Bleak Hearts

Bleak Blitz

Octavia Tiffany Green 18th March 1931

Spyder Paul Walters 18th March 1931

Spyder's eyes trailed the room a moment, but no, William was not to be seen. William always sat next to Spyder but today he must have been sick. Well, that would be the first assumption of most people nowadays, but for the children of Corley Residential School and the rest of Great Britain. The first thing they would assume was that yet another father, brother, husband and son had been killed in the merciless onslaught of war. Leaning slightly to his right he whispered to Charlie. A short and very well-fed boy, but kind and the most honest the young boy had ever met.

"have you seen William today?"

Voice quiet so the teacher didn't catch it but she wasn't an idiot and the classroom was so quiet you could hear a pin drop from the other end of the room. The two boys almost shot out their seats as heads turned sharply to the middle aged woman dressed all in black. His name echoed in the room as Ms. Harper's dark chocolate eyes fell on Spyder in a cold glare. A long ruler twirled in her hands as she walked closer but Spyder didn't even take his eyes away from her. This wasn't the first time he would be going back home later with sore hands. His hands slowly turned over, knuckles laying against the wooden desk as his palms faced their attacker and braced for impact. The loud thwack that echoed the room as the wood made contact with his skin, he breathed in sharply through his teeth, wincing as the stinging sensation ran through his palm and up his arm. 

The girls at the back erupted in a quiet set of giggles. All that is, except Octavia, her eyes hovering over him as he turned to look at the gaggle of giggling girls. He was about to snap something that the other girls but when he was eyes met Octavia's he was silenced. The girls in question were only silenced by the loud growl of their teacher, a sudden turn of heads to the front made the entire class fall into pin dropping silence.

Spyder always walked home with Octavia, it wasn't on purpose of course as young boys never hung around with the girls. Spyder lived in a block of flats just one street away from Octavia's house and so the two were always going the same way anyway. Quiet conversation was had between the nine year olds as they walked down the paved streets of Coventry. Just small talk about their favourite hobbies and what they would spend their weekend doing, though it was just a late Thursday afternoon so the children would still have one day left of school.

As they approached a short block looking building, Spyder tilted his head towards the top right window. He could already hear his parents yelling at one another, mostly because his father had been called a coward, running from the war. Spyder was different, he had always said that when he was older he would fight for his country and restore the family name even if he died doing so. As Octavia stepped beside him she looked up from her feet to the window. She had been watching her step carefully so not to step on anything sharp, white socks dirtied against the paving yet again and yet again would she get an earful from her mother when she got back home. The small black shoes that she grasped between her fingers were far too small and made her feet ache but they simply just didn't have the money to by more shoes for the child. 

As Spyder's hand fell across the gate, Octavia made him pause, his name slipping from her tongue so sweetly, a voice of soft caramel. One of Spyder's many favourites. He turned his head to her with a slight brow raise as he waited for her to speak. 

"You were really brave today"

Octavia said with a delicate tone in her voice. At first Spyder didn't even recall what she had been talking about until he looked down at the thin red line across his palm. With a small smirk and a shrug he chuckled a little. He didn't feel all that brave at the time, especially when the other girls started to laugh, as though the whole thing was a game to them.

"Thanks Octav-"

His words were cut off by the smash of glass, drawing both eyes to the window at the top of the building. With a sigh, Spyder went to turn inside, his arm pulling in the grip of Octavia's hand. She quickly placed a gentle kiss on his cheek, both sets of cheeks turning a rosey red before Octavia ran off, giggling away to herself. She could feel his eyes even as she walked away a lingering stare accompanied by a lingering smile. 

Evening fell and they weren't expecting it. The sirens blaring, Spyder dropped the china plate in his hand. If it had been any other time, he would get an earful from his mother and beating from his father, but now was hardly the time. He grabbed his sister's hand and ran behind his mother. Feet from all around swarmed them, all heading out of the block in desperate attempt to get to safety. It hit him again, the feeling that... something... wasn't... 

"OCTAVIA!"

He yelled, releasing his sister's hand and darting down the street. Over the sirens and the yelling he couldn't hear his mother crying out for him, he had one thought and one thought only. He had to save Octavia. His feet pounded on the cobbled street, legs already starting ache but he couldn't stop. Not even the loud screeching sound that grew closer and closer was going to stop him just yet. As the screech grew so close it was the only thing that he could hear, it hit a house not far from him. The force of the explosion threw him across the street at an alarming speed, his ears were ringing and he could barely move. He had to get up, he knew if he stayed a moment longer he would surely die. Another screech grew closer, time seemed to slow as it hit another house, bricks and debris swallowing the child. 

It was dark and cold in the Anderson shelter that her father had built them before he left for war. Octavia hated it but they had been sat there for several hours. She closed her eyes, trying to drown out the sirens, drown out the screaming of her baby sister and the unheard prayers of her mother. Even the dog wouldn't stop whining. The only problem with closing her eyes as that she saw such a horrible sight, she saw bodies buried under rubble, crying children on the streets with no family, one of the bodies was so family but he was so terribly mangled in bricks... she couldn't... see it...

"SPYDER!"

She yelled, without giving her mother a second to grab her, she darted for the door and out into the garden.  The old jack russell that was really on its last legs chased after her. His little legs chasing her to the gate as she leapt over it in the dark. Her dress snagged but she kept going, leaving the dog unable to leap the gate. Her heart pounded in her chest, jumping at her rib cage. It must have been late by now, gone midnight that was for sure and she was growing tired. As she reached Spyder's house it looked empty. Goof thing really. As the swirling screech of another bomb fell down towards the house. The roof caved easily under it, bringing the rest of the house down with it. The windows on the bottom floor blew out, sending a thick shard into the head of the dark haired child. Her body fell back, glass and brick showering over her as her last breath left her lungs again.

Octavia Tiffany Green 18th March 1931 - 15th November 1940

Spyder Paul Walters 18th March 1931 - 14th November 1940