A/N I wrote this last March. I was inspired to write it because of when I went to London the summer before, we went to their war museum and went through a simulation of The Blitz. The Blitz was a terrifying time for Londoners when they were bombed by the Germans during WWII. I did quite a bit of research. So, this is my speculation on how frightening it must have been.

Hopefully you will enjoy it. It won an award, I'm proud to say, heh.

December, 1941
"Hurry it up, Danny!" I snatched at my five-year old brother's hand and missed.

" I found it!" He exclaimed, as he waved his silly stuffed elephant, Walter, in the air. His dimpled face glowed in victory. He loved that torn up piece of cloth and cotton.

I gazed in the direction of the Thames River. The sun was setting into its shimmering golden reflection. The sky was lines of purple, orange, pink and blue; it was going to get dark shortly. Mother had told us to get home before dark. Before Father was ordered to move to London we had heard about the terrible bombings that happened around nighttime, so, Danny and I, as the children, had to promise to always get home to the safety of our Anderson shelter long before dark. We were sent from home on a quest to give Father his dinner, for he was going to work late at White Hall.

Our Father was Officer Adam Sanderfelt, a code breaker for the Department Of Defense. He was the type that made home feel like boot camp. But I was grateful he let us call him "Father" instead of "Sir". Every morning we would awake at six-thirty and have a roll call. I would be the one who replied with a muffled voice because my head was buried in my pillow. Then he would march in and pull me up while saying " Vivian Sanderfelt, You're fifteen years old. You should be accustomed to this by now." He wasn't always stiff and strict though; he had a loving side also. When I was a little girl, we had a tradition that as soon as Mother thought I was asleep in bed, she would stretch onto her bed and soon fall asleep. When I heard her bed stop trembling in the room across the silent, empty hallway, I would sneak out of my room and into the living room. I would peek my head into the door and see Father peacefully sitting with a book on his lap. He would drum roll his fingers atop the book as if waiting for someone. And he was waiting for someone: me. His eyes shone once he spotted me and I would slip into his arms on his lap. His strong arms would hold me and read to me until I fell asleep. When Danny was born when I was ten, Father did the same for him, that is, until this horrid war struck. I have to admit, I was jealous of him for that.

While we were on our way back from visiting Father, (Mother instructed us that it was not a visit and that it was a "stop by") the sun was already setting. Danny somehow lost Walter along the way. When I suggested he should just move on, he began to wail. I tried to talk and yell over his screams but I didn't prevail. " Alright! Alright!" I waved my hands in the air in total disgust. Soon he quieted down. So did I. " Alright, We'll look for him." I was irritated when he just swerved around and began on his search without a single thank you. Being a young one, he looked every where that wasn't sensible to look for Walter in: in telephone booths, in ditches, he almost began digging in a flowerbed! But the winner of these all was " Maybe we should check all the double-decker buses in London." His eyes glazed with young innocence while looking up at me. I nearly fell backward laughing, but instead I just shook my head and tried to fill him with common sense. Eventually, we found our beloved Walter right when I was threatening to just give up on the goose chase and run on home. We found him on a bench in front of White Hall. I hoped Father couldn't see us through the large Victorian windows. As soon as Danny clasped hold of Walter, I wrapped my arms around him and drug him off, as he graciously let me drag him while clutching Walter tight. I soon let him go, exasperated.

I whirled around and started off down the street, hearing him stumble behind. I noticed the soldiers lined up all the way down the street as far as the eye could see. A chill ran through my spine when I remembered the reason Father told me they were all over the streets of London. With an unnerving tone of voice he told me " It's in case those Germans bomb us again." He emphasized "those Germans" coldly. I remember vividly the stab of premonition I had after he spoke to me. Suddenly, a large distant siren screech filled my ears. I looked around frantically. I stopped when I saw the bewilderment in Danny's eyes. His hands grew weak and he let go of Walter. I put my arms on his shoulders to calm him, though I, too, was frightened. This siren meant bombs were coming and this sound was what Londoners feared the most. This siren continued screaming and it seemed to tremble the very earth below us. As soon as the warning spread; the once calm, brave, and patrolling soldiers were running in all directions. Screams of fright and surprise were filling the air. One soldier dashed towards us. His pale eyes detected danger and targeted on our dumbfounded expressions. He came to a halt in front of us and wordlessly nabbed my shoulder and pushed us in the direction of the Underground station. I noticed almost all of the soldiers heading in this direction with horror-struck people in their grasp. Then I turned around to check if my hand was still clutched to Danny for my whole body had gone numb.

I felt the air jump out of my body when I saw my hand empty. I tried to yell to the soldier to stop, but the siren was drowning my shrieks. I wondered if the people across the seas could hear this. The siren and the urgent yelling of the soldiers were so loud it felt like my eardrums would bleed. I shook this thought and tried to concentrate on Danny.

