Aram's Bataillon

My House

Her face lit up in shock as we walked down the secret hidden pathway behind my front garden, through the tall side gate. The garden had a giant hedge around two meters tall surrounding a feature wall in an L shape. It was great to keep some privacy but our new neighbour decided he wanted to destroy it.

We were greeted by a furball of white. "Maya get down! Come on, leave Sky alone! Some guard dog you are,you can't even say hi to me!" I shouted as Sky laughed and thanked Maya for all the white fur over her uniform as she dusted herself off while walking through the gate on the patio to keep the chickens out.

"Technically we're not inside yet." Sky mussed as she dusted off her right shoulder.

I chucked as I got out my foldable ruler and punched a hole in the screen in the screen doors and opened them. Sky went to walk in but she walked straight into a glass door. I was laughing so hard I had to sit down on one of the stools outside at our outside bench.

“I was so confident that this would work I actually tested it. And it did, though it took a lot of strain on my ruler so I always made sure I knew where a garden tool small enough to slip into the gap was.” 

Using my ruler that I had gotten out earlier and flipped it open to its full length, I used it to push up the hook-like lock keeping the two glass doors together. Otherwise they wouldn't open.

With a click the doors cracked open and I moved them open enough so we could squeeze in. Sky followed behind, shutting them with a jingle of a bell. 

"Hello?" I called loud enough but not yelling, hoping to scare any squatters, “Maya! Sit, stay.” I commanded with a high pitched whistle.

No one should be here, they had evacuated the town but it wouldn't hurt to check and it'd probably save our lives.

After a few seconds of silence Sky went for the phone which was on a shelf above the white marble kitchen bench on a wall.

I went straight for my parents room to the left of me, ransacking through dads clothes in the sliding door closet. Chucking all the clothes on the bed, one by one the circular rounds filled with powder appeared until the gun itself did. It was one of those cap guns that only shoot powder but sound like a real gun. And it could have been.

It looked like a real revolver too. So much so that when I walked out to show Sky when she saw it she freaked out.

After convincing her it was a cap gun we worked on hiding all of the valuables that I couldn't bring and packing all of the stuff I wanted in the car. I didn't really want to take much stuff, prioritising on the most essential stuff and other stuff I had to bring- all trying to minimize the risk of  overpacking and maximize the amount of time we had to escape.

Mainly a duffle bag full of clothes, another full of books and electronics and my goalkeeper gear was what I was bringing. 

I knew it was stupid to bring the last one but I figured it'd have its uses later on and I didn't want to leave it there. The equipment was expensive and if we ever did get to play again the hockey association would probably charge me for a new set of gear. And I don’t have a couple thousand dollars laying around.

Sky didn't live that far from me so as she drove I kept looking out for people and soldiers as I held the gun in case we may need it to scare people off. 

Sadly we saw no-one, just a bunch of empty cars.

Sky pulled up in her driveway. I tried to keep my mind busy otherwise I'd start thinking of my little brother. He's a brat and ten but almost as tall as my seventeen year old self. Yes I'm short I know, and well aware but my brother didn't deserve this, I just hoped he was with mum and dad. He had problems with large groups of strangers or just in general- he also would not be handling the noise of the jets and vehicles and soldiers very well with his sensitive hearing.

We arrived back at Felicitys before sunset. The sky was turning orange and purple, the first signs of the darkness quickly ascending.

Ivy and Ace took off as quickly as they could, not wanting to be out at night time. "Hey Flic, come and help us unpack my dads car, it'll keep your mind off of them, all we can do is hope that they're safe.” I sighed to a very zoned out Felicity. 

Dad had driven his old car to work so his new car was in the shed and I'd driven back after we'd stopped at Sky's house.

Ivy and Ace wouldn't be able to use the other car while we were unpacking it, but it gave us better mobility in the long run.

The sky was almost black and filled with glittering stars when they got back. The power had been cut and didn't work so things were going to get harder. The temperature had dropped drastically as well and I was now shivering in my jumper.

"I don't want to use the generator as it would be too noisy, and remember what happened with Corrie's house in Tomorrow When The War Began? I don't want anyone's house blowin up!" I said remembering back to grade ten when we had to read that book and write a story off of it.

Imagine John Marsdens’ Tomorrow When The War Began would books actually come somewhat true. To many, they were a bit far fetched- nonetheless a good read- but no one thought they would happen. The irony.