Authors Note:: Welcome to the first chapter of the new and improved An Adventure of a Lifetime! First published in 2012, it was my first ever fanfiction and I love it to pieces. But now that I have been writing pretty steadily for three years I have grown as a writer and decided to expand on my much loved first story. Although I am every happy with the way that it turned out the first time, I wanted to make it even better by using all the things that I have learned over the years, giving it more of the personal style I have developed for myself. I hope you enjoy my new story with slightly longer chapters and all sorts of new content!

Chapter One: Evacuation

"Lily! Georgie! Are you two ready to go?" Mrs. Rivers asked, yelling so that her children could hear her from the bottom of the stairs.

For the first time in about a month, Lily and her younger brother Georgie were on the fourth floor of their family's four-story apartment building. When the bombings began to grow more frequent, it was no longer safe for them to stay up there. Instead, they stayed with one of the families that lived on the ground floor, the Saunders. Both children were fine with the arrangement as it meant they got to have an endless sleepover with their best friends. And Jennifer Rivers liked the idea because it put her family closer to the bomb shelter. But the children weren't in their rooms to live, no, there were up there to pack a handful of their belongings into two small bags, one of each other them.

They were being evacuated to the country.

It was hard work packing for a trip when you didn't know how long you would be away for. After standing in the middle of the room, though, thinking hard about everything she had crammed into the bag, she was pretty sure that she had everything that she would need. And if there happened to be something that she had forgotten, well, she hoped that it would be small enough for her mother to send it to her through the post. Grabbing her bag from her bed, she held onto it tight as she walked over to her door.

"Be right down, Mum!" she called before turning around to take one last look at her room.

Looking back on it now, she remembered when she used to think it was small and crowded, what with all the stuff she had acquired throughout her childhood. But now that she was leaving, it seemed rather large and empty. Gazing out the window at all the destruction, she could only hope that her room would remain unchanged when she returned.

It wasn't very likely.

With a sigh and one final look around the room, she turned on her heel and started down the hallway. Reaching the stairs, she descended slowly, etching everything she saw into her memory. She had grown up in this building and the thought of returning to a pile of rubble when the war ended scared her. Reaching the bottom, she saw that both her mother and brother were standing there waiting. A twinge of guilt moved through her stomach as she wondered how long she had made them wait.

"Are you ready to go?" her mum asked, touching her arm gently.

Lily looked at her mother and merely nodded, not feeling like speaking. Mrs. Rivers gave her an understanding smile before leading her children out of the apartment and down to the ground level where a cab no doubt waited to take them to the train station.

"Hey Mum, would you mind if I stop by Erika's quickly to say goodbye?" Lily asked, looking at her mother.

Mrs. Rivers looked at the front door before turning back to face her daughter. "Of course, just make it quick, alright," she said.

Lily sat down her bag and turned to look at her brother. "Georgie, would you like to come and say goodbye to Philip?" she asked, knowing that the two boys were good friends as well.

But Georgie just shook his head. "No, that's alright. I already said goodbye. I'm going to go and find Buddy, though," he said before walking down the hall that led to the backyard.

Confused, Lily turned to her mum but the older women just shook her head at her daughter. Since the war started, her brother had been spending more and more time with the dog so she could only assume that he wanted to say goodbye to him as well. It would be a while before they would see him again. Shrugging her shoulders, Lily turned around and knocked on Erika's door. She stood there for a few seconds before the door was pulled open and her best friend stood in front of her.

"Erika!" she yelled before grabbing the other girl and pulling her into a tight hug.

"Lily!" Erika cried as well before hugging her friend back just as tight. "I was hoping you would stop by before you left!"

The two girls stood there, hugging for what felt like hours, before letting go of one another. Looking at Erika's face, Lily saw that her childhood friend had tears in her light green eyes. She would have said something if it weren't for the fact that she was pretty sure that she was crying as well. Lifting a hand, she touched her cheek and felt that she was indeed crying. Looking at Erika, she let out a laugh, which her friend soon joined in.

"I'm going to miss you so much!" Lily said once the two of them had finished laughing.

"I'm going to miss you too," Erika said, wiping away the tears from her own cheeks, "Will you write me?"

"Of course I'll write you!" Lily said without a second of hesitation. "You're my best friend. Just because we won't see each other doesn't mean that's going to change.

Lily pulled Erika into another hug.

"Lily, dear, we have to go now or else you'll miss your train," Mr. Rivers said from the door causing the two girls to pull away from one another.

"Coming, Mum!" Lily called before turning around to face Erika. "Can you tell Alexia that I'll miss her and that I'll write her as well?" she asked, feeling bad that she would not be able to tell her raven-haired friend herself.

Erika nodded. "Of course,"

The two girls exchanged farewells one last time before Lily finally turned around and walked back to where she had left her bag. Reaching down, she picked it up before making her way towards the front door and outside where she found her brother and mother once again waiting for her, only this time they were standing by a cab instead of at the bottom of the stairs.

