Left Behind

• Matilda Clunies-ross, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2019

I run through the still wet grass, trying to catch up to my family and my town as they flee their homes and everything they know and leaving me behind. I feel a cold tear roll down my distraught face. I fall onto my knees knowing there was no point trying to follow them, they had forgotten me and I couldn’t do anything about it.

It’s 1942 and I’m all alone with no one to call my friend or family because they had abandoned me and not looked back once as if I hadn’t meant anything to them. My dress was stained and my hair was sticking to my face. A cold breeze whistled in my ear as I lay still on the ground helpless. I stood up and walked back to the remains of my house I walked through the door frame and entered what seemed to be almost a pile of ashes. I looked around my old family home, memories floating around me. I shudder as I remember the day my house went up in smoke. My little brother screaming, trying to escape the fires clutches, but we all knew it was too late. He was gone.

I walked back out, it was all too much. I had finally decided what I wanted to do, I was going to walk to the next town and see if I could take refuge there. I walked through Town Square, all you could hear was the wind blowing through the empty stores and houses. I poked my head around one of the shop doors, everything was still in place, as if no one had even left.

I could feel my legs trembling under my weight, my eyes welled with tears, but I brushed them away. I closed the door again and left. I had just removed myself from Town Square when I heard a whistling high up in the sky. I swivelled around and tried to run, but I was too late. CRASH! My vision blurred then it all went black…

As I opened my eyes a searing pain pierced through my right leg. Suddenly a face appeared above mine. ‘Mum she’s awake!’ the boy yelled.
‘Out of the way!’ the mother said as she gently shoved him away. She smiled at me and sat down beside me.
‘Hello dear my name is Agatha.’ I smiled at her. She had a kind face. ‘You can stay here as long as you need.’ ‘I don’t have anywhere to go’ I said almost in a whisper.
‘That’s okay she said you can stay here with us, we have recently lost our son, so we have a spare room. ‘I’m sorry.’ I said. ‘It’s ok’, she answered suddenly a sad look spread across her face.
I smiled ‘Thank you’.

I knew these people weren’t my family but for the next few years they had cared for me as if I was their own daughter and I knew I had found my real family.