World War One

Runaways

TWENTY FIVE - RUNAWAYS

Jack went to work as normal, still trying to force a smile and be happy. His colleagues were confused; most of them had evacuee children that had now returned home, which they were grateful for, but not Jack... he would have kept them forever.

Rose was at home, doing house work for the thousandth time that day. Hoping it would distract her, because, as always, she was struggling without the twins and Grace.

Jack was off tomorrow and so she was looking forward to spending some time with him, hoping it would distract both their minds.

—

It was just another day at home for Grace; her passive aggressive mother, living in fear and keeping the twins in her room at all times, aside from meal times. However today was different, of course it was the same routine, but what no one else knew was that Grace and the twins would be leaving in the middle of the night. She had a plan of getting the 3 of them back to Chippewa Falls and was doing everything in her power to ensure it would happen. She decided not to tell the twins until the very last moment in case they accidentally mentioned it in front of Sam and Lucy.

—

Later that night

Jack and Rose were sat on the sofa talking. "What do you want to do tomorrow? It seems pointless to stay in when we have the full day together" Jack said "erm, a picnic maybe? I think the weather is supposed to be good" Rose suggested "that sounds nice" he smiled and kissed her head.

—

Grace put the twins to bed - well, her bed - around 8pm. She sat awake in the room with them, waiting for Lucy and Sam to go to bed. She'd managed to find a train timetable that said there was a train to Chippewa Falls at 4am, and she was determined that she and the twins would be on it.

Once she heard Sam and Lucy go to bed, she got out of her bed as quietly as possible, she'd more of less packed their stuff then hidden it away, but there was a few last minute things she hadn't managed to pack. Before waking the twins up, she made sure she had everything; clothes and pyjamas for the 3 of them, a coat and a toy each. She didn't have much room for anything else and didn't want the bags to be too heavy as she would be the one carrying the heaviest of the 3.

Once everything was packed and she had put an outfit aside for the twins, she woke them up "Harry... Poppy... wake up, and be very, very quiet" Grace said as they opened their eyes "Grace? It's still dark out, let us go to sleep" Harry said "listen, we're going to go back to Jack and Rose, well, we're going to try, but in order to do that, we have to get out the apartment, and we have to do it silently" "we're running away?" Harry asked to which Grace nodded "what if we get caught?" Poppy said with an anxious face "it's a risk we have to take if we want to be safe. If we're caught, I will take the blame, OK?" Grace said and Poppy nodded slowly. "Now come on, get changed as quickly and as quietly as possible" she helped them out of bed. They looked at her once changed "good, now come here, it's going to be really cold out, so let me put your coats and scarves on" they walked over to her and she helped them put their coats on. Somehow, the coats Jack and Rose had bought them still fit. "Get Pancake and Flopsy and put your bags on your back, then hold my hands as tightly as possible" the twins did as they were told and grabbed her hands. She took a deep breath as they left left her room, somehow making it out of the apartment and out of the apartment building without making a sound or being caught.

She knew people would ask questions about their journey, but she was determined to get the 3 of them back to Jack and Rose... back home.