A War within (Combination Of War Stories)

The Great fire of london

P.S MY SECOND CHAPTER THE ONE ON ANZAC IS WAY BETTER GO READ THAT AND SKIP THIS ONE
The great fire of London - How long will I wait?

Quick little summary: This story is about a young girl named Donna, who lives in the North side of London with her family. One day, while her parents are at work with her brother, a fire starts to rage nearby. She escapes the fire, but sits on the hills and outskirts of London waiting for her family to one day return

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The dust from the wooden kitchen table flew around the room like leaves in a whirlwind. Donna noticed this, but apart from noting it as unusual dismissed any second thoughts. As if nothing had happened, she continued doing her chores.

Her parents had left before dawn to go to work. Every day Donna would look after her younger brother and was expected to keep him out of trouble until her parents got home.

Barnaby, her brother, was only three years old but developed the mind of a trouble-maker. He cried whenever things didn't go his way and had also covered himself with soot from the fire place.Thankfully, for once, he was at the south side of London with their parents.

Her favourite time of the day was when she could stand by the river Thames  and watch the boats come and go. She would dream about travelling far and wide, sailing on the ocean blue. However, money was scarce and times were rough for the Samaria family. Leaving them with only enough for two meals a day and barely for a doctor when needed.

Also, Schooling was out of the question, so in the evenings under the light of a glowing candle her mother would teach her to read and write. Not many of the neighbouring children could read or write so every so often Donna would tell them stories.

Once Donna had snapped out of her deep thoughts, she noticed the time and quickly finished her chores. After that, she went outside to get some fresh air yet looked throughout london and saw something that was very unusual. Towards the south side of London there was a raging flame as big as a tidal wave.

"FIRE" She yelled, yet stuck on the spot like a pot of glue. There were many questions entering her mind like, What's happening? Where do I run to ? Do I warn everyone? What caused the fire? But most importantly What's going to happen to my family?

There was no time to pack, so she only carried a drawn picture of her family with a note she wrote, on its back, and ran throughout the city of London.

The fire was raging closer consuming the south side of London like an army destroying everything in its path. Donna ran and didn't stop. She felt like her life depended on this - and it did. If she couldn't get out of London before the fire caught up to her she would be dead.

She joined the masses of crowds fleeing the city. The further away she got the more crowded it got and the less space there was to move. People were tripping over each other and terrified screams rung around London like an echo in a cave.

As she was running, she noted that the once, massive and chirping birds were falling from the now contaminated sky, but dead. They lay lifeless on the cracked gravel roads and for a moment they looked like people. Like angry shrivelled up toddlers shaped like mini soldiers going to war.

Afraid and alone she continued to go on. The church was nearby, yet the golden, chiming bell had fallen. Once the fire would have caught up it would be melted on the ground like butter.

The crowd was becoming bigger and they were getting closer to the outskirts of London. Donna was now relieved, but even bigger questions entered her mind, where was she going to go? Was her family going to meet her? What was going to happen to her next?

With the drawing and note clenched in her trembling fists she pushed through the crowd and walked through the opening in the walls. After what seemed like a couple of hours she escaped London and sprinted onto a nearby hill. Near enough to see London without getting burnt alive.

Donna sat and watched as her home and her city was burning to a crisp.The sky was dark even though it was late afternoon. She saw smoke that threatened to burn the people's very lungs, cooking them from the inside. Hungry, roaring, flickering flames were like a great famished beast devouring everything in its path and throwing out black smoke. And here she was, sitting on a hill watching it all burn in front of her eyes.

The picture and the note was still with her. She was scared, lonely and upset so she read the note aloud

"Dear family,

I will love you forever
I will love you always
I will wait whenever
Even in the darkest of days
I will wait forever and ever and ever"

A single tear fell from her wide eyes as she continued to watch her city and the entrance in case her family might be there... it felt like a waste of time, because deep down she knew that they were gone. However, Donna still thought that 'sometimes waiting is not a waste of time especially if the thing you are waiting for has given you their everything' Still carrying the photo and note she then waits.... And waits.... And waits.... For her family to come.

People say that they can still see her today watching the amber flames, burning London. Sitting on that very hill... Waiting... and waiting

Credit to Paul Cheshire for the photo above 💜  Also this decicated for BindyMelon, who is a great person 💗
P.S MY SECOND CHAPTER THE ONE ON ANZAC IS WAY BETTER
Word count: 948 words