Ré's Sacrifice

Chapter One Abandoned

I woke up with a horrible feeling in me. My eyes focused on the clock until they were unblurred. The time was 9:15 AM. Mama and Papa would have woken me by then for school. I decided to get up anyway. I climbed out of bed and walked over to my dresser. I picked up my shiny new hairbrush and gave my messy bedhair a good brush. I was only six back then. I was skinny and rosy. Anyone would've thought I was spoiled by my Parents but the truth was, I was treated just as fairly as any other child in the world. The house seemed silent. Very unusual. Normally Papa would have breakfast cooked by then. I sniffed the air but I couldn't smell the lovely scents of the bacon Papa cooks like every Tuesday. I began to worry. I started to run to the kitchen. Nobody was there. I checked Mama and Papa's room. They weren't there either. I called their names and searched every room in the house and even the garden, but they were no where to he seen. I sat down on the couch and began to cry. I mean wail.

After a while I stopped and told myself that they could just be down at the market buying food for me. I was starting to get hungry and hoped they would return soon. I decided to look around the kitchen for food. I found some bread and butter but the rest of the cupboards were bare. I figured Mama and Papa would he home with the food soon and I relaxed. I ate the bread and butter and sat down on the couch to wait for them.

I must had fallen asleep after a while, because when I was last conscious the time was 10:11 AM. When I woke, the time was 1:02 PM. Mama and Papa still hadn't returned. I decided to calm myself by getting dressed and waiting outside for them. I got dressed in the purple dress Papa bought for me for my sixth birthday.  I sat outside on the porch to wait for them.

Minutes, possibly hours passed. They didn't return. It began to get dark and I was scared. I started going around the streets asking people if they had seen my Mama and Papa. They said they didn't or hadn't. I went back inside my home and walked into my Mama and Papa's room. My eyes filled with tears. Then the tears spilled over my eyelids and splashed on my cheeks. Then I burst into tears and ran towards my Mama and Papa's bed.

I cried for hours and hours into Mama's pillow. Then I stopped and fell fast asleep.

I woke up the next day and Mama and Papa still weren't home. My eyes were red and sore from all the crying I did the previous night and I decided to wash my face. Suddenly I saw something shiny from the corner of my eye. I looked and saw my Mama's gold locket on her bedside table. It was a very small locket. No bigger than a grownups thumb nail. I opened it and saw a photo of me and Mama and Papa on the left side and my Mama and Papa on the right. I closed it and put it around my neck. I would need it until Mama returned home.

I left my house and walked down to the market. I asked lots of people but they had no answers. I tried not to cry.

I stayed in my empty family's home for two whole days before I could bare it no longer and decided to leave. It was then, I realised, that they were never coming back. I had to go look for them.

I searched for days. Some people were kind and fed me. Others yelled at me to
get of the streets. One even hit me once. I sat in an alley and cried. Then this kind old Man found me and took me into his home. He cleaned me up, fed me and let me sleep in his bed while he slept on the floor. The next morning I thanked him and asked if he had seen my Parents. He said he saw a Lady and a Man running towards the harbour at the crack of dawn, they were carrying little luggage and I stopped them to see where they were going. They said they were going to England to help fight the war.

I asked him what they looked like and he said the lady had dark brown hair and the man had lighter hair. I knew instantly they were my Parents and before I could stop myself, I burst into tears. The kind old man held me as I cried and whispered comforting words to me until I stopped. He let me stay as long as I wanted to.

After a week I said I needed to leave. He let me and said I was welcome back anytime. I never saw him again.

A year of begging for food, sleeping in freezing alleys, being kicked and pushed, starving, crying and fear passed and I was seven years old. I hadn't seen my Parents in 12 months.