19th October
This morning I woke up, any my eyelids were as good as glued together. But now, after a long hot shower, I'm feeling much better. I'm also rather pleased with myself. Last night I decided I was going to figure out how long it would take me to write 1,ooo words. After some serious procrastination, and very little writing (of the fictional, or homework kind) I sat down at my desk, turned my internet off, put on some good music, and told my friends to go away. I wrote solidly for half an hour.
Proudly, I managed to write 1,163 words. Which, for me, in half an hour? Is absolutely fantastic. So it just goes to show that when you put your mind to it, you can do anything you want. :]
I'll post it below, if you don't believe how crap the writing is; because it is very very bad, you can read it. I don't know where it came from, but I certainly know that it isn't going anywhere in the near future. <3
What happens when you’re left in the dark?
I’ve always been afraid of rats. Nasty little things they are. They bite you, scratch you, and god knows where they all come from! I hated them. About as much as I hated water. I hated water more than anything. I guess I was going to have to get used to it.
I took a deep breath and heaved myself onto a tiny ledge to my right hand side, gasping as the cold stones scraped across my bare flesh, where my trouser leg had fallen off. I shook my head and rubbed at the tender, icy skin, my morale completely deflated. Outside, and about me, I could hear the steady flash-bang of the guns and the loud ominous crashes of the bombs as they fell upon London. Swaggering past me I caught sight of a young woman and her fella. A strange sight to behold in fact; for she was blind and he had only one arm. I closed my eyes and bit my lip, drawing blood.
Look what the German’s had done to us! Look how we were forced to scramble, climb upon each other like rats! Look how we had to eat the blasted things down here to survive. The bombing had been going for months, and this raid had been pounding away at London’s skyline for the past three days. Even I was scared. I was supposed to protect them.
I was twenty-six years old. Newly recruited and filled with hope when the war began. Soon I wished I hadn’t volunteered. I wished that I could have gone back in time, turned back to a time before this. before the constant noise, and the buzzing flies and the arrival of so many body-bags! It was okay at first. The driving was easy, the lifting wasn’t too taxing. But then when I had to lift my own sister onto the stretcher? That was the last straw.
The water around my knees sloshed up to my thighs before slipping back down the side of the wall. I let my foot dangle, not really caring about getting it wet anymore. I was beyond that. Looking around me I could see family after suffering family. Each of them as miserable or more as the last. I saw young children, the ones who had been brought back after last years’ "peace talk", they were playing in the water, throwing rat carcasses at each other. Or they were huddled to their mother’s in the constant hope that when they went home, their bedroom and toys would still be there. And that was if they could go home. I knew just by looking that half of these families would have to move. Have to rebuild their lives because of a stray German bomb.
I sighed to myself, and jumped off the wall, heading over to the sewer gates. I folded my arms across my chest, tucking my fingers under my armpits in a desperate attempt to return some small warmth to the blood flowing through them. When that failed, I brought them out from under my arms and blew on them, shuddering as the heat faded away almost instantaneously.
"Hey! Kay!" I let my hands drop to my sides and spun around, only to be attacked by a young woman around my age. Her dark ringlets bobbed around her face as she hugged me. "How’s it going?" I laughed at her, she always reminded me of a springer-spaniel.
"Hullo Katy." I nodded to her and hugged her back. "I’m cold, and wet. But other than that? It’s going good. How’re you doing? How’re Charlie and Veronica?" Katy fell into step beside me and we resumed our stroll through the icy torrents of putrid water.
"They’re alright I guess." She answered, tucking her arm beneath mine and slipping her hand into the crook of my arm. "I spoke to Chaz earlier, he said that Ver is fine, she’s getting a bit tired, but I think she’ll be okay. I mean, she’s survived one war, why not do it all again?" She smiled then looked down.
"But that’s not all is it?" I inquired, stopping and spinning Katy to face me.
