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            SIRENS WERE BLARING, and the Germans were dropping bombs in the middle of the night. A boy, who looked no older than 14, with dark brown hair and brown eyes to match, fair skin, and freckles covering his face, was watching the destruction from the living room window with an expression of fear mixed with awe. Behind him was a woman with the same brown hair and eyes as the boy entered, gasping when she saw the boy by the window.

"Edmund! Get away from there! Peter!" The woman pulled the boy, Edmund, away from the window, closing the curtains as an older boy who looked about 16 with golden blonde hair and blue eyes ran in. His mother grabbed her youngest son by the shoulders frantically. "What do you think you're doing?" She looked at the other boy, Peter, when a bomb dropped near their house. "Peter, quickly, to the shelter. Now!" Peter nodded, grabbing his brother by the arm. "Come on!"

"Wait. . . no!" Edmund protested, trying to grab something.

"Leave it!"

When her sons were gone, the mother, Helen Pevensie, grabbed a flashlight and blanket before rushing out herself. In another room, two little girls were sitting on a bed, clinging to each other for dear life, scared of the destruction going on outside.

The oldest girl looked 12 years old, with short, straight brown hair that framed her face, blue eyes, fair skin, and freckles. The younger girl, who looked to be about 11, had curly, blonde hair that reached above her shoulders, blue eyes, fair skin, and pink lips. 

The older girl was comforting her crying younger sister as she cried herself because of the scary bombs. Suddenly, the two girls jumped when another bomb dropped near their bedroom window, scaring them more.

"Mummy!" The two girls cried, clutching one another tightly.

Suddenly, a 15-year-old girl with brown, curly hair past shoulder length, blue eyes, freckles, and fair skin entered with a flashlight in one hand. The older girl ran to her side table by her bed, looking through a stack of papers before turning around and noticing her younger sisters still in bed.

"Lucy, Dorothy, come on!" The girl, Susan, ran forward, offering them a hand.

Dorothy, the youngest girl, quickly took it while her other hand held onto her other older sister, Lucy. The three girls ran out of their bedroom and met up with their family in the hallway before they ran outside to the shelter.

"Come on, quickly!"

"Run!"

The children all ran faster at the cries of Peter and Helen, leading them to the shelter as Peter ran behind the rest. Little Dorothy and Lucy both screamed, terrified of the bombs dropping near their home.

"Hurry!" Susan urged her sisters, who ran before her, afraid of what would happen if they didn't make it to the shelter in time.

"Mummy!" Dorothy yelled in fright as they continued to run.

Finally, they made it to the shelter, and Helen opened it for her children to go in first. Before Edmund went in, he stopped as if he remembered something.

"Wait! Dad!" He turned around and ran back towards the house.

"Ed!"

"Edmund, no!" Helen shouted, trying to get Lucy and Dorothy into the shelter.

Running after Edmund, Peter looked back at his mother. "I'll get him!"

"Peter, come back!"

While the boys ran home, Helen and Susan got Dorothy and Lucy in the shelter. The two sisters ran to the bed and covered themselves with a blanket to keep themselves warm. Noticing her sisters' fragile and scared states, Susan sat between both of them, wrapping her arms around them and trying to comfort her sisters.

Helen returned to the entrance and spotted her sons running out of the house again. "Come on!" She shouted as they ran towards the shelter as fast as they could. "Hurry!"

Peter pushed Edmund onto the mattress with an angry expression. "Why can't you think of anyone but yourself? You're so selfish! You could've got us killed!"

"Stop it!" Helen shouted at Peter, noticing her youngest daughter's scared look. She knew that Dorothy didn't like her siblings fighting or yelling in front of her, and the poor girl was already frightened as she was.  

Everyone looked towards Edmund, who held a photo in his hands. It was a photo of their father, who joined the army and tried to stop the war. Lucy and Dorothy cried silently in Susan's arms as Helen comforted Edmund.

"Why can't you just do as you're told?" Peter asked calmly this time, causing Edmund to glare up at him.

Peter shook his head in frustration and turned around, shutting the shelter door before everyone went to bed.

♘

A few days later, the Pevensies and other families stood in the train station. For her children's safety, Helen got the idea to send her children away to the countryside with a family friend of theirs.  

"You need to keep this on, girls. All right?" Helen told Dorothy and Lucy, pinning tickets to their coat, and the young girls both nodded. "Are you both warm enough? Good girls."

After Helen checked on them once more, she went to help Edmund. Dorothy and Lucy crept closer to Susan, who wrapped a comforting arm around them. They both leaned into her more, Dorothy clutching the stuffed dog her father had given her before he went off to war.

"If Dad were here, he wouldn't make us go," Edmund grumbled as Helen pinned a ticket to his coat.

"If Dad were here, it'd mean the war was over, and we wouldn't have to go," Peter reminded his brother.

"You will listen to your brother, won't you, Edmund?" Helen asked her youngest son, preventing another argument between the two brothers.

Edmund sighed in annoyance, and Helen stood up when she was done. She tried to hug Edmund, but he recoiled, so instead, she kissed him on the side of his head. She stood in front of Peter, and the two hugged each other tightly.

"Promise me you'll look after the others," Helen requested him.

Nodding against his mother's shoulder, Peter responded, "I will, Mom."

Helen broke apart and smiled sadly at Peter. "Good man." Helen then turned to Susan, whose eyes looked red and puffy from crying. Susan smiled sadly as they shared a hug. "Susan. Be a big girl." Helen and Susan broke apart, and Helen looked at all her children, for she wouldn't see them again for a while. "All right. Off you go."

The siblings grabbed their suitcases, and Peter grabbed Dorothy's hand as Susan grabbed Edmund and Lucy's. As they began to leave, Dorothy looked back at her mother one last time before looking forward sadly.

