A tattered coat

WW2

I slowly ventured outside the cold tunnel where I had spent the last few weeks hiding with my family. It was colder outside than it was in there, I pulled my scarf tighter over my mouth to block out the stale air. The sky was depressingly grey, my older brother Thomas pushed away the rubble that was blocking part of the entrance. I crept out behind him, grabbing his arm fearfully when a booming noise echoed in the distance. London was destroyed. Buildings were smoking piles of stone and glass. After the attack last night, where the underground tunnels shook with tremors from the bombs, the city was ruined. I swallowed down the lump of tears in my throat, as I looked around at my beloved city. Or, what was left of it anyway. Slowly, more people emerged from the rubble where they'd hidden, my mother crawled out of the tunnel behind us, clutching onto my little sister Alice tightly. Her green eyes went wide as she stated wordlessly at the destruction.

"Has it.....stopped?" I whispered quietly, nudging Thomas in the side. He smiled at me briefly before looking around to survey the damage.

"I think so...it's really quiet huh?" He replied staring around dismally. He took another step forward, gently pulling me along with him. I glanced back to Alice, reaching out a hand to pull her away from my half-mad mother. After dad left to go fight the war against Hitler, my mother went almost mad. Every night when I heard her crying and hugging Alice, it felt like my heart was breaking. My chest felt tight and I fought to breathe through the constricting pain. I wanted to cry because I missed my dad too. But every time I was alone at night, huddled beside my mother and Thomas for some kind of warmth, I couldn't do it. Did that make me bad? I missed him so much, we hadn't heard from him in months and I knew everyone was so worried. But I couldn't cry. Thomas wouldn't cry either, but when he looked around to our desolate home, his eyes teared up and he bit his lip. I hugged his arm tighter and he took a deep breath, before smiling down at me and pulling me into a hug.

"It'll be ok Lizzie.." He said from somewhere above my head. I nodded stiffly, unable to move with his arms closed around me. I didn't believe him, the aching emptiness I felt was enough proof for me to know that things wouldn't go back to normal anytime soon. I felt a pang of guilt as he pulled away and I could see the grey ruin of the city around me. From here, I could see the rubble of my house. I took a step forward shakily, staring at the remains of where I spent my life with my family. There wasn't anything left to show for all the happy times I'd spent there with my family. There was nothing at all. I swallowed back more tears threatening to overflow and turned back to Thomas. He was looking at the rubble of the house as well, and his smile had turned down into an unhappy frown. He turned back to my mother, wiping his hand over his eyes, as he did. My mother was talking to a military man, and she was holding tightly to Alice's arm. She shook her head as tears started to flow down her cheeks, soundlessly sobbing. I felt a terrible pain twist in my stomach as Thomas strode over, trying to look authoritative at age fourteen even though his shoulders were shaking. I ran over after him, grabbing his arm again. He pulled me into his side as my mom collapsed onto the ground, crying into Alice's hair. The man turned to Thomas and handed him the ripped, charred fabric he was holding. The tears I had held back started overflowing, blurring my vision. I recognised my dad's tattered coat through them anyway.