Out of Time

Chapter 1-Alarms and surprises

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An alarm sounded. I was sitting in class next to my BFF. I thought about all the alarms. This was either the fire alarm (rare when you’re surrounded by snow) or THE alarm. Oh no. If it was the fire alarm it would have stopped by now. Oh no. It was happening. World war 4 had just begun. I grabbed all my school books, stuffed them into my bag and ran next door. As a present my parents had given me a puffle, a pink one called Alicia. I collected her from The Puffle School for Exceptionally Talented Puffles and ran all the way home. My little twin sisters, and my two little brothers were all waiting for me. I didn’t see my twin brother anywhere.
  “Where is he?” I demanded, “I SAID WHERE IS HE.”
  “We don’t know. We were hoping you’d answer that question.”
  “I don’t know either. I left you in charge,” I said to the oldest of my two brothers, “he should have arrived by now. Never mind. Make yourself useful. Go and get the buggy. We are going down to the registration centre. Everyone, get changed into your best clothes. He should arrive by the time we leave.”
I went into the bedroom I shared with my little sisters. I quickly changed and then helped them. Once the girls were ready I went to check up on the boys.
  “Hello. Are you all decent?” I asked.
  “We’re clear. Come in,” was the reply.
I saw two of my brothers looking very smart, although the youngest of the two seemed to be growing out of his clothes. I sighed. We would have to take some money out of the funds to get new clothes. We all assembled ourselves in the front room and left a note on the front door incase our brother came back whilst we were out. With the girls wearing smart dresses and the boys wearing smart suits we walked down to the registration centre. The queue was long and we had to stand in line for 10 minutes before it was our turn.
  “Where are your parents?” the person at the desk asked.
  “Deceased,” I replied.
  “So who is in charge?” the person asked.
  “Me. I look after them,” I answered.
  “Any more of you?”
  “Yes. We have another brother who hasn’t arrived home yet.”
  “What is your family number?” the person asked.
  “6633633633636,” I said, after I had fumbled around in my pocket for the number.
  “Can I speak to you in private?” the desk worker asked.
  “Certainly.”
I left my family and walked into a private room with the person.
  “As you are aware,” he began, “you have a very young family. The twins and the youngest of the boys are certainly not going to be given jobs. They will be looked after by special families.”
  “That will be good for them. I try as hard as I can but I can’t be a mother to them,” I said, disappointed with myself.
  “I think that the only two who will have to go to work are you and your twin brother, if and when he arrives. You have only one day to get the others ready to leave. As for you two, report to station 429 tomorrow at 9pm. I am sorry but this is what has to happen,” said the worker.
  “Okay. I will miss them all,” I said with tears in my eyes.
I walked out of the room and my siblings and I walked home. Still no sign of my twin brother. I sat everyone down at the table and began to explain.

Chapter 2-Separation

  “There is good news and bad news. The good news is that some of us won’t have to work. The bad news is that we are going to be separated. All of you will be sent to special houses where you will be looked after by people who aren’t going to war. I have to help out with the war, and so will your big brother when he arrives. Anything you want to take with you should be prepared today because I thought it would be nice to have a family outing tomorrow,” I explained.
  “Will he come back?” one of my little sisters asked.
  “I’m sure he will,” I reassured her, although deep down I knew that if my twin did not arrive soon then it was very unlikely we would ever see him again. I then helped the girls pack all their things. When they brought out their favourite toys I hugged the toys so that I would always be with them. There was a small garden off the back of the cabin and the others went outside to play as it may possibly be the last time they saw each other. I sat at the table and researched station 429. No. This can’t be right. This is not happening. This is not happening. Station 429 was a station that fought on the battlefield. Why on earth have they sent me there? A young girl on the battlefield, not likely. I was just about to go down to the registration centre when I heard screams coming from the garden. I rushed outside to see someone trying to break down the fence between our garden and theirs. At full speed I rushed towards the fence and climbed over. On the other side two men were standing there grinning. I gave the first one a good punch in the face and I tripped the other one up. In a corner of the garden there was some rope which I used to tie them up. I did not have a history of violence, or did I? The exact cause of my parents’ death had never been explained to me. I stood there, my heart thumping and trying to think. I had almost come to a conclusion when BAM!

I was out of time...

To be continued...