Elle's shorts ❤️

Elizabeth

I sit at our long wooden dining room table and listen to the wireless. I cherish these Saturday afternoons by myself as my governess retires to her chambers after lunch time every Saturday and Sunday afternoon until she needs to prepare dinner. I used to adore listening to the wireless but now all I hear from it is information about the war. My only form of entertainment now is my own imagination, making up stories about princesses and dragons in faraway lands, always getting saved by their knights in shining armour. England needs its own knight in shining armour now to save it from the war and the bombs.

"Elizabeth" I hear my governess call from her room. I get up from the table and make my way up the stairs to her room. I knock twice on her door then enter, I see her sitting there in the corner of her room on her lounge holding her sewing. Its only when I get closer to her I realise it's a pair of my socks that she has mended for me. She hands them to me and I turn around and walk out of her room and down the hall to my own. I walk into my room and move over to my drawers where I put the socks away neatly in between all the other pairs.

I head back downstairs to the dining room and just as I sit back down at the table. I hear the bomb siren ring. It sounds like an animal howling in pain, over and over again. I sit there frozen in fear as my governess runs down the stairs to where I sit. "Elizabeth!" she shouts "We need to get to the shelter!" the sense of panic in her tone jolts me into action. I jump up from the table and she takes my hand, pulling me roughly towards the back door. She fumbles to get the key off the hook next to the door. She manages to get the key off and shoves it into the lock, after a hasty turn the door is finally open.

I can still hear the high pitched ringing of the siren in my ears. We rush down the garden path into the back garden and head for the shelter. We manage to clamber ourselves in. It's a tight fit with both the governess and I in there. I end up laying half on top of her, I can hear her heart beat racing at a hundred miles an hour. We both lay incredibly still, some part of us hoping that if we don't move the bombs won't drop on us. All I can hear is the sound of our heavy breathing and the sound of her heart. It's so dark all I can see is the outline of my governess. "I'm scared" I whisper to her. She fumbles around in the dark for a bit, searching for my hand. She finds it and gives it a tight reassuring squeeze. "It will be okay Elizabeth, my dear" she says to me "We are in our shelter, we will be safe" I whimper a bit and start to cry. I'm so scared and part of me oddly enough is wondering if we survive this, how I will ever be able to get these dirt stains out of my white clothes. My thoughts are cut short as the first bomb drops BOOM! I hear as the ground around me starts to shake. My governess grips my hand even tighter than before. The bombs keep dropping closer and closer. Louder and louder.

All of a sudden I hear a massive crash. It sounds like its right on top of us... then it dawns on me. It is. I know that my beautiful house has been destroyed. All my memories and my toys. I hear another crash and then a sharp pain rips through my neck. It's overwhelming. I feel tears start to form in my eyes as I lay there in pain. "I'm hurt" I tell my governess "Something cut my neck"

"How bad is it?" she asks anxiously

"Not too bad" I reply, stifling a groan. I don't want her to worry about me

10 minutes pass or at least I think it's that long. The pain in my neck has only gotten worse and I feel cold and weak all over. I hear voices in the distant "George!" I think to myself, but also another man's voice I have never heard before. How ironic is it that George is the boy who comes to save me, the boy with the posh English accent who I've liked ever since I saw him in class, the boy who smiles at me every day. I hear someone shout "Is there anyone there?" My governess weakly replies but they don't hear us. I hear their footsteps and voices fading away and I think to myself "we are going to be stuck down here forever" My governess shouts louder now using all the strength she has, as loud as she can with dirt falling in her mouth. I hear hasty digging above us and all of a sudden a small glimmer of light shines through and as I watch the hole gets bigger and bigger. Finally I see George and the strange man "Cold" I whisper as all my strength leaves my body. My eyes shut and I feel myself being lifted into someone's arms, strong arms. He smells like ash and sweat. I let myself finally relax and I feel safe as I take my last breath.