Chapter Seven
Evacuating London
The planes could be heard from miles away. The sound of their long drone sound pierced the silent night sky of London. The German aircraft was sent for their annual nightly bombing in what was known as 'The Blitz'. These night attacks were designed specifically to target civilian populations to terrorize and disrupt their usual activities, an attempt to strike fear into the British. Although one certain boy was unaffected by these raids, instead he found them particularly entertaining. His face was plastered on a window in his house, watching as the German planes flew by the house in fascination.
"Edmund!" His mother screamed at him seeing him at the window. He should not be anywhere near the planes, let alone not in bed asleep. "Get away from there!"
She rushed into the room and grabbed him, pulling him away from the window. "Peter!" She yelled as she placed Edmund on the ground and grabbed the curtains on the window ripping them shut. "What do you think you're doing?" She reprimanded Edmund as she grabbed his shoulders shaking him.
Hearing his mother shout his name, Peter came running into the room, the night raids had become a typical routine in this household and he was used to having to get the family together during the bombing. When his mother saw Peter come in she handed Edmund to him and Peter took one of his brother's arms. "Peter quickly, the shelter. Now!"
"Come on!" Peter yelled at Edmund, pulling his arm with him as he started to leave the room.
"Wait!" Edmund cried out as he tried reaching for something on the table.
With no time to wait, Peter ignored his brother's plea and continued hurrying them out of the room. "Come on, leave it!" He told Edmund as they left. Before their mom left the room, however, she had time to grab a blanket off of the armchair and their flashlight off the couch, knowing they would later need it down in the bunker.
Susan was woken up abruptly by the sound of a bomb hitting a house a couple of miles away from them. She knew this was no drill and immediately jumped from her bed and throwing her shoes on she then grabbed a blanket and flashlight before hurrying out of her room. The whole house was dark; the electricity must have been knocked out due to a bomb hitting the power lines. She turned on her flashlight so she could see throughout the hallways and be knowing she might be yelled at later for this, she turned back to grab a book from the nightstand in the room beside her. On her way there, she thought she could hear her sister crying for their mother inside her room, but she couldn't really tell because of the loud sounds of the planes outside. As she rushed into the room she grabbed the book off the nightstand and turned her flashlight towards the bed to see her sister still lying in bed with her hands over her ears.
"Lucy, come on!" Susan screamed at her sister in horror at the fact that she was still in bed while there were bombings all around them. She grabbed her sister's hand helping her out of her bed and together they ran from the house and on the way ran into their mother, Peter, and Edmund.
Together the family ran from the house to bunker in their backyard. "Come on, quickly!" Their mother yelled at them, encouraging them to run faster.
"Run!" Peter yelled as a bomb hit another house a few houses down. The girl's screams were barely audible compared to the airplanes and bombings.
"Hurry!" Susan yelled pushing her sister to run faster in front of her.
"Mum!" Lucy cried out to her mother. But her mother was too busy trying to remove the door of the bunker so that they could all get inside.
Susan was the first to run inside the bunker as soon as they could get the door open as their mother was then helping Lucy into the bunker. Edmund froze before he turned around and ran back towards the house. "Wait, dad!" He screamed before taking off in a sprint.
"Ed!" Peter yelled as he tried to grab his brother's shirt but Edmund was able to shove him off and continue towards the house.
"Edmund no!" Their mom screamed at him as he ran into the house. What was he thinking?
"I'll get him," Peter yelled before taking off after his brother. Lucy, absolutely terrified, ran into the bunker.
Their mother horrified screamed after Peter. "Peter, come back!" She cried. What was she going to do? She couldn't go after them and leave the girls in the bunker. But if the boys didn't hurry back, she could possibly lose both of them in the same night.
"Ed! Come here!" Peter yelled into the house as he ran after Edmund. The sound of a bomb coming down was almost deafening, Peter knew they had to hurry because it was going to land somewhere near them. Upon following his brother into the living room, Edmund was grabbing a picture of the table when Peter saw the flash of a light outside. The bomb had hit. "Edmund get down!" He yelled as he jumped on top of Edmund, grabbing him in a bear hug and pulling him to the ground along with him.
The bomb went off right next door blowing the windows where Edmund had been watching the night raid earlier. Peter and Edmund were crouched right underneath the window, the glass shattering all over the floor. "Come on you idiot, run!" Peter screamed at his brother jumping up from the ground and pulling Edmund's arm along with him.
Edmund, unwilling to go just yet, reached for the picture he had grabbed earlier with the frame that was now shattered and picking it up pulled it close to his chest. "Get out!" Peter yelled once more before Edmund got ahold of the picture and jumped up with his brother to flee from the house.
