War. 2008 Ch 2

I woke up early that morning, just thinking of things that had once been. Playing freely in the garden when my mates came to visit, picking the fruit from the trees. Our yearly visits to Blackpool in the summertime. I wondered when we would be able to do that again, if ever. I looked up at the ceiling, seeing the small white patterns merge into a giant hazy blur. I managed to haul myself out of bed, shivering in the early morning air. We all had to be up by sunrise apparently. No-one knew why. My parents and I reckoned it was just more of their Nazist schemes to break us all down. It didn’t bother me getting up early to be honest. I was usually up by half seven getting ready to go to University. But now they had all that stopped. The Uni I went to was kept exclusively now for barracks. They must have been in comfort there I think. The student flats were quite nicely kept. I dread to think what must have happened to the students which were staying there. My friend Alice lived in one of them. I was worried sick for her, not because I didn’t think she was able to cope, but she was feisty and wouldn’t take crap from anyone. 1

I got dressed fairly quickly, just some old jeans, a faded T-Shirt and my warm jumper. I made my bed, and made sure everything was tidy. The soldiers thought it would be a good idea to see if our houses were spotless and perfect. Just another chance for them to nose around. The soldier that generally came round to our house came at lunchtimes. We tried changing the times we ate, as there was barely enough food for us, but were punished for it. One hundred push ups each is an awful thing to do when you are hungry, thirsty and too hot. We seemed to get punished for everything we did. Not having my shirt tucked in, leaving specks of dust on the mantelpiece, looking out of the window at the wrong time, sneezing during the main ones speech. I got so bored at times during the day. I couldn’t even sit in the garden, not that it would be the same. Even the sunshine wasn’t as beautiful as I always thought it was. 2

My mum came into the room. 3

“Good, just checking you were up.”She said, gnawing on her nails, “I have been up for about half an hour already. Would you like a cup of tea?”4

“Yes, please.” I nodded. She turned and went downstairs. 5

I often toyed with the idea of writing a diary, but could not cope with being punished as I knew it would ultimately be my parents who suffered. I had a pretty good memory however, so I decided that when this pointless war was over I was going to write my memoirs. And I would name and shame people, telling them exactly what I thought of them when the book was published. 6

I shook my head from my dreams. It was amazing how I had changed my way of thinking so quickly. Strange what wars can do to people. 7

*****8

I went downstairs to see my mum hurriedly pouring me a cup of tea, her hands shaking a little. She was always like that in the mornings. I hated seeing it, but there was nothing I could do. I took the tea and cupped my hand around its sweet warmth. We now all took sugar in our tea. We were given it as our ration, so we took it all. 9

“Why should we let them bastards have anything? We get it, we use it.” My dad swore, spooning the sickly stuff in. I almost gagged at first, as I hate sweet things like that, but I slowly got used to it. 10

“Anything special planned today, Dad?” I asked, sitting on the threadbare sofa. 11

He snorted, “Yeah right.” 12

I shrugged my shoulders. 13

“I wish that they would hurry up and get roll call done so I could go back to bed.”14

I yawned, “I never get to sleep in. I’ve forgotten what it’s like.”15

“Well, this is one lie in you can’t blame us for you not having.”16

I was about to reply when I heard a loud bell.17

“Come on.” Said my Mum wearily, putting on her cardigan, “Outside for a few hours.”18

We all went outside, not daring to complain. I wondered if this was happening everywhere in the UK, or just here? I shook my head, trying not to think of all the thousands of others going through the same thing. At least we have our own house, a roof over our own heads, and a garden and...and. I finished thinking lamely. 19

We stood silently in our anointed places, shivering a little. I wished I had put on my warmer jumper. I had a little glance from side to side to see if everyone was out in time. Thankfully everyone seemed to be. Yesterday the little old lady from number eighty two had not hobbled out as quickly as everyone, and got a slap. It seemed like only a little slap, but she still fell over. 20

“Well...peoples. Everyone is out. That is good.” The man shouted. 21

I focused my eyes on the ground. I didn’t want to look at the face of a sadist. So much for the crap about doing as they were told. Human beings can only go so far, and then they enjoy it. It becomes more than their job. I wondered what stupid thing he would have us do today. Last week it was to scrub all the pavements. And the week before that was to weed our gardens completely. Fortunately ours wasn’t too bad, but people like the little old lady and those who hate their garden would have had a hard job. 22

“This week...your week. I give you nothing to do, but rest. We EU people are good people.” The man crowed triumphantly, looking as if he had given us a great treat. We stared stonily ahead. He took roll call and counted us twice, finally satisfied. 23

“You go now.” He said, turning from us and getting into his vehicle. We weren’t allowed our cars. Why was life so unfair?!24

*****25

A knock on the door startled me from my nap. 26

“Who can that be?” I heard my anxious Mother start, leaning against my Dad as he opened the door. We weren’t allowed our doors locked so the soldiers can come in anytime, so it was a surprise to hear the door knocked. 27

Dad opened the door to a young soldier, probably about twenty, twenty two at the most. 28

He saluted to my parents and said;29

“I have been chosen to stay in this house. Nothing you say or do will be stopping me from staying here. I am to eat your share of the food, drink your share of the liquids. Anything you say will be noted down by me and used against you.”30

My Mother clutched my Dad tighter and he moved to let the soldier in, rather than give him any trouble. 31

I sat back from my bedroom window, leaned against the walls. Just thinking. My parents had not called me down yet. I hoped they wouldn’t. I sat on the floor, my blanket clutched around me and I tried hard not to cry. I hadn’t cried for a long time, swore to myself not to. Didn’t want to give them the satisfaction. 32

I noticed it had gone quite downstairs. I tiptoed over to my bed and leaned against the door. I heard nothing. I thought perhaps that the soldier had gone back to duty, and just ‘introduced’ himself. 33

I got back into bed and just lay there, my eyes closed. 34

I think I must have drifted off for the next thing I knew was me sitting bolt upright, looking into the eyes of a stranger. I pushed myself hard against the wall, getting tangled in the blanket as I did so. The guy just gave me a smirk. 35

The soldier hadn’t gone. My parents had just kept quiet rather than talk to him. I didn’t blame them. I wondered how he had managed to get up here without my parents arguing with him, mind you, not that they had much choice. 36

“What the hell are you doing in my room?!” I demanded, trying to cover myself up as much as possible. I was wearing only a short T-shirt and some bed shorts. 37

“Hmm, feisty.” He laughed, stroking my chin.38

I couldn’t help myself. I punched him square in the jaw. 39

“Ouch!” He said, eyes widening in surprise, bringing his hand up. 40

Immediately I regretted it. 41

“I’m so so so so sorry!” I stuttered, “Please don’t tell anyone, please don’t hurt my parents, I beg you, PLEASE!”42

To my surprise he shook his head, 43

“What tell everyone I got hit by a girl? Not a chance. Not with the shiner I’m going to get with this one either.”44

“Oh.”45

“Listen to me.” He said, coming closer, “For goodness sake, don’t shy away, I’m not like them. I’m not going to hurt you, I don’t give a damn what you say about them.”46

I looked into his brown eyes, saw small curls of blond hair coming from underneath his helmet. I gave a smile, leaned closer to him and said gently;47

“I bet they all say that. Now get the hell out of my room!”48

He looked taken aback. 49

“I think you should be nice to me young lady.” He said, getting up, “After all, we’re going to be room-mates.”50

He gave a grin and walked off, cockily winking behind at me. 51

“Git!” 52

I hoped that he would just stay away from me, but I knew that I wouldn’t be that lucky. 53