Darkest Before Dawn Episode 18
The air raid went on all night and it was eight long hours before the all-clear. The first one had been just a taster of what was to come, and when Isobel and Alice emerged from the shelter the next morning with Alice’s family, they could see smoke billowing up towards the east.
“It looks as if the docks have been hit hard,” Alice’s dad said gravely. “You’re welcome to stay here with us, Isobel.”
“Thank you, but I have to get home,” she replied.
“But how?” Alice asked.
“I’ll find a way,” Isobel said determinedly. She had to get back to her family. Her mother would be in such a terrible state after last night. If she’d survived. She pushed that thought away.
“It’s such a long way, Isobel,” Alice said. “You won’t get a bus, I wouldn’t think.”
“We understand why you have to go.” Alice’s mum hugged her. “Your mum will be just as worried about you as you are about her.”
“Just be careful,” Alice’s dad added. “And you’re welcome to come back to ours if you need to.”
“Shall I come with you?” Alice asked.
“No, I’ll be all right,” Isobel assured her, sounding far more confident than she felt.
“Do you think we should go to work on Monday, Isobel?”
“I should think so. Life has to go on, doesn’t it?”
“I’ll see you on Monday, then.” Alice smiled weakly.
Isobel set off and found some streets untouched, but smoke and occasional flames were a reminder that London still burned.
The closer to home she got, the worse the damage became. She had to ask for directions. One man told her there was no point her going any further as there was nothing left standing. Even if he was right, she had to see for herself.
She turned down a street that was familiar and was confronted with rubble. For a moment, she thought she’d taken a wrong turn. A few houses still stood, but the middle of the street was piled high with debris, impassable.
“Can you help me, miss?” a woman called out. People were scrambling all over the wreckage and Isobel shuddered when she realised they were searching for loved ones. The woman, her face blackened by smoke, her clothes and hair grey with dust, gripped Isobel’s arm. “I can’t find my brother!”
Isobel realised the woman was about her age. She thought of Sidney and how frantic she would be if he were missing. “We thought he was in the shelter, but he must have gone out to watch the planes,” the woman went on. “We haven’t been able to find him.”
“Which is your house?” Isobel asked.
She pointed at a gaping hole in the terrace. The one next door to it still stood. Isobel took it all in: the wallpaper on the walls, the fireplaces, part of a window left behind with the curtain still hanging from it.
“Do you know where he might have gone?” Isobel asked. “He might have got scared and gone in the house.”
“I’m sure he didn’t. I have a little brother, too,” Isobel said reassuringly. “He’s mischievous, but he isn’t daft. What’s your name?”
“Lizzie, miss.”
“Isobel,” Isobel said, and she went to join Lizzie’s family, who were frantically searching the rubble.
Isobel lost track of time as she searched. All that mattered was finding Lizzie’s brother. When she saw them bringing a body out of the mess further down the street, she looked the other way and saw a grimy face peering from behind a wall.
“Lizzie,” she said. “Does your brother have black hair?”
He’d bobbed out of sight when they went to the wall, and Lizzie grabbed her brother by the ear and dragged him out.
“What are you doing?” she shouted. “We thought you were dead!”
For a moment Isobel thought Lizzie was going to strike him, but she let go of his ear and wrapped her arms around him.
“Mum! Dad! We found him!”
Shaken, Isobel continued on her way, and every step brought some new horror. She saw cars flung aside as if they were no more substantial than toys. A bus was on its side and a hole gaped in the road. One property had been destroyed and only the chimney was left standing.
Ambulances went back and forth, ferrying the injured to hospital, and people scrambled over the wreckage, searching and praying. She hardly dared look when she finally got home, but only one house in Aunt Rose’s street was completely obliterated.
Windows were broken at Aunt Rose’s, but the roof was on and the walls intact.
Her feet crunched over glass as she broke into a run. She was so relieved. She rushed inside, expecting Maud to appear with a scream of relief, but the house was silent.
Where was everyone? What if Sidney had sneaked out of the shelter? What if they’d gone out to look for him? She ran through the house and out into the back garden.
“Mum!” she screamed when she saw the shelter buried beneath piles of rubble.