Four Lights: the beginning chapter one

Chapter One

Sirens, bombs, screams, shots…so many loud noises after awhile they all blended together, then completely faded away along with the horrific scene that surrounded me. Did I fall asleep? Black out? Who knows, time quit moving all that I saw was my mothers dead body. She always had a plan for everything including this. “If I ever leave you, then you must promise me you will run and hide. Find the safest smallest place you can find and stay there only coming out for food.” These words kept running through my head, but I couldn’t get up. I was weak and scared, I don’t know how she died, she just never woke up in the morning. For awhile now she has complained about being tired and hungry what little food we had she always gave me the largest portion. Saying I had to keep strong so I could keep going. But, how am I suppose to stay strong without her? How dare someone take a little girls mother away from her. I just hope she went peacefully without any pain. Unlike my fathers death who was shot down trying to get my mother and I to safer ground. So this is what being an orphan feels like, its so lonely and empty I do not think ill ever get use to this.
Well I know one thing, I have to get moving its not safe here anymore. My mothers body was to heavy to move, so I had to leave her in the rubble. At first I walked away slowly, then the farther I got from my mother the faster I got. Soon I was running as fast as my little legs would take me. I had no clue where I was going, nor did I care. I just didn’t want to be there anymore. I wanted, no I needed, a change of scenery I was sick and tired of this smog infested atmosphere and rubble covered ground. I ran until my legs gave out, I collapsed onto my knees gasping for breath. I quickly scanned my surroundings nothing but rubble and smoke for as far as I could see. Did I really run as far as I thought, but really I never moved? Maybe there was nothing else. What if the world was now nothing but this. The world could be falling apart, and I have no place to go. If only my mother was here she would know what to do she always did. Just then my mothers words ran through my mind.
“If I ever leave, then you must promise me you will run and hide. Find the smallest and safest place you can and stay there only coming out for food.”
I have already run away as far as my legs would take me. Now I had to find some place to hide. I wondered around for a bit picking up anything that looked edible on the way. Finally, I came across a large pipe that looked like it once belonged under the ground. I set my food inside and started to climb in. then I felt something on my hand it was cold and wet. As I examined it more and more started dropping from the sky. I looked up and they started to run down my face. The coolness against my cheeks was refreshing. I opened my mouth and let some fall into my mouth. My eyes widened at the taste it soothed my dry mouth. It felt and tasted familiar like something my mom use to make me drink, but this was different. I put my hands to the sky and smiled, this was by far the most beautiful thing ive ever seen. I opened my eyes and saw the sun glistening through the drops. To me I saw fairies dancing in the field. I started to dance with them, keeping beat with the “pit pat” the drops made on the ground. After awhile the sun went behind a cloud and the drops slowed down then completely stopped. I stood there in the now empty field soaking wet. I saw my first glimpse of what I would come to realize was my destination.
I climbed into the pipe I fit perfectly into it, and its pretty safe to say no one else would fit into it. So at this moment I am safe for the first time in a long time. I let out a long sigh of relief and layed my head back and drifted into sleep. When I woke up it was pitch black outside which means I was out for a couple hours. I sat up and stared at my small pile of food before I left my mother I took what little food she gathered for us. I had enough food to last me a week at most. Im looking forward to the day when I don’t have to worry about not having food. The last thing a seven year old should be worrying about is rationing food. I looked down the pipe it was long enough for me to lay down and still have room left over. I wasn’t allowed to leave my hiding place except to find food, and I wont need food for a week. So what am I suppose to do in the mean time? I do not know if I have neighbors which means there probably aren’t any kids around to play with. I never really had friends it was always hard for me to get close enough to someone. For the short time I went to school for the most part kids stayed away from me. Im not the most talkative, and even at a young…well…younger age I never saw the point in getting close to someone if eventually their going to leave you anyway. I never saw a problem with my social life im fine by myself. My parents on the other hand hated it. Being their only child there was a lot of pressure to successed in everything. My mother use to invite this girl over who lived close and was in my class. I don’t remember her name not that it matters anyways. She was a *****. I hated her, I think I hated my mother more though for trying to force us into a friendship. I never spoke to the girl, not that I had to she did enough talking for the both of us. All she ever wanted to do was play with dolls or talk about herself. I remember the only time I ever talked to her.
“You wanna go outside and play pirates?”
“Erw, why would we do that? Their smelly and ugly and not something a girl would do. You ARE a girl right?”
“Yeah”
“Well then no pirates.”
“Ok”
A couple days later we moved because the war started getting worse im glad I never saw her again.
I just sat there lost in my memories for awhile until reality caught up with me, which was me, all alone in a pipe. I layed down on my stomach and rested my head on my arms. I stared up into the sky which was the clearest sky ive seen in a awhile. You could actually see the stars tonight. I scanned the sky for what I looked for every night before I go to sleep. Finding it always reassured me knowing it was still up there waiting for me. A smile spread across my face once my eyes came across it. I pointed to the second star to the right. Then I rolled over and fell asleep.
For the next couple days I fell into a routine. Id wake up eat watch the clouds floating by outside of my hidey hole. I would drift in and out of memories as vivid as movies in my mind. My favorite memory was when my mother introduced me to Peter Pan. One night I was having trouble sleeping and this was the first time my mother read my a story. After I went to her bedroom to tell her I was having a hard time sleeping she looked at me for awhile. My parents had a very tall bed, when my mother was laying down we were eye level with each other. I always thought my parents had such a tall bed to keep me from crawling into bed with them on scary nights. My parents enjoyed their resting time because it was the only time they didn’t have to worry about anything that included me. So I knew when I went into their room my staying was not an option. Ive only had trouble sleeping once before, and pleaded with my mother to let me stay with her, because of the monster outside my window.
“There is no monster outside your window.”
“Mommy, there is! He keeps scratching at my window.”
“That’s just the wind making a tree branch hit your window there is nothing to be scared of.”
“He wants in! He wants in! Please mommy let me stay with you and daddy just this once.”

