The secrets of a twisted war

Cold beginnings

Cold beginnings

In Cincinnati Ohio, September 1st 1939, gunshots rang through the air, shrapnel flew in all directions, shattering windows and piercing doors.

Mothers and children took shelter in houses, men were forced to leave and fight for there freedom.

Families were driven to poverty, surviving on rations and minimum wage pays. With no source of income, women and children starved.

Dee dodged flying metal and smoking cars, taking shelter crouched behind a dumpster, with every deep breath her chest quickly rising and falling, filled with anxiety. A group of enemy troops paraded the streets, followed by tanks and trucks, boasting and yelling at the top of there lungs. A few of the men departed from the group and began raiding the house to Dee's right, which she remembered was her neighbour's house. Despite how much anger was boiling inside her, she kept her position and stayed crouched behind the dumpster, clenching her teeth with animosity. Shortly after, one of the men came out with Mi-Su thrown over his shoulder. Dee had known Mi-Su from school, they had been the best of friends for twenty years, and Dee wasn't about to watch her best friend get kidnapped, just like her husband Thomas. Mi-Su still slung over the soldier's shoulder, looked Dee straight in the eyes, her pupils narrowing with fear, as tears began falling down her fragile face. Dee leapt up in horror, punching the soldier straight in the mouth, her fist colliding with his prominent up-turned nose.

The soldier whose name tag read Heinrich, dropped to his knees in pain, letting go of Mi-Su, who immediately took to her feet and sprinted down the road followed by Dee. Dee was a fair bit slower than Mi-Su as she was pregnant but still kept running at a good pace. Mi-Su, who was now full of adrenaline, took Dee's arm and placed it around her shoulder for support, Dee gave a worried smile, which Mi returned, and lead Mi to the bomb shelter below her house.

The bomb shelter was worse than anyone could possibly begin to imagine. It was filled with tins of soups and broth and stacked up with crates of water which would eventually turn dry and stale. The shelter was the size of a very, very small bathroom, leaving no floor-space, resulting with Dee and Mi- sleeping on top of hard metal tins.

Spiders and numerous other creatures crawled around the tins and in the water all hours of the day, sometimes biting Dee and Mi leaving them aching and itchy. The girls rarely got an hours sleep if any sleep at all, with the bombs and guns firing above, adding to the torture which was their discomfort. Never in their dizziest daydreams would they have imagined being part of "the war to end all wars", -as the president had told the country earlier this morning, through the radio. Dee had the radio tuned in constantly, in light of any good news, which often never came. For hours on end, Dee and Mi stared at the cracked concrete ceiling above expecting it to come crashing down, but it never did.