The planes still flying over the house had the boy's hearts pumping and their breathing becoming heavier. Their mother opened the bunker door and watched the boys sprinting across the yard. "Come on!" She screamed at them as she prayed to anyone that they would make it to the bunker in time before another bomb hit. "Hurry," She yelled one more time before the boys made it to the bunker rushing down the steps inside.
Lucy and Susan were cowered on one of the bunk beds with Lucy in Susan's arms. Once the boys were inside, Edmund fell down onto a mattress in the rush of running in while Peter slammed the door shut before he turned around to face Edmund. "Why can't you think of anyone but yourself? You're so selfish! You could have got us killed!" he yelled at his brother.
But their mother turned on Peter in an instant. "Stop it!" She commanded him before turning to check on Edmund. Edmund was looking at the picture he had grabbed of their father in his army uniform breathing heavily. His mom pulled Edmund to her cradling his head to her.
Peter, still not able to understand, shook his head at his brother in a disapproving manner. "Why can't you just do as your told?"
Edmund looked up at his brother with a scowl on his face still breathing heavy as he looked up at him.
Helen Pevensie was running out of options. Nights such as this had been occurring much more frequently, about three times a week now. She couldn't keep doing this to her children. They were in too much danger if they stayed here. She remembered hearing about the housing for children living in 'The Blitz' where they would be transferred to a home until the bombing came to an end. Helen feared that was what it had come to for her kids. It was the only way she would know for sure that her kids would be safe.
Lucy and Edmund had fallen asleep but Peter and Susan were still up. "Susan, Peter," she whispered in the quiet room.
When they heard their names, the two oldest Pevensie children looked up to their mother who motioned for them to sit with her. Obediently they got up and say down next to their mother. "Yes, mum?" Susan asked listening intently.
Helen sighed; there would be no easy way to tell her kids she was going to be sending them away. "Within the next week or so the four of you will be sent to a safe house until all of this blows over."
"What?" Peter exclaimed, his eyes growing bigger by the minute in the dark bunker. "But mum--"
"No," Helen stated, cutting him off. "I've made up my mind. It will be much safer and it would be located where no bombings are taking place, and better yet I will know that all of you are safe and protected."
Susan nodded in understanding at her mother's reasoning. "So we should probably begin packing as soon as we leave the bunker and hope to leave within the week?"
Helen nodded at her daughter confirming her question. Peter just rolled his eyes at his sister. Always count on Susan to be the brainy know-it-all all the time. She always thinks she's so much smarter that the others and more sophisticated. It always was able to get under Peters skin. He didn't want to leave his mom here all alone. She needed her children just as much as they needed her. "Mum, are you sure about this?" He asked her with worry.
Helen couldn't even form the words and just nodded at her son. "It's the only way. Now try to get some rest." Then the conversation was then dropped and the Pevensie bunker returned to silence as everyone tried to fall asleep.
The next week at the Pevensie household to say was a little chaotic would be an understatement. Lucy and Edmund didn't take kindly to the idea of leaving their mother and staying somewhere else. Unfortunately for them, the choice has already been made for them. Susan and Peter helped their siblings pack all the things they would need while they were away, but there was no indication of how long they would be gone. Helen spent the week trying to find a place for her children to stay. Stories told from other parents were told that some children would be separated to different homes because one family couldn't house all the children. This worried Helen, how on earth would she be able to find a house for all four of her children? Throughout her endless searching, she finally came across a house.
The house was known as the Old Professors House and it almost looked like a mansion. Helen was surprised no one had booked the house all ready for a house as nice as it was. It was ten miles from the closest train station and two miles from the nearest post office. The professor was said to have lived in the house all his life. Upon further research of the house, she found it was more than enough to well supply her four children. But why had no other family already booked a house so nice as this? During her research, she came across some rather unusual knees. The parents of the professor that previously owned the mansion had passed away leaving the house to their own lily child. None of that was out of the ordinary but it was said that the family had once had a major reputation and lost that when three of their children went missing. They went missing in 1901 and were never seen or heard from again. The professor, only 14 at the time, came from the upstairs room making what seemed to be absurd allegations about what happened to his siblings to his parents and the authorities. The professor's parents filed missing reports on the three children but they were never found again. Believing their son to have gone crazy at the loss of his siblings, they sent him to a mental institution and he came back from it well-mannered and dropping his previous accusations. He then studied at Oxford and became a professor. Afraid she was running out of the options she went to the office and booked the house before anyone else did. She probably wouldn't find any other house nearly as nice or that would house all of her kids together as well. Besides the professor might have acted as he did out of the loss of all of his siblings. It didn't seem too crazy, I mean he went from having a brother and two sisters to being an only child in one day. That could cause anyone to start saying odd things.