This is when my father woke up and turned to face my mother and me.
“Shut that kid up! Does she not know what time it is? I got work in the morning!”

He turned back on his side and left my mother and me staring at each other. After a moment of pure silence she let out a sigh.
“Please, go back to sleep there is no suck thing as monsters there certainly nothing outside your window, goodnight dear ill see you in the morning.”

With that she also turned on her side facing my dad which meant this conversation was over and I had lost.

So here I was standing in front of my mother trying to figure out what to do. I remembered having a couple books in my room on a shelf way to high for me to reach. As long as I can remember those books have always been there, and now I wished I knew how to read. There was one that stood out from the rest. I didn’t know its title but it had well…a glow about it. I knew as soon as I heard the story it would become my favorite.
“Will you read me a story?”
My mother rolled back over and propped her head on her elbow.
“A story? Where did you even get an idea like that from? You don’t even know how to read.”
“I could learn how to read if you help me.”

Mother sat up on the tall bed and glided to the floor straight into her slippers. She grabbed my hand and walked me through the dark hallway back to my room. I always wondered if that’s what being a family felt like. I jumped up on my bed while my mother went over to the high shelf.
“Which one would you like me to read?”

I pointed to the one with the mysterious glow. Mother followed her fingers along the books till she found the one I was pointing to.
“This one?” she said while she pulled it off the shelf and came to sit on my bed with me.
“This is Peter Pan its quite an adventure full of pirates and Indians and flying boys who never grow old, oh and fairies.”
I gasped at the last word. Fairies, sounds so interesting.

“And they all live on an island called Neverland.”
“Neverland? Where’s that?”

My mom let out a quiet laugh then held me closer.
“Why don’t I show you?” she opened up the book and started reading.
Ever since then I became obsessed with the story Peter Pan and everything in it. Fairies were my favorite and I adored Tinkerbell everything she did was magical, and her love for Peter I felt it was deeper than the love my mother and father had. I learned how to read from having my mother read me Peter Pan over and over again. Then I started reading things on my own like The Wizard of Oz and Cinderella. My parents didn’t mind that I read all the time since it kept me out of the way. I completely lost myself in stories that I didn’t know it when the war came.
I snapped back into reality, which was me in a hidey hole barely surviving because of that war. I was getting tired even though I was lost in memories all day. The sky was dark with few clouds and even fewer stars. I shivered and saw my breath in the wind. I wasn’t wearing clothes for winter. I glanced down at my food supply which was gone. I could probably make it through the night, but not much longer after that unless I got some supplies. I pulled my knees to my chest and held them. Im scared, absolutely, positively, scared out of my mind, ive been close to death before, ive seen death before the brief years of my life did not prepare me for what might happen in the morning, death, I got a strange feeling that if I did die tomorrow everything would be lost. I put my head on top of my knees and fell asleep. No need to look for Neverland its not like ill ever find it.

Nice!

nice