I began resisting the soldier's hold. He wouldn't have it so he pulled me back. I searched the soon-to-be ruins for my brother and saw him holding Walter, frozen. His dimples were not apparent, and his eyes were painted with regret and helplessness. I started to slap the soldier's hand. He shot me a warning look as he began to push the door to the underground open. I took advantage of getting his attention and pointed a shaking finger at Danny. His eyes followed where I was pointing. He then nodded to another soldier while yelling something. I wasn't listening though; I was too busy trying to block out Danny's whines. I hoped and prayed that one of them was going to get my little brother, I remembered Father telling me that after the siren, the bombs could hail over the large capital in a matter of minutes. My heart sank at this remembrance.

Soon I was thrown to the soldier he nodded to like a beanbag. I twirled on the gravel like a ballerina on wax. I gasped quaintly. He gave me a reassuring look and escorted me into the building. I watched the other running out, looking up every once and a while with a watchful eye. I focused on them until they disappeared from view.

The young soldier let me go when we got to the second staircase. He said I could wait there for my brother and he ran outside again. My heart throbbed when I did not see them come through the door in a few fatal minutes. My breath grew faster.

A colossal crowd scurried down the stairs, which forced me against the wall. My eardrums started to hurt as the pounding of feet trotting down the stairs echoed through the Underground. I gritted my teeth and held my hand over my ears, trying to block this reality from my mind. I scratched my back against the concrete wall as the crowd grew larger and I could barely breath. It was so crowded. I noticed that there was only one child among them, but it wasn't Danny. Soon the staircase cleared up, with no more souls present. I lifted my once drooped down head and saw him. Danny was running to me with one opened arm and the other cradling Walter. I gave him two opened welcoming arms. I had never been so happy to see him. He clung onto me, and then I was back in the real world and realized where we were. We needed to get to a tube station. We ran down the stairs heading for safety. This time I would not let Danny out of my peripheral vision.

Soon we found ourselves in a tube station with a dusty sign marked " Charing Cross". I hoped we were low enough to consider this a proper bomb shelter.

I remembered Mother. I wondered if she got to the Anderson shelter all right. She never panicked under pressure, at least not that I could remember. All this worrying was making my head spin. I stepped into the dark mists of the tube station. I met with terrified eyes of people crouched in the corners of this long station. Most had tattered blankets and bags with them, I wondered if they were homeless. There were children who had gas masks. Their masks were painted like Mickey Mouse so as not to scare them. My heart sank at this realization. We had no masks, Though it hadn't been heard of to need them, I still had a premonition that they might be needed. I hoped that we wouldn't need them. I swallowed my tears of defeat, and walked alongside the stations.

I scanned for a place that Danny and I could sit in. As we strolled along in the dim lit underground I began to wonder. What is taking so long? The sirens were long gone and still no bombs. This delay was frightening me. " What's happening, Vivie?" Danny's voice was cautious, curious, and above all, petrified. I shushed him. Suddenly I realized I was no longer walking, just standing. Waiting, waiting for a miracle or destruction. With that, large screech was heard above. A great hush fell upon the whole of London. This ear-throbbing sound drew closer and closer by the second. My grip on Danny's hand tensed. My breath grew scattered, as did Danny's. A colossal boom erupted right above us. The earth seemed to quake below us and above us. I fought to stay standing. My legs shuddered intensely. My body was flailed about. Soon shrieks echoed from the tube station. Waves of panic came over everyone. I saw Mothers gripping children. A second boom soon filled our ears. Then another, and soon they were dropping right after one another. The screeches of bombs dropping drowned out the shrieks inside. The only evidence was their faces; mouths dropped in astonishment and terror. I could not hear myself think. There was neither a trace of comfort I could grasp, nor some common sense.

Little stalactites fell from the cement ceiling. Clouds of dust rose from the ground. Lights flickered until they went out in minutes. It was pitch dark. I was a bit relieved that I wouldn't have to stare at the frightened people. A repulsive smell soon invaded my nose. It was a smell of charcoal, a smell of gas, A smell of sweat, and worst of all, a smell of burning. A thought that seemed to rise above all of this chaos told me it might be poisonous gas.

I gripped Danny's shoulders as tight as I could, keeping his little body steady and keeping him from being thrown off the ledge and into the steep area of the tracks. As soon as my eyes adapted to the dark, I fought against the gravity and the shaking as best I could and trudged towards the wall in. I soon wobbled down, bringing Danny along with me. I began to caress Danny's back trying to comfort him. Though he was silent, I knew that he was silent with shock and fear. I soothed him with words though I knew he couldn't hear me. Every once and a while I would stop because there seemed to be a pattern. Two times it would quake and the third time I would be thrown out of my seat and fall back down hard.

One of the times I was thrown down I scraped the side of my arm from my hand to my elbow. I tried to hold in the pain of this wound. I was successful. A large amount of small fragments of the ceiling fell on me. I coughed uncontrollably. My eyes grew watery and I quickly wiped them with an unsteady hand. As if I wiped all the sanity from me instead of water from my eyes I began to be taken over with anguish. Why do they have to bomb innocent people? Why do they think we would be any threat? I felt anger sweep over me. I had a newfound hatred for the Nazis. I disliked them before but not like this and that was before this. This barbaric thing they had done. Danny should never have had to witness such a horrid thing. The time between bombs miraculously stretched. The shrieks quieted down. The silence soon pierced my ears. It took a few minutes to adapt to after all the blood-curdling sounds I had absorbed. Some people broke down and sobbed, some slowly stood up and looked around in disbelief, some just wiped off their clothes and walked back upstairs. I guess they were the ones that went through it the last time. I still couldn't believe it. I sat there for a while, calming Danny for he was one of the minority of people who began to cry.

I looked up abruptly when I heard another siren. I first let out a cry of defeat and exhaust. Then my eyes traced around the tube station. They all sighed, seeming relieved. I remembered my Father also informing me that there was an all clear siren.

I stood up, and pulled Danny up with me, and followed the people walking up the stairs hypnotically. When the crowd was out of the now very dusty building, everyone went their separate ways. Danny and I stumbled over the large stalactites of cement towards home in the east.

When we got to our street my heart was pounding in my bosom again at what I saw. There was a big pile of remains of a neighbor's house. Next to it there was the house's owner, bent over next to the remains crying. There were people running to Bobbies, begging them to help them find their friend or relative that may had been lost in the bombings. My respiration grew even faster. Please let Mother be all right. This thought repeated in my head over and over again.

Soon, I couldn't take it any more after I saw a third house abolished. I ran desperately, never stopping or slowing down to take breaths. Horrible thoughts raced through my mind, and every horrid though made me run faster.

My heart sank even lower at what I saw; the wood shards from out house torn apart and toppled over the top of Mother's garden. " No." I whispered still hoping. " Mother!" I cried desperately. I turned and saw Danny wailing helplessly. " Mother!" I tried again. I began lifting up the remains of our once lovely home. I cried out in pain when I got a splinter in my wound form the underground. I gripped it while gritting my teeth.

I turned to look for help and saw Father running in my direction, axe in hands. I smiled for a minute, then remembered Mother. He soon stopped in front of me, gathered Danny and me in his arms and we hugged intimately. He took out a first aid kit and began dabbing a wad of cotton on my wound.

" Mother might still be alive and in our Anderson shelter, Father" I reminded him. He handed me the wad of cotton and I dabbed it in the same manner he did. I turned around to watch the progress. He was cutting the wood in tiny pieces and throwing them in a pile. Soon our neighbors began helping. I watched every hand and axe movement that happened and with every time a wood piece was thrown in the pile my hope grew larger.

Danny came to me and cried in my dress. I soon realized he no longer had Walter.

Soon the remains were removed revealing our Anderson shelter doors, locked tight with a chain. I gasped joyously. Our neighbors that had helped backed up as the officer, our Father raised the axe above his head and the axe cut through the air fiercely and hit the chain causing sparks to fly. He did this six times, the seventh time it gave way. He swung open the door and shot down the stairs.

He came up with his hand on Mother's shoulders helping her up the stairs. I ran to them, as did Danny. I smiled in between pants. I leaped over the rubble with my newfound energy. We soon ran into each other purposely and intertwined in a relieved and loving hug. We stayed that way for a long time. Standing next to the remains that held our so-called valuable things, but they were worthless trinkets compared to what we really had.

Mother broke out of our hug and examined my cut. " How did this happen?"

" Just a little accident." I replied, acting like it wasn't a big fuss.

We just stood there staring, then Father got up and looked around at the nightmarish street that used to be lush with gardens and bright with house paint. He strode over to another ruined house and began helping them pick it up. Mother joined him. I was about to but after being so careful to make sure Danny was always with me for an hour or so I turned around.

I squinted trying to detect him in the dark. I soon spotted his blue and white striped shirt. He was just peacefully standing, staring at me. His eyes were probably bloodshot from crying so. I walked back to him a little irritated. He opened his mouth, about to talk. I beat him to it.

" Where's Walter?"

" I thought I needed him to protect me, but I don't, I have you."

I grinned shyly. I put my arm around him. " Come on, Danny." I ushered him to the direction Mother and Father were going in. We followed them in peace into the twilight.