The sound of the train whistle echoed throughout the station. The Pensives gathered together in the station waiting to board the train along with hundreds of other families waiting as well. The station manager was announcing when the train will be ready to board passengers over the intercoms, reassuring the families that they would be boarding momentarily.
Helen Pevensie bent down on her knees and pinned Lucy's ticket to her jacket. "You need to keep this on darling, all right?" Lucy just stared at her mother with a blank expression. Helen gave her daughter a warm smile and placed her hand on her shoulders. "You warm enough?" Lucy smiled at her. "Good girl."
She then moved on to pin Edmunds ticket on his jacket. Peter already had his on him and Susan was currently pinning hers on. Edmund made a sour face at his mother as she pinned the ticket on him. "If dad were here he wouldn't make us go."
"If dad were here, it'd mean the war was over and we wouldn't have to go." Peter snapped on Edmund.
Helen could always count on these too to start bickering about something. "You will listen to your brother, won't you Edmund?" She asked him. Edmund wouldn't look her in the eyes and continued looking at the people in the station.
Helen stood up and hugged Edmund. She then placed a hand on the side of his face and tried to kiss his forehead. Edmund let out a snort and turned his head away from her. With a heavy heart, she just kissed the top of his head and let him go. Then she turned to Peter, who had a sad expression on his face before they embraced one another in a tight hug. "Promise me you'll look after the others," Helen said in Peter's ear.
"I will mum," Peter barely choked out, not being able to bear the thought of leaving.
"Good man," Helen smiled as she pulled away from Peter and rubbed his arm.
"All aboard! All aboard!" The intercom broke the silence. The train was finally starting to let the people on. Family's started piling into the train, or more the children did.
Before her children left, Helen turned to Susan and hugged her as well. "Susan," her mother whispered. "Be a big girl," she said as she rubbed her back. Susan nodded at her mother rubbing a tear away from her cheek.
"All right. Off you go," Helen told her children and they started picking up their luggage to take the train.
Peter held Lucy's hand and led the way to one of the train carriages to board. Susan reached for Edmund's hand but he quickly pulled his away from her before she could grab it. "Hey, get off!" He snarled. "I know how to get on a train by myself." Susan ignored him and grabbed his hand tightly making sure he wouldn't let go.
When they reached a carriage the train managers started reaching for the tickets on their jackets to read them and make sure they were in the right location. "May I have your tickets please?" The lady asked them.
Peter, who was currently preoccupied, was watching a group of soldiers walk by. They couldn't have been older than him by maybe a few years. Peter longed to be a soldier like them, instead of still being treated like a child to babysit.
"Tickets please," the lady repeated.
"Peter," Susan said as she snatched the tickets from Peter's hands and gave them to the lady with a quick smile.
The lady nodded at them. "Good, on you go," she said waving her hand motioning for them to board the train.
"Sorry," Peter muttered to her as they passed.
Susan and Edmund were the first to board the train while Lucy paused looking for their mother. Peter looked down at Lucy who was scanning the crowd and standing up on her tiptoes for any sign of their mother. "Come on Lucy," Peter told her bending down to look her in the eyes. "We have to stick together now," Lucy stared up at her big brother and tears began to form in her eyes. She leaned into Peter's shoulder hiding her face. "Everything's going to be all right. It's gonna be fine," Peter continued to encourage her. Standing back up, he pulled Lucy along with him and together they boarded the train and went to join Susan and Edmund. Behind them the conductor shut the doors to the train signaling they were about to depart the station.
As the train was preparing to leave, the parents of all the children on the train remained on the platform waving goodbye to them before they left. Susan stuck her head out the window of their cart and began scanning the crowd for their mother. Lucy crawled up beside her and stuck hers out as well. They found their mother, stuck behind an old woman pushing her way through so she could get one last good look at her children. "Bye-bye dear," she said to her children as she waved to them smiling.
"Bye mum we'll miss you! See you soon!" Peter yelled at her as he his head out of the window along with his sisters. Lucy, Susan, and Peter then continued waving to their mom as the train started to pull out. Helen started tearing up as she watched her children leave and blew them a kiss. She continued to wave at them until the train was no longer in sight and her children were long gone. Helen Pevensie didn't even know when she would ever be seeing her children again.
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A/N:
They're leaving their mom and don't know when they'll see her again :,(
BUT WHO FREAKING CARES CAUSE WE KNOW THAT MEANS THERE ALL THE MORE CLOSER TO FINDING THE WARDROBE!!!!! 😍😍😍
I hope, as per usual, you enjoyed this chapter just as much as I enjoy sharing it with you guys :)
I love you all and thank you for reading!!
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