Ruby watched the country house fill the tiny window of the
train. She’d been dreading evacuation. She hated leaving her mum with the tear
stained telegram clutched in her hands. But the place was wonderful. She’d
never seen anything like it in her seven years in London. The green fields were
only broken by blankets of swaying yellow wheat.
Nightingales sang to
her from the trees as the door creaked open. Their song was as sweet as the
lullabies her mother sang to send her dreaming. But when she listened carefully
she could hear a dark tone inside their song.
Yellow teeth grinned somewhere down the long dark hallway.
Footsteps echoed towards her. The door slammed shut behind her. Dust hung onto the
darkness as though afraid to land on the floor. The yellow teeth shone brighter
in the black hallway. They came fast, but death came slowly.
She awoke after a long time dreaming of nothing but black
rooms, golden fields and yellow teeth. She heard the nightingales once more. Their
dark song buzzed in her ear. Soon she realised it wasn’t birdsong at all; it
was the grinding of teeth, mechanical and fierce. She felt around in the
darkness for a corner and huddled herself into a ball.
The blades finally cut through the cement wall sending broad
shafts of light into the sealed room. She noticed signs above the holes. There
was a red Tube circle and an exit sign. She remembered the bombs then, the
government abandoning them to a rubble grave. She recalled the men sealing up
the stations like forgotten graves. They gave less respect than the Nazis who
dropped the bombs from above London skies into the dark city below.
A warm hand filled
her palm. She looked up to see her mother’s buttery smile that thawed her
heart.
“C’mon love, you’ve been asleep a very long time.”
They drifted into London stunned by the lights that burnt
all around them.
“We’re free sweetheart.” A light bloomed behind her mother
that filled the sky and fell to the ground around them. Soon she was locked
inside again. This time in the warmth of light and her mother’s love as they
left the pain behind for those who carried on living.
Nice write, Anthony. Enjoyed that.
ReplyDeleteThanks David, glad you enjoyed it. It's an expansion from a 100 word Prediction piece I did earlier this year. I keep coming back to it, or it keeps coming back to me!
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed that and just bought an apple for teacher as a thanks for following my Let's Write blog. Cheers me mucker
ReplyDeleteThanks so much orhe comment Gary. I really enjoyed your blog and lad you found one thing here you liked too.
ReplyDeleteTake care and good luck.