Excerpt
Friday evening, when Aunt Jayne and Mum were watching television Hazel slipped away. She reached the scullery and lifted the trap door to Lucy’s world. She found the cellar in total darkness. She knew that she had to step over the threshold before she could cross into Lucy’s time. If she retraced her steps without doing so she’d still be 2012. She stepped into the darkness, quickly turned around and began to climb up to 1943. A sudden, ear-splitting wail accosted her ears. People began moving about above her. Through the pitch black of the scullery kitchen she felt her way towