Mary woke up to voices. Very loud voices. It took her a second to realize that it was still dark in her room, meaning it was not yet morning. It also meant that whoever was yelling, was in trouble. It took her a second to realize that she heard more than just noises. She heard engines. Airplane engines. She sat up straight, grabbing her robe and almost running towards the voices.
Her parents and William were all in the living room, her mother having tears streaming down her face as William and Mary's father were boarding up the windows as quickly as possible. As soon as William saw Mary, he yelled, "Get your mother and you to the cellar! Now!" Mary nodded, running over to her mother, grabbing her arm and basically pulling her to the safety of the cellar.
As soon as they were downstairs with the door shut, she let her mother sit down to catch her breath as Mary went around turning on the lights. She turned to her mother, seeing her having difficulty breathing through how hard she was crying.
"Mum, we're going to be alright. William and Dad are up there making sure the house is-" Mary's mother pulled her down so she was crouching in front of her sitting mother.
"The house can be fixed! They should be down here with us! They shouldn't worry about the house! I can't lose him, I can't. Not after Tommy." Mary understood what her mother was saying. She didn't want another family member to be lost because of the war, especially since her father could easily be safe down here. Then she thought of William. Sweet William who, she could hazard a guess, was trying to fight off the idea that he was back in France, back in the trenches he barely got out of.
"I'll go get them, Mum, stay here." Mary tried to stand up, but her mother had a death grip on her wrist and wasn't letting go. "Mum, if you want dad and Will down here, you're going to have to let me go."
"I can't lose you too, Mary."
"Then what do you want me to do about it? If we call up to them, they won't hear us, you won't allow me to go up there myself. What would you like me to do?"
"Don't leave me alone." Mary sighed, recognizing that tone of voice. Her mother was giving up. Her mother had nothing left, no fight, not bravery, nothing. Mary had heard it in the hospital in London. She saw it in the letters from William. This war was taking everything from everyone.
"I'll be right back, alright Mum? I'm going to bring dad and William down. I'll just shout from the top of the stairs, I'll be quick."
"Don't leave-"
"I'm not leaving you, I'm coming back. I'll be right by your side in a minute. You have to let me bring the rest of our family home too." Mary pulled her wrist out of her mother's grip and ran to the top of the stairs, opening the door to the cellar, seeing that the house was just as they had left it, except the windows were boarded up and she could see flames coming from further away in the countryside. "Will? Dad?" She looked around the door, seeing neither man in her line of sight. She heard another bomb detonate in the distance, but it was closer, closer than the others. "Will! Dad! Where are you?" She dared step out from behind the door, into her living room, looking around. As she turned the corner, about to go towards the entryway, a hand grabbed her wrist, making her jump, as she turned, seeing William there. He pulled her behind him, back towards the cellar and down the steps, Mary barely having time to close the door before she was at the bottom of the steps again.
"We told you to get to the cellar!"
"We did! Mum was worried about both of you, I told her that I would see if you could come down-"
"Don't do that. Don't you ever do that again, I don't care where the hell we are, you stay put." William put his hands on either side of her face, making sure that Mary was looking directly at him. She saw from the corner of her eye that her father had gone and sat next to her mother, holding her in his arms as the Germans dropped bombs on the countryside around them.