"No, she answered delicately. "We’re having trouble over west, with the newcomers. They keep disrupting all the old dears." I shook my head in disgust.
"You send ‘em my way Kat, and I’ll give ‘em what-for." Katy smiled somewhat pitifully.
"Yeah, I’ll do that." She patted my hand and started walking again. "How’s it going at your end?" She asked. "I heard you had some trouble with the blokes yesterday." I grimaced.
"They can be such a pain, you know. All pretty and fine, but you call them a coward? Oh, they’re on you like tonne of bricks! I asked this man what he was doing for the war effort; he told me he was stacking logs." Katy let out a burst of laughter.
"Stacking logs?" she spat incredulously. "What on earth was that about?"
"That’s exactly what I said." I ran my free hand through my hair and chuckled. "Mind you, he wasn’t so tough when I slugged him. Him and his mates were going mad, so I just slapped him, and the whole lot of them ran off."
Katy laughed at me, and dragged me down towards her end of the line. She pulled me past the rusting, black metal gates and into the older parts of London’s sewers. I held Katy still for a moment and began to feel around in my pockets for my battery torch.
"I can’t see a damn thing!" I muttered.
"Sorry." Katy tickled my chin. "I’ve gotten used to not seeing sunny-side up. You will too when you move down here." Katy’s words slowly registered.
"When I what?" She lifted her hand to her mouth and let out a sort of half-gasp.
"You mean you didn’t know?"
"I’m being moved? That’s news to me, Kat."
"Oh drat! I thought you knew. Yeah, you’re coming down here to help me with my shift. Marco’s gone off... He disappeared yesterday, and he’s not back yet. They can get one the spare’s to do your shift, somebody, well, younger. Besides," she added hastily when I raised my eyebrow. "We need somebody much experienced down this end. More people who think they can rush outside in the middle of a raid and not get killed. I had to bring three down this morning. They get a little strange you know, after being down in the dark for so long." I nodded and we continued walking, as we trudged through the water, I could see the shapes of people growing dimmer. Almost like looking through frosted glass, or sticky-back plastic.
"I guess you’re right there." I smiled at her and nudged her in the ribs. At least it won’t be so lonely. I missed you."
"I missed you too."
Proudly, I managed to write 1,163 words. Which, for me, in half an hour? Is absolutely fantastic. So it just goes to show that when you put your mind to it, you can do anything you want. :]
I'll post it below, if you don't believe how crap the writing is; because it is very very bad, you can read it. I don't know where it came from, but I certainly know that it isn't going anywhere in the near future. <3
What happens when you’re left in the dark?
I’ve always been afraid of rats. Nasty little things they are. They bite you, scratch you, and god knows where they all come from! I hated them. About as much as I hated water. I hated water more than anything. I guess I was going to have to get used to it.
I took a deep breath and heaved myself onto a tiny ledge to my right hand side, gasping as the cold stones scraped across my bare flesh, where my trouser leg had fallen off. I shook my head and rubbed at the tender, icy skin, my morale completely deflated. Outside, and about me, I could hear the steady flash-bang of the guns and the loud ominous crashes of the bombs as they fell upon London. Swaggering past me I caught sight of a young woman and her fella. A strange sight to behold in fact; for she was blind and he had only one arm. I closed my eyes and bit my lip, drawing blood.
Look what the German’s had done to us! Look how we were forced to scramble, climb upon each other like rats! Look how we had to eat the blasted things down here to survive. The bombing had been going for months, and this raid had been pounding away at London’s skyline for the past three days. Even I was scared. I was supposed to protect them.
I was twenty-six years old. Newly recruited and filled with hope when the war began. Soon I wished I hadn’t volunteered. I wished that I could have gone back in time, turned back to a time before this. before the constant noise, and the buzzing flies and the arrival of so many body-bags! It was okay at first. The driving was easy, the lifting wasn’t too taxing. But then when I had to lift my own sister onto the stretcher? That was the last straw.