"Hey, get off. I know how to get on a train by myself," Dorothy heard Edmund scolding Susan as she pulled both Lucy and Edmund. "Get off me!"

Once they got to the ticket line, Susan, Lucy and Edmund got their checks, but Peter wasn't paying attention; she was looking at the soldiers going off to war.

"May I have your tickets, please?" The ticket lady asked, but he ignored her as Dorothy pulled on his coat sleeve. "Tickets, please."

Susan, noticing her brother, snatched his ticket and scolded, "Peter." She handed the key to the lady, who checked it.

"On you go."

A soldier was leading the five siblings to the train. Dorothy stopped for a second and turned towards the crowd, searching for their mother.

Peter scooped down to her level. "Come on, Dorothy. We have to stick together now. Everything's going to be alright. It's going to be fine," he reassured her, wrapping a comforting arm around her.

Dorothy nodded sadly, trying not to sob as she and Peter followed after their other siblings onto the train. Once they were in, Susan found a nearby window, her siblings joining her. Soon, they spotted their mother waving to them from the crowds, causing them to wave back at her. 

"Bye, Mum!"

"We'll miss you!"

"See you soon!"

"We love you, Mummy!"

They continued to wave at Helen until they couldn't see her anymore. 

♘

The five siblings found a compartment with two other siblings, a boy, who looked about Dorothy's age, maybe a couple of years younger, and a girl about Lucy's age.

Dorothy sat on one side of Susan with Lucy on the other, and Edmund sat next to Lucy near the window while Peter sat with the two siblings. After a while, Dorothy asked Susan if she could read one of her favorite story books, The Wizard of Oz. Susan obliged and read it to her and Lucy. The two other kids were listening to her, and Edmund was too, although he was looking out the window and Peter was watching.

"Goosey Station. Goosey station."

The train suddenly stopped, and the two siblings got off. Lucy, Dorothy, and Edmund looked out the window, watching as the two kids were being pushed by the guardians they would be staying with.  The train began to move again, and Susan continued reading to her sisters. 

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After another hour or so, the siblings finally reached their destination and were the only ones who got off at Coombe Halt. The sound of a car honking caused the siblings to race down the steps, thinking it was their guardian picking them up. However, the person ignored them and continued driving. They looked down the road, seeing if another car would come, but there wasn't a single vehicle.

"The professor knew we were coming," Susan told her siblings.

"Perhaps we've been incorrectly labeled," Edmund suggested, inspecting his tag.

The sound of hooves caught their attention, followed by the sound of a woman's voice. "Come on, hup!"

They turned, seeing a horse pulling a carriage, and on top was a woman holding a long whip. The horse came to a stop in front of the children, and the woman looked like she was very strict.

Peter and Susan shared a look before Peter asked hesitantly. "Mrs. Macready?"

"I'm afraid so," Mrs. Macready replied, her voice in a thick Irish accent. "Is this it, then? Haven't you brought anything else?"

"No, ma'am. It's just us," Peter answered; Dorothy and Lucy nodded in agreement.

"Small favors," Mrs. Macready mumbled and gestured the siblings to get in the carriage.

Without having Mrs. Macready wait, the Pevensie siblings quickly climbed aboard, and Mrs. Macready whipped at the horse, causing it to move forward.

♘

"Come on. Good girl. Come on. Come on."

To their shock, the professor didn't live in an average house. He lived in a huge mansion that was hidden from the tall trees. Once the carriage stopped, Dorothy and her siblings grabbed their suitcases and followed Mrs. Macready into the estate.

"Professor Kirke is not accustomed to havin' children in this house," Mrs. Macready informed as the siblings looked around the mansion in awe. "And, as such, there are a few rules we need to follow." She turned to them as she was on top of the stairs. "There will be no shoutin'. Or runnin'. No improper use of the dumbwaiter," she continued as they walked up the stairs when Susan reached her hand out to touch a magnificent statue, and Mrs. Macready noticed. "NO touchin' of the historical artifacts!"

Susan blushed in embarrassment before turning to her siblings, noticing them stifling their laughs, except for Dorothy, who looked down at her shoes. Susan glared at them before sighing and looked back at Mrs. Macready.

"And above all, there shall be no disturbin' of the professor," she warned them in a low voice, pointing to a door at the top of the stairs.

While her siblings followed Mrs. Macready, Dorothy stayed behind and stared at the bottom of the door. She gasped when she saw a shadow and ran to catch up with her siblings and Mrs. Macready.

♘

Night had fallen, and the siblings (except for Edmund, who had gone to use the restroom) were in the girls' room. The three girls would share a room, a space the boys would share. Lucy and Dorothy were already tucked in bed, though they were still wide awake, listening to the radio.

"German aircraft carried out several attacks on Great Britain last night. The raids, which lasted for several hours--"

Susan turned the radio off, and Peter, who was by the window, turned to her, giving her a look. She nodded toward their sisters, who sniffled from their shared bed.

"These sheets feel scratchy," Lucy mumbled sadly.

"And I miss Mummy's singing," Dorothy added.

"We miss Mum's singing, too. And remember, wars don't last forever, girls," Susan reassured with a small smile as she stood at the end of their bed as Peter sat at the edge. "We'll be home soon."

"Yeah," Edmund says, entering the bedroom, "if home's still there."

Susan sighed and gave him a look. "Isn't time you were in bed?"

"Yes, Mom."

"Ed!" Peter warned, noticing his younger sisters' sad looks. He turned to them, and with a softer tone, he added, "You saw outside. This place is huge. We can do whatever we want here. Tomorrow's going great. Really."

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Edited on 12/4/2022