Hey, people who are reading this! Font like this means FLASHBACK.
We were eating dinner- spaghetti and red sauce- when they tested the sirens.
Now, when we have an air raid siren test, we're supposed to go into the basement bomb shelter and crawl into a weird, neck-breaking position. Fetal position, but with hands over your neck. That was what the announcer on the telly said, after demonstrating it. The rather large newscaster in the 'bomb raid position'... Mutt and I could not stop laughing.
The last time I'd heard that noise... Sirens wailing.
"Oh shit!" I muttered, remembering my years at school. Mutt ran to the basement door, opened it and we filed down. We being Marion, Jones, and Oxley. I was frozen.
Children filing down the stairs to the basement bomb shelter with the sirens wailing...
"Come on, Elle!" Mutt yelled. I nodded, slightly dizzy and a lump in my throat.
"Come on, Elle! We have to get down there!" Madame Harris yelled.
"Okay." I walked down, trying to not remember.
"Okay, Madame..." Elle whispered, the sirens in her ears, ringing....
The bomb shelter was in the corner, built especially for seven people. One more person than needed, but still good. A little bigger in case someone was over. Otherwise, it was pretty spacious for six.
"Are you okay, Elle?" Oxley asked, worried.
"Oh... fine..." I mumbled, crouching into the 'bomb raid position'
"You don't look fine." He observed.
"I'm fine!" I snapped.
"When will this end?" Mutt's voice was muffled. "Madame Harris, when will the Nazis stop bombing us?" A little girl asked, tears in her eyes.
"I'm not sure, usually it's a few minutes." Jones answered.
"I'm not sure, my child... some say a few weeks, some say a few years." Madame Harris hugged the little girl close while the planes flew and the sirens wailed. In the distance, bombs exploded.
"Well, this sucks. The pasta's getting cold." Mutt groaned.
"This is horrible! I heard the teachers talking... They said people are dying because the Nazis are executing them." Anthony reported.
"Execute?" Elle lifted an eyebrow.
"I think it means murder." Kaylee whispered.
The all-clear sounded. I got up, heart beating faster, skin cold, and I swear I was sweating a little on my forehead. A hard lump was in my throat, my eyes felt a little wet. I was shaking slightly.
"All-clear?" Jones stated, but it sounded more like a question.
"Is it over?" Elle asked, after the bombings had stopped. Buildings all around them were destroyed. People were running in the streets. Some were bleeding, some were dead.
The smell of airplane fuel, polluting the sky. The sounds of people screaming. The sight of blood on the streets. The taste of smoke on your tongue when you tried to speak.
The smell of smoke, from the fires and bombs. Sounds of airplanes whining overhead. Seeing the rubble that was a building... sometimes you would see a person under that rubble, covered in grime and blood. Sometimes, under that rubble, you'd see a cat or dog. Sometimes, under that rubble, it would be a child, sometimes as old as I was myself. Then there was the taste of salt in your mouth, because you'd been crying and the tears got in your mouth.
"Anthony, we have to go help her!" Elle exclaimed, running over to a little girl, no more than seven, trapped under the rubble. Ignoring the protests of the teachers, seven-year-old Elle ran and tried to get the girl out. The girl's parents were dead, and the girl was sobbing. Elle got the girl out... only to have the girl die when she was trying to get up, holding Elle's hand...
"Elle! Elle!" Mutt was nearly shouting. Ugh... wait... where was I? On the couch. Go figure.
"I passed out, didn't I?" I whispered.
"Elle, why... I really do not know how to say this, but why did that happen? Why did you pass out?" Mutt prodded. I took a deep breath.
"France during World War Two... I was there... the sirens went off nearly every night, and in the mornings you could see the extent of the bombings. Buildings rubble... smoke in your lungs, choking you... My friend was taken by the secret police, and I haven't even communicated with her since. She was eight, she was probably killed somehow... But these sirens now sound exactly the same as the ones in France. Exactly the same." I mumbled.
"Why were you in France?" Oxley nearly went crazy.
"Mama took me to her sister's. Aunt was taken away, and so was Mama... I'm still not sure why... But Phoenix Boarding School... doubled as an orphanage." I whispered.
"So Anthony is a orphan?" Mutt asked.
"Everyone who we were talking about, every child there... we were orphans. And we hated the Nazis with a passion, especially after they took Kaylee away." I explained, still whispering.
"Elle, that's the past. It will never happen again." Mutt told me.
"No, it just happened, Mutt. Every time I see blood, I think of blood running down the streets in little rivers. Every time I hear the military jets overhead, I hear the planes overhead, dropping bombs. The Nazis killed over a million innocent people. Over a million. They will never be forgotten by their family, or their friends... Providing that their family and friends are still alive." I said, fiercely. Something in me sort of... I don't know... woke up? I stood up. "War is never the answer." I mumbled, almost to myself.