Surrender

11am the bells are ringing, people are screaming but this time it’s different, they are happy. The war is over. I didn’t think I would still be alive to hear those words the war is over, the war is over. November 11th 1918 11am, a day, a time to remember. Forever, but the question is will anyone be remembered?

Every day it’s the same. Wake up, it’s cold, the box I sleep in is wet and Robin is still asleep. Two years since the war finished and the streets are still quiet like people are still in hiding. I lift my face high and smell the air, close my eyes and take a deep breath. Rain. “Robin, wake up we need shelter, rain and its bad” Robin wakes up and runs, he knows that I can smell when its going to rain and how long it will last for, he accuses me of being a witch, as a joke, I hope. The best shelter we find is an abandoned tank left from the war, no one knows why but I think cowardice, (his family barley leave their house and when they do it’s not for long and they hide their faces). After some time the rain falls, echoing inside the tank as it starts to get heavier. There is not a lot of room in here but the kids love to play inside it, they can spend hours playing pretending they are in the wars, shooting each other then getting told off by their mums and to stay away from the tank, walk away with their heads down until their mums have gone back inside then they would go back to playing in and around the tank again. The rain still getting heavier and the thunder begins to roar the echoing gets louder with every drop. I watch Robin try to get back to sleep, he struggles to keep his eyes open and his nose twitches then he’s out. He has a scar on his left cheek from the day we met, he tried to steal half a loaf of bread that fell in a muddy puddle but was caught by a angry man and he hit the boy with his knife, took back the bread and left the boy bleeding in the mud and rain. After the man had left I ran over to help the poor boy with blood running down his cheek, the rain makes it worse than it is. I took his hand and brought him out of the rain and out of sight patched up his cheek and gave him some food, as he sat the eating, looking like he hadn’t eaten in days he started to talk, telling me that he hadn’t been on the streets long, that part was obvious. His dad left for the war with his eldest brother and they never returned, his mother couldn’t afford to feed herself and six children so Robin left, he was thirteen at the time. It may sound sad but he’s never looked back. The harrowing sound of the thunder still echoes inside the tank, I try to sleep but it’s too loud. I think of life on the streets before Robin, I was only young almost six, I was left behind my mother just disappeared, no words were spoken and living on the streets people just walked past like I wasn’t there. the streets were so lonely but there was more food for me when I didn’t have to share, eight years later and I’m still too young to help with stalls and earn even a shilling, I’m still living on the streets but at least I have Robin now, three years together and couldn’t ask for a better partner in crime.

The rain finally stops and we leave the tank to mush on the floor where before the rain, was our boxes for us to sleep in, I know it’s not much but it’s in a quiet place where we are hidden and it’s not far from the stalls, people start to gather in the streets to spend their earnings, most of the women are nurses, teachers or telephone operators and most men worked on the land but in other areas they are doctors or bankers, for those that were not good enough for these jobs they had stalls, to sell clothes and food one for fish, one for fruit and vegetables, one for bread, they even had one for meats but when the war started they took all that for the soldiers and as no one can afford it now they haven’t been back. Not even a farthing to our names and we need food and can do with new clothes, full of holes it’s almost as if we’re not wearing anything. With the streets full Robin weaves his way through everyone until he is no longer visible and as people start to leave he finally comes back with his head down low, “what’s wrong?” I ask, he looks as me with a big smile and pulls out two pennies and a half penny out of his pocket “and that’s why I was named after Robin Hood, but my mum thought I could do good for others” his face drops low again “Archie is in the crowd, it’s only been two years but he’s grown so much, I don’t think I can call him my little brother anymore, well you know what I mean” he looks and me and gives a little laugh but its filled with sadness. “it’s his ninth birthday two sunrises from now, would you be okay if I leave him a penny, that leaves us enough to get gloves and bread, please?” he looks at me with sorrow I see pain and hope in his bright green eyes, how could I say no, I nod with a smile and move my muddy blond hair out of my face. I go into the dispersing crowd and spend the penny, gloves and bread as promised that should do for now. Getting back to the tank unspotted wasn't easy but after a while I was able to make my move, I open the lid and slide down Robin startles me by shouting boo as my eyes adjust to the dark. Noise starts to get louder as it gets closer, it sounds muffled through the tank but the closer it gets the clearer it sounds, children. The children want to play in the tank if they see us they will tell their mothers then we will be the ones in trouble, "Robin, we have to act like were here playing war games not living here" panicking I start to clean our belongings up not that we have many, Robin opens the lid and pretends to shoot the kids as they sneak around the tank their surprised faces soon turn to smiles to know we wont tell them off for being where they shouldn't. we stay and play for a while running around pretending to shoot one another but as the clouds start to cover the sky we must leave. behind some abandoned stalls there is a small dark ally way we can hide in there for the night.