"Okay, Mum, I'm ready," Lily said, walking down the front steps and making her way over to stand next to Georgie.

"Alright. Now you're both sure that you have everything that you might need? It might be a while until I see you again." Mrs. Rivers looked from one child to the other. It killed her to have to send them away, but it just wasn't safe in London anymore.

Lily nodded her head while her brother sighed and muttered a "yes."

Mrs. Rivers fought back the tears that burned the back of her eyes, knowing that she needed to be strong for her children.

"Hey, do you guys want a ride to the train station or what? I don't have all day!" The cab driver said impatiently from the front seat of his car, yelling through the open passenger window.

"Yes, we're coming," Mrs. Rivers said quickly, her voice faltering for a moment, before ushering her children into the cab. Although he was only thirteen, Georgie's legs were already long meaning Lily was stuck sitting in the middle between him and their mother. To save room, she kept her backpack full of belongings in her lap while her brother placed his between his legs.

The ride was long and bumpy because of the latest bombing that left large holes in the middle of the street and debris just about everywhere else. It took them a little under a half hour before the small family had reached the train station. Lily and Georgie grabbed their things and waited off to the side while their mother paid the driver. Then, together, the three of them walked into the busy train station.

People were everywhere. Mothers and children clung to one another as they tried to find a way by the many others that filled the room. Both Lily and her brother grabbed their mother's hands so as not to get lost in the crowd as well. It was slow going as they made their way to the train. When they reached as far as the officers would let their mother go, they stopped and said their goodbyes.

"You make sure that you too are respectful to the people putting you up now, alright? And please be safe!" she said, hugging both of her children in turn.

"Don't worry, Mum! We will," Georgie said, giving her a reassuring smile. He stood up straight and tall, lifting his chin slightly so that he appeared taller and older than his thirteen years. At that moment, he looked so much like his father that it almost brought Mrs. Rivers to tears. Mr. Rivers was doing his part by fighting in the war.

"Yeah, Mum. Don't worry. We'll write as often as we can," Lily added, giving a small smile as well. "We love you."

She watched as the tears started to fall from her mother's eyes. Leaning over, she gave the older woman another hug, ignoring the tears that rolled down her own cheeks once more. Georgie stood by watching for a moment before joining in, wrapping his long arms around both his sister and mother.

The three hugged for a few seconds before the trains' whistle interrupted them, signaling that it would be leaving soon.

"You better get on and find a seat," Mrs. Rives said, wiping her eyes. "I'm sure things are going to fill up quickly."

Lily and her brother nodded before turning around and making their way towards the train. Being the oldest, Lily had the tickets and she handed them to the soldier that was taking them. He looked at them for a few seconds before waving the siblings on. It took them a while, but they were soon able to find a compartment that was still empty. Removing their bags from their backs, they placed them in the overhead compartment before settling down in the seats across from one another.

"How many kids do you suppose are on this train?" Georgie asked off-handedly, looking out the window.

"Probably enough for us to have to share this compartment," Lily answered, knowing that that was what her brother had been thinking about.

He didn't answer but instead continued to look out the window, an intense look of concentration on his face. She could only guess that he was looking for their mother. As the train lurched to life, Lily turned her head towards the window as well. She watched as most people on the platform waved goodbye while others walked alongside the train for a while. As the train slowly started to pick up speed, Lily scanned the crowd primarily made up of women in the hopes of catching at least one last look of her mother. She tried her hardest but was unable to do so with the large crowd of people.

Glancing sideways at her brother, she watched as he turned away from the window, defeated. He hadn't found their mother either. Letting out a sigh, Lily decided to look away from the window as well and got comfortable.

Letting her mind drift, she thought of her friends who were also being sent off to a new place; where exactly, she didn't know. She hoped that they would be safe wherever they ended up, though. Her mind then turned towards her mother, now all alone with no one but the family dog, Buddy, for company. Sure, she would probably continue to stay with the Saunders, but it would just be her and Mrs. Saunders. Mr. Saunders was also off fighting in the war. Two women all alone while their men risked their lives for their country and their children were out of the city, living with strangers, for an undetermined amount of time. The idea saddened her greatly so Lily decided to move her thoughts towards a different subject: Georgie and herself.

They were alone now, with no one but one another for comfort. They knew nothing about the man they would be staying with, not his personality, not how he felt about children, they didn't even know where it was his house was located. The only thing she did know was that they were going to have to be stronger than they have before. Their father would want that of them. To be brave and strong and safe.

That's all Lily could hope for.

Authors Note: So there is the improved chapter one. Hope you guys liked it and are as excited to re-explore this story as much as I am. New chapters will be posted everyone Monday and Friday, so be sure to check in then. And I would love to hear from you all, so please leave a comment or shoot me a message. Thank you so much for reading!