The water around my knees sloshed up to my thighs before slipping back down the side of the wall. I let my foot dangle, not really caring about getting it wet anymore. I was beyond that. Looking around me I could see family after suffering family. Each of them as miserable or more as the last. I saw young children, the ones who had been brought back after last years’ "peace talk", they were playing in the water, throwing rat carcasses at each other. Or they were huddled to their mother’s in the constant hope that when they went home, their bedroom and toys would still be there. And that was if they could go home. I knew just by looking that half of these families would have to move. Have to rebuild their lives because of a stray German bomb.
I sighed to myself, and jumped off the wall, heading over to the sewer gates. I folded my arms across my chest, tucking my fingers under my armpits in a desperate attempt to return some small warmth to the blood flowing through them. When that failed, I brought them out from under my arms and blew on them, shuddering as the heat faded away almost instantaneously.
"Hey! Kay!" I let my hands drop to my sides and spun around, only to be attacked by a young woman around my age. Her dark ringlets bobbed around her face as she hugged me. "How’s it going?" I laughed at her, she always reminded me of a springer-spaniel.
"Hullo Katy." I nodded to her and hugged her back. "I’m cold, and wet. But other than that? It’s going good. How’re you doing? How’re Charlie and Veronica?" Katy fell into step beside me and we resumed our stroll through the icy torrents of putrid water.
"They’re alright I guess." She answered, tucking her arm beneath mine and slipping her hand into the crook of my arm. "I spoke to Chaz earlier, he said that Ver is fine, she’s getting a bit tired, but I think she’ll be okay. I mean, she’s survived one war, why not do it all again?" She smiled then looked down.
"But that’s not all is it?" I inquired, stopping and spinning Katy to face me.
"No, she answered delicately. "We’re having trouble over west, with the newcomers. They keep disrupting all the old dears." I shook my head in disgust.
"You send ‘em my way Kat, and I’ll give ‘em what-for." Katy smiled somewhat pitifully.
"Yeah, I’ll do that." She patted my hand and started walking again. "How’s it going at your end?" She asked. "I heard you had some trouble with the blokes yesterday." I grimaced.
"They can be such a pain, you know. All pretty and fine, but you call them a coward? Oh, they’re on you like tonne of bricks! I asked this man what he was doing for the war effort; he told me he was stacking logs." Katy let out a burst of laughter.
"Stacking logs?" she spat incredulously. "What on earth was that about?"
"That’s exactly what I said." I ran my free hand through my hair and chuckled. "Mind you, he wasn’t so tough when I slugged him. Him and his mates were going mad, so I just slapped him, and the whole lot of them ran off."
Katy laughed at me, and dragged me down towards her end of the line. She pulled me past the rusting, black metal gates and into the older parts of London’s sewers. I held Katy still for a moment and began to feel around in my pockets for my battery torch.
"I can’t see a damn thing!" I muttered.
"Sorry." Katy tickled my chin. "I’ve gotten used to not seeing sunny-side up. You will too when you move down here." Katy’s words slowly registered.
"When I what?" She lifted her hand to her mouth and let out a sort of half-gasp.
"You mean you didn’t know?"
"I’m being moved? That’s news to me, Kat."
"Oh drat! I thought you knew. Yeah, you’re coming down here to help me with my shift. Marco’s gone off... He disappeared yesterday, and he’s not back yet. They can get one the spare’s to do your shift, somebody, well, younger. Besides," she added hastily when I raised my eyebrow. "We need somebody much experienced down this end. More people who think they can rush outside in the middle of a raid and not get killed. I had to bring three down this morning. They get a little strange you know, after being down in the dark for so long." I nodded and we continued walking, as we trudged through the water, I could see the shapes of people growing dimmer. Almost like looking through frosted glass, or sticky-back plastic.
"I guess you’re right there." I smiled at her and nudged her in the ribs. At least it won’t be so lonely. I missed you."
"I missed you too."
posted by Kitty Taylor at 7:25 am
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