Missing In Action

• Ivy Hoskins, Grade 6, Byron Community Primary School
• Short Story
• 2015

Finalist in the 'Read Write Repeat 2015' competition

Britain and France declare war on Germany!! That was 5 years ago and we are still fighting. I look around the kitchen. The walls are a mess and there is a draft coming in under the door. I grab 50c and my notebook and head out to school. On the way, I stop at the local grocery store to buy an apple. A man was talking in the phone box and I know I shouldn’t eavesdrop but he was yelling. He was talking to someone about who had already joined the army and their opinion of those men. I was just to leave when I heard my father’s name. I stop and listened. I wish I never had.
There was a rumour going around that my father is missing in action probably dead. I ran to get to school on time but the tears started trickling down my face. I tried to keep going but the tears blurred my vision and I had to stop. I took a big breath and sat down. I would be late for school now but I had to gather my thoughts. I started reassuring myself, I knew what I had heard but it couldn’t be true. We would have got a telegram. Feeling better, I made my way to school. We had our substitute teacher Mr McNeil. I really hate him. I tried to sneak into the classroom to my desk. Mr McNeil saw me and I got detention. All day my mind was on father was hoping with all my heart he was ok. That evening I lay awake in bed I couldn’t sleep. I heard the grandfather clock strike 12. The door creaked open and I heard mother wandering around banging into things. She can’t turn the lights on during the blackout. I slip out of bed and walk down the hall.
From the moonlight coming in through the window, I catch my reflection in the mirror. I have wavy brown hair, brown eyes and some freckles. Mother comes up behind me and I jump. She puts her arms around me. I look back into the mirror. Mother is wearing dirty overalls and she is exhausted. She has been working full time at a train station canteen.
Finally I get up the courage to ask about father. The rumours were true and mother had received a telegram. She was just waiting for the right time to tell me. I break free from her arms and run to my room I cry myself to sleep.
In the morning when I wake up mother has left for work and the house is silent. Suddenly I hear a knock on the door. I open the door and there is a man in an army uniform. He is covered in bumps and bruises. He looks different and very dirty. But I would recognise him anywhere. My father is home.