(Peter's P.O.V)
Finchley, London, England. September 7th, 1940, 2:00 a.m.
It was the sirens and the roaring of aeroplane engines that jolted me awake. The Nazis were attacking. No doubt the rest of my family was awake as well, desperately trying to save themselves. Well, almost all of them. My little brother, Edmund, was instead at the parlor window, trying to catch a glimpse of the German bombers. "Edmund, get away from there!" I heard my mother say before she called my name. I sprinted into the room to see Mum clutching Edmund's shoulders. "What do you think you're doing?!" she yelled. I grabbed Edmund's wrist. "Peter, the shelter. Now!" I nodded before running down the hallway, Ed in tow. We passed my younger sister, Susan. She had a flashlight in her hand.
"Mummy!" I heard my littlest sibling Lucy shout from her bed. Susan entered their room.
"Lucy, come on!" she urged. The girls followed Edmund and I out of the house and into the garden. Mum was right in front of us. I kept telling the others to run. We were about halfway to the shelter before Edmund stopped and abruptly turned around while saying, "Wait! Dad!" He ran back to the house.
"Edmund, no!" Mum shouted.
"I'll get him!" I shouted back as I chased my younger brother, ash falling in my golden hair as more bombs hit the ground. Our time was short, but obviously Edmund didn't care.
"Peter, come back!" Mum yelled again, but it sounded like a whisper. Edmund was inside, back in the parlor. He ran to the table which held a picture of our father, dressed in his full military regalia.
"Edmund, get down!" I cried just as a bomb hit the street behind our house. The glass in the windows rained down all around us. "Come on, you idiot! Run!" I yelled. Ed picked up the picture as I picked up him. "Get out!" I ushered him in front of me as several planes flew right above our heads. We ran out into the garden again as Mum popped up out of the shelter hatch.
"Come on!" she shouted. With one final push, Edmund fell onto the free cot, and I felt all my anger bubble to my mouth.
"Why can't you care about anyone but yourself? You're so selfish! You could've got us killed!"
"Stop it." Mum firmly warned before turning her attention to Ed. She brought him into her arms as he and Lucy both started to slightly sob.
"Why can't you just do as you're told?" I said to Edmund. He looked at me with fear and pain in his eyes. I turned around and slammed the shelter door shut. There we stayed for the rest of the night. Scared, but safe.
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-THE NEXT MORNING-
When we came out of the shelter the next morning, a shocked, stunned silence enveloped us. Ruins. That's all it was. Everything was completely destroyed. Miraculously, our house still stood, looking just the same. However, our garden was the complete opposite. There was dirt and debris everywhere, and Mum's beloved herb patch was in shambles. Susan shielded Lucy's eyes from a huge piece of a bomb that stuck halfway out of the ground. Even Edmund was speechless as he clutched the picture he still held of our father. "What're we going to do Mum?" I asked. I saw she had a piece of paper in her hand.
"Well, there's only one thing we can do, Peter." she said. I went behind her shoulder and my eyes widened when I saw what the piece of paper depicted. It was a flyer in fact. It advertised three children being led by their mother on what appeared to be a country road. Blue borders with yellow letters read: Help The Children: Housing Evacuees Is A National Service.
"Mum..." I started.
"This is the only way to keep you four safe." she explained. We looked up, and Susan, Edmund, and Lucy were all staring at us back. "Children, we need to talk."
And so, a few hours later, we were at Balham Station. Each of us had a suitcase, a satchel, and a smaller bag with personal belongings. Mum was kneeling in front of Lucy, pinning a tag on her. We all had the same one, telling the conductors that we were related and whom we were supposed to go to until the attacks on London ceased. "You need to keep this on, darling," said Mum to Lucy. "Are you warm enough?" she asked. Lucy nodded. "Good girl." She proceeded to pin a tag on Edmund as he eyed a flyer identical to the one Mum had found.
"if Dad were here he wouldn't make us go," Ed complained.
"If Dad were here it'd mean the war was over and we wouldn't have to go." I said to him.
"You will listen to your brother won't you, Edmund?" Mum asked in a tone that was half asking, half commanding. Mum rose and tried to kiss Edmund's cheek, but he tensed up and wouldn't let her. So she hugged him instead, but he didn't return even that. I rolled my eyes. How dare he? This could be the last time we saw our mother and he acted like he didn't care.
Mum came to me and she stared at me before she reached up and hugged me. "Promise me you'll look after the others." she said to me.
"I will, Mum." I promised, my voice slightly cracking.
"Good man," she smiled before making her way to Susan and embracing her. "Be a big girl." Mum pulled away from my little sister before turning to face us all. "Alright. Off you go." We all picked up our suitcases and made our way to the conductors in charge of the boarding. I grabbed Lucy's hand and Susan went for Edmund's, but he snatched away from her.
"Hey, get off!" he said. "I know how to get on a train by myself. Get off me!" he repeated once more. I nudged Lucy past one of the conductors before tilting my head up. There were army-men passing through the station. And in the first row, I caught a glimpse of none other than my father. He met my eye for about a half-second before staring dead on again. I felt temporarily frozen before Susan called my name and snatched the ticket out of my hand. She gave it to the female conductor with a slight smile.
"On you'll go." she said and waved us on. I looked back at the men before I thought I ran into something. Or rather someone. I accidentally knocked into a girl who looked about my age. She had straight hair that was a shade darker than mine. She wore a light blue jumper with a white blouse underneath, black skirt, black loafers, and brown, rectangular rimmed glasses. A golden hairslide held back her fringe.
"Oh, pardon me!" I told her as we both picked up our luggage. "I didn't mean to run into you."
"Oh, no. It's quite all right. I was the one who wasn't watching where I was going." She stood and I noticed she also had dropped the book she was reading. She went to reach for it.
"No, allow me." I insisted. I bent to pick the book up, and I noticed it was dark brown, made out of leather. and it had a picture of many mountains with a church beneath them. I recognized it immediately. "For Whom The Bell Tolls? It's my favorite."
"Mine, too." I looked into her eyes. They were a dark olive green with a ring of brown around the pupil. I opened my mouth to introduce myself, when Susan came up behind me and grabbed my arm.
"Peter, come on," she said as she proceeded to lead me away. I left the girl standing where she was.
"Uh, I hope to see you again," I called to her.
"Someday," she called back. I rejoined the others as we all got on the train. Lucy pulled against my hand again when she slid it into mine.
"Come on, Lucy. We have to stick together now. It's going to be alright. It's gonna be fine." I told my youngest sibling. She was scared, I could feel it. She went on with us again, and it wasn't long before the car door was shut behind us. We all poked our heads out of the window just as Mum pushed through the crowd and the train began to roll away.
"Bye-bye, dears," I heard her say.
"Bye Mum, we'll miss you!" I shouted as my siblings shouted their goodbyes as well. Finally, the train went at full throttle out of the station and London, before entering the green countryside.
(Quick A/N: I will use a lot of British terms throughout the course of the story, because all the characters in the movie, especially the Pevensies, are British. But I will include a glossary of the terms as they are used.)
Aeroplane: airplane
Parlor: living room
Garden: backyard
Jumper: sweater
Hairslide: barrette
Fringe: bangs
(Another A/N: I know what happened at the very end of this chapter didn't happen in the movie, but if you were able to put two and two together, you'd figure it out ;))
