High Noon

Ch3

The boy stared into my eyes, his eyes were light green with specks of brown near the pupils.

His hair was blonde and going in crazy directions, he had dirt streaked on his cheeks along with scrapes and bruises.

"Where are you trying to go?" He asked me.

"Home, I have to see if my Mama is all right," I told him yanking my arm out of his grasp.

"Come, this way, it's calmer over here, you might get trampled going that way." The boy said grabbing my arm before I could go back into the sea of scared and panicked people.

I looked down the alley of the half-standing buildings and saw that there weren't as many people.

There were still a lot of people but less than over here, we were lucky to be in the alley part where only a couple scattered people were.

The boy guided me down the alley and then tightened his grasp and we went into the surge of people.

"Tell me where to go!" He yelled over the noise of the crowd.

I looked around trying to see where I was, I saw a sign for the ice cream shop where I and Ruth had gone to after ballet practice. I sighed with relief as I realized I knew where I was.

"Just continue straight!" I yelled back.

The boy guided me through the crowd and I directed him where to go. Finally, after what seemed like hours we arrived in front of my house the crowd had lessened out here, but I knew they would be here.

Everything was the same over here no bombs had come. I entered the yard and the surge of people came past trying desperately to get to a place where thecouldan rest and be safe.

The boy was behind me and I opened the door, I didn't know ifhe'dl be safe out there in the crowd all by himself so I turned around.

"Thank you for taking me home, would you like to come in?" I told him.

He smiled.

"Just until the crowd dies down."

I nodded and let him in.

As soon as I closed the door I heard Mama coming down the stairs, she hugged me tightly.

"Mon Dieu, Sophie, I was so worried about you I heard the bombings and I thought the worst, thank God you're safe." She told me.

When she pulled off she noticed the boy who was beside me.

"Who's this?" Mama asked me.

"Oh, he's..." I trailed off realizing that I didn't know his name.

He smiled and offered his hand.

"I'm Antoine, Madame, I hope you don't mind if I stay here just until the crowds die down."

"Oh, of course, I'll just have to make a little extra for supper then." She said with a smile.

"Thank you, Madam," Antoine said.

Mama went to finish up supper leaving me alone with Antoine who made his way into the living room.

He sat down on the couch and said, "So, your name's Sophie."

"Yes, and your Antoine?" I asked.

He smiled.

"Yes,"

There was an awkward silence for a moment and I shifted from one foot to another, not knowing what to talk about.

"Better get used to these bombings I supposed," Antoine said suddenly. 

"The Germans will not be stopping anytime soon."

I knew he was right but having that fear being confirmed by someone else, I knew my Papa would not be coming anytime soon and things wouldn't be returning to normal, for a long time.

At dinner that night Mama seemed to interrogate Antoine, bombarding him with question after question.

"Where do you live, Antoine?" She asked him.

"Not too far from here, just down the road." He replied.

"I see, and do you have any siblings? Who do you live with?" Mama said.

"Oh my gosh, Mom, you're acting like he's a criminal." I interrupted with a sharp sigh.

"No, I'm just making polite conversation." She said.

Antoine chuckled and smiled.

"That's all right, I live with my Grandparents for the time being my Papa is at war, and my Mother thought it would be better for me to live with them rather than with her."

"I see, where were you heading when the bombings started?" Mama said.

I rubbed my temples getting a headache from her asking so many questions.

"The store, I had to go grab some eggs, but.." He shrugged. "I never made it there."

There was silence and I sighed relieved that Mom had stopped asking him questions.

After supper, Antoine helped us clean and wash the dishes.

We were in the middle of it when the air raid sirens went off again, Mama grabbed my hand and we ran outside, the nearest air raid shelter was across the street from us, so we sprinted across the road.

Bombs exploded in the near distance and people were screaming all around us.

I tripped over my legs but Mama was still running, I scraped my knees and arms as she continued to run not seeming to notice I had fallen.

I felt Antoine take my other hand and I didn't have time to shake his hand off, I didn't want to either.

We got inside the shelter and it was dark and cold. It smelled of sweat and body odor, I could once again hear children and babies crying as the bombs exploded outside.

I squeezed my mother's hand tightly feeling scared.

I felt her rub the back of my hand trying to comfort me and I squeezed even tighter.