign place.
We stopped for a spot of the most delicious tea I have ever had the pleasure to taste, and I felt more alive as the caffeine hit my system. The sun was up and the temperature was quite nice. After leaving the desert of California the crisp London air was extremely refreshing, and I quickly decided that I would be sad to leave. We stopped at the hotel to put our bags in our rooms, and then it was back out into the city. This was our first free day, and I wanted to see the Shard and the London Bridge. We were on the tube when I heard the first bomb. I'm not sure what city was hit first or last, but the major cities were hit first. It's nothing like what you used to see in the movies, an actor's face could never reflect the terror we all felt. Fear was in the air, and it was as thick as the London fog I'd grown up hearing about, and that I've still never seen…