"All right... and then Francis comes in with his candelabra costume, along with the teapot and the little cup, and starts singing..." I point at one of the kids who steps forward moving into position on the stage. Next to me, Alex holds the script in her hands ready to recite the lines of the actors if they need it. Francis opens his mouth and... an alarm goes off and the dozen of kids on the stage cover their ears and start screaming. I blink disoriented looking around me, I don't understand what's happening till Alex puts her hand on my shoulder and shakes it:
"Ruby! The train!" she yells in my ear.
I open my eyes scared for a second before reacting: my first instinct is to get this children to safety so I run towards them and take in my arms the youngest one but I don't know what else I should do, some of them are crying and calling their mums while others keep covering their ears due to the high pitched noise of the alarms but none of them have run away scared, thanks God. Alex climbs to the stage behind me and screams to be heard over the noise keeping a calmed tone of voice.
"Kids! Do you know what we have to do now?"
"Go to the train," one of the elders answers.
"That's what we're going to do; now I want all of you to hold the hand of a friend. Francis, I'll hold your hand so Ruby could take Lucy in her arms. We're going to look for the closest black door, go upstairs and get on the train. Your mothers will be there, your aunts, a cousin, a neighbour... don't worry, I'm sure we'll find someone you know. I'll walk first in line and Ruby at the end: please, stay together, don't spread out! Is it clear?" Even those who were crying have stopped now that they have precise instructions and they understand what they're supposed to do. Alex always talks to them with a calmed tone of voice and, although she explains things with simple words for them to understand easily, she never treats them like fools but like people that are able to think for themselves. Kids value when they're treated with consideration even if they aren't adults yet and that's why she's one of the most loved teachers by her students. And they also have complete confidence in her, that's why they're following her staying calm despite the infernal noise of the alarm.
We walk through the class door and keep moving tight to the wall in order to dodge the soldiers that are running along the corridor, I feel like a stab in my heart when I see them since they remind me my wife and brothers in law, I hope they're okay... I try not to cry thinking of Iselen so I don't scare the kids even more, luckily one of the emergency exists is near and we get soon into the internal corridor. Alex keeps us walking grazing the wall with our arm to avoid the people that are running terrified, some of them let us go first and even help the little children to climb the stairs, but most of the refugees are running for their lives and they only care about themselves. I don't blame them, I understand that they're scared and everyone reacts differently to this situation. I focus on keeping the kids together, counting them from time to time to make sure that the 12 of them are still with us, and I pray that someone is doing the same for my nephews and nieces: I know Lucas is with them and he's a very responsible boy but he's still too young and must be terrified deep inside. My poor dogs must be howling very nervous right now, I hope the kids don't take risks trying to take our pets to safety.
The red door on the yellow level is wide open now and people are running through it like crazy, some soldiers are trying to organize the flow of evacuees across the cave, monitoring that each train is full before letting it leave the platform. In fact, the first one is already moving on the railway, I think I spotted Dr. Ranjit in the last carriage, and the second one is almost full. Following the instructions of a girl in uniform we run to that train and start helping the children to jump in: at least six of them have found a member of their families while we were running across the cave, a tall woman crying her eyes out takes Lucy from my arms abruptly while yelling at me that she's her aunt and Alex nods to confirm that she knows her while helping the last boy to get into the carriage.
