The Circus of it's Time (On Hold)

Chapter 1

  A dimly lit candle shone poorly throughout the narrow hallway of the Dervish household. A soft tatter was heard as rain hit the cracked roof.

  Kali Dervish, the child of Helen and Bruno Dervish was sitting crouched on her small single bed, looking out her frosty window gazing onto the streets where soldiers had just set up and were patrolling attentively - looking for any German enemies. Kali did not understand why there were soldiers on her street and when she asked her father he just said, 'To keep us safe.'

  Kali had become drowsy again when suddenly she could hear airplanes outside, they sounded very close too. Kali loved planes, they reminded her so much of birds being able to fly away when life got hard, having so much freedom too...but for some strange reason these planes made her feel scared and much smaller than she was.

  Kali's ears perked at the sound of something dropping with a loud bang. Her heart began to race. Kali was scared.

  "Mother!" she cried, confused as to why she could hear more explosions. Tears of confusion and fear ran down her cheeks as her mother did not come. What was happening?

  Kali could now hear screams and cries of people as more explosions took place. Kali couldn’t take it any longer so she hopped of her bed and raced down the narrow hallway of her house, into the living room where she quickly sat up in the window seat and looked out onto the street. The sight was not pretty, that’s for sure. There was fire and people running crazily along the street, unsure what to do. Kali made a little gurgle noise as she suddenly erupted in tears, hiccuping and crying loudly and continuously for she was confused. What was happening?

  She suddenly heard the soldiers, running towards the flaming houses and entering them with a loud cry of shock. Kali stared at the houses with concern, why did the soldiers run in them? Surely they could get hurt. She finally understood why as they both came thundering out, coughing hysterically; people draped over their shoulders. The soldiers laid the people gently on the ground as they shook them. All went quiet as everyone watched the soldiers try to help the people, but as the soldiers shook their heads Kali realized; these people were dead. She started to cry more loudly now. How could people die? Why are their houses on fire? What is happening?

  Kali stopped crying once she heard the airplanes again, but this time it sounded so close, like it was hovering above her house. She started to shake in fear as the people across the road started to yell "Get out!" but it was no use. Kali heard a loud explosion and her house was on fire.

  A soldier ran across the lawn and smashed open the door to the Dervish’s household. He looked around the living room and spotted a small little lump, a lump which was Kali. He quickly ran to the small girl, picking her up and sidestepping a lounge which was in flame, ran back to the door running out of it with a strident cough. He gently placed the unconscious girl on the front lawn of the burning house and checked her pulse.

  "She’ll be fine," he said to the worried onlookers.

  They all nodded in satisfaction and looked back at the burning house of the Dervish family, everyone forgetting about Mr and Mrs Dervish, sound asleep in their room up on the top floor.

  A few hours passed and Kali woke up in a bedroom which was not hers. She sat up with a confused look on her face as she looked around. The room was much bigger than hers and it had a double bed...but it still didn’t feel right.

  Kali slid off the bed and opened the door located to the side of a wooden wardrobe. She entered a bright lighted hallway which openly led to a staircase with long stairs decreasing along the wall. Kali silently tiptoed down the stairs and into another open hallway where she heard murmurs and clatter of plates, located behind a swinging blue door. She opened the door and came face to face with mere strangers: a man who looked to be about 50 and had curly grey hair and narrow green eyes, a woman who looked about 48 and had her fuzzy brown curls loosely in a bun and had thin lips and brown eyes, and a boy who looked to be 17 or so and had the man’s green eyes but curly black hair.

  "Ah, your awake, please come sit down and have a boiled egg," the lady said with a warm smile.

  "Where am I and what’s happened?” Kali boldly asked.

  The lady and man gave each other a concerned look and the boy continued to read a book. "Don’t you remember anything sweetheart?" the man asked.

  Kali tried to remember but all she really could picture in her mind were flames engulfing her. "Where are my mother and father?” she replied.

  "Well, sweetie, last night everyone could hear airplanes and well some drunken Germans randomly dropped missiles on people’s homes, killing many people indeed. Now you see, your home was one of them..." the lady began before Kali interrupted her.

    "What’s a missile?" Kali asked.

  "It’s like a bomb and it explodes, making everything swallow up in flames," the boy spoke up for the first time.

  "Anyway...as I was saying, your home was one of the dozen homes hit by a missile. Now, you were lucky our soldiers could see you from the window you were standing at and straight after the missile hit the top floor of your house, one of the soldiers rushed in and carried you out."

  "What happened to my parents?"

  "Well, we were all so concerned about if you were okay, by the time we realized they were still in there, it was too late. Your house was in ashes," the lady said with a grim look.

  Kali felt as though oxygen had been knocked out of her as she collapsed onto the ground and started crying chaotically, not noticing the boy was rocking her gently or the man and woman were on their knees beside her. No, all that didn’t matter anymore, because her sweet mother and her caring father were dead. She had no family.