Gone But Not Forgotten

Chapter 1 - An off day

Something was odd, off, something wasn't right about today. But I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I walked down the old stairs, making creaks as I went down each one. Papa was sitting in the dining room, with the radio to his ear. You could see he had been crying again, he's been worried sick about Ma since she failed to return home from her shift last night. "Papa?" "SHHH!" He hushed me.

I crept over to the cupboard, grabbing some bread and butter for my breakfast. I sat on the opposite side to Pa, just making out what the radio was saying. "The war is beginning , bombs have already fallen in.." I didn't hear the rest of it, the radio had lost connection. But I did see Pa's eyes widening. He ran to the doorway and grabbed a shovel and some boots, still not talking to me. I opened my mouth to say something, but Pa was already halfway out the door.  I ran out after Pa. He seemed to be digging something right in the middle of the garden. "What's that for?" I asked. He said it was for protection if people decided to bomb us. I decided to go back inside, but as I was entering the doorway I heard planes flying overhead. Pa yelled out, he told me to get inside. A huge bang that sounded like it was coming from the garden filled my ears. Dust filled my room, and then everything went black.

I awoke in a panic, confused and not sure where I was. I couldn't see anything for a moment. "Help!" I tried to yell but I couldn't. I started to panic more. "HELP! PLEASE H-" I was cut off by a reassuring voice. Even though I couldn't see who it was, I would recognise that voice anywhere. "Ma?" "Yes it's me, shhh." My vision was slowly being restored, I was surprised that my hearing was ok. Ma disappeared somewhere. My arm was throbbing . I realised it had a huge bandage around it, and I could see blood seeking through it. Then I remembered.

"PA ? PAPA??" I yelled out , even though he wouldn't hear me. If I was this badly injured, and I had cover. Pa's injury would be much worst. In fact, he might not even be alive! I had an idea.

It was very dark outside, so I assumed it was nighttime. I slowly crept out of my bed , trying not to make creaking sounds as I went. There were rows upon rows of people in this room, some on the ground and some in hospital beds, but none of them were Pa. I opened the door to another room, this one only seemed to have a couple of people in it, but they looked much worst than I did. Some had horrific scarring on their face, some hardly had a face. And some just looked as though they could die any second. I pushed another door open and came to a long corridor. These patients looked the worst of them all. The sign on the door said something about "specialist care". All of the rooms in this corridor were very big. And there was only one patient in each of them. The last room in the corridor was slightly bigger than the others. I pushed it open. My jaw dropped.