High Noon

Ch4

When the bombings stopped, our entire street had been demolished fires were burning down people's homes and the air was thick with gray smoke.

 Blood from people's bodies was scattered along the road buried underneath the debris of people's homes. Everyone was crying or gasping, panicking, and it happened all at once the mass crowd of people started to move dragging us with it.

I took Mama's hand, she seemed to be in a daze as if not believing what had happened to our homes.

I felt someone grab my hand and shove us through the crowd.

"Mama!" I yelled trying to get her to snap out of her daze.

She looked at me and then shook her head and reality seemed to slap her in the face as Mama realized we were being forced to move with the panicking crowd.

The crowd walked all day through the dusty road until we came to an area to rest. 

It was Westmount Park I recognized the pink flower trees and the green grass that was soft to the touch.

 We all collapsed onto the grass exhausted, our legs and blistered feet sore from walking all day.

I lay in the grass and noticed that Antoine was still with us, he looked around the crowd probably looking for his family.

"What are we going to do?" Mama said laying beside me. "We have nowhere to go, and we don't have any money, what are we going to do?"

It was always scary when parents didn't know what to do. They were supposed to be the decision-makers, they were supposed to know what to do in situations like this. 

I picked at the scab on my knees that I had gotten when I fell, trying to distract myself from all the worries.

I thought about Ruth and worried if she and her family were okay and wondered where they could possibly be.

 I shoved the worries and thoughts out of my mind and picked my scab harder until it peeled off and stung.

"Are you okay?" Antoine asked me.

I sighed and looked at him and shook my head.

"No, but you're not okay either, none of us are," I told him.

"I guess you're right, and we all know whose fault this is," He said staring up angrily at the sky as if expecting to see a German Aeroplane.

I nodded my head as I stared up angrily at the sky with him.

It seemed like only weeks ago when France had declared war on Germany, but it was months ago. 

Months of being in a war.

I thought about Papa fighting in the war and I wondered where he was right now. Was he lying on the battlefield injured or was he alive and fighting? I didn't like not knowing where Papa was or if he was dead or alive. I held Mama's hand thinking about how bad it was for her.

I fell asleep in the grass and awoke with my head on top of Antoine's chest and his hand on my head.

I sat up abruptly waking up Antoine.

"What's wrong?" He asked me.

I shook my head.

"Nothing."

People were already moving again and I shacked Mom awake knowing that we should get moving before we might get trampled by people.

As we walked the crowd seemed calmer than yesterday I could hear people talking, babies were still crying but the little kids were laughing. Yesterday all I could hear was crying and screaming, all I saw was terror.

Antoine came up beside me.

"Why did you move away?" He asked me.

I knew what he was talking about and I didn't quite know the answer. Maybe it was because I barely knew him and was too trusting of Antoine, I didn't know.

"I don't know you," I told him, deciding that to be the reason.

He nodded his head and I was relieved that he understood.

"Yeah, I get that, would you like to know me though?"

I glanced at Antoine and then nodded my head.

"Well, I'm 17 years old, I live with my Grandmother, for now in Montreal, until Papa comes back, but I guess now I don't have anyone, and your mother questioned the life out of me, so you know everything else," Antoine told me with a chuckle.

I smiled and looked over at Mama to see if she heard, I saw her smile tiredly and she pretended like she wasn't listening, but I knew she had been.

"Now, you know something about me, tell me about you." He said.

"What is there to know?" I said with a smile.

"How about your age?" Antoine said.

"I'm 16." I simply replied.

"16, okay, and your name is Sophie...." He motioned his hands telling me that I was supposed to fill in the blank.

I laughed and shook my head.

"You didn't tell me your last name."

"I will once you tell me yours," Antoine said with a smile.

"Fine, it's Charleston," I responded.

"Sophie Charleston, has a nice ring to it, well, my last name is Cazier." He said.

"Antoine Cazier fits well," I told him with a smile.

We continued to walk with the crowd and as the sun was setting we heard the deep rumble of Aeroplanes. 

People screamed and it was chaos again there was nowhere to hide.

"Honey, over here!" Mama said grabbing my hand.

I reached for Antoine's hand but only grabbed air, before I could even worry about where he went, I was thrown skyward by an explosion and fell onto piles of rubble on my side.

I covered my head and rolled when I had fallen and cried out in pain as I landed. 

I heard the air raid sirens and people screaming.

 I covered the back of my head and managed to move into a fetal position. I was too afraid to move.

I felt someone pick me up, but I still had my eyes closed and didn't know who it was. 

I tried to open my eyes but I couldn't it was as if they were glued shut and then I couldn't hear anything or feel anything.

When I opened my eyes I was laying on a bed and I sat up panicky and looked around my heart pounding.

"Sophie, you're safe, it's okay." I saw Mama in front of me and I hugged her tightly.

She was shaking and sat beside me.

I was glad to see that Mama was okay and I took a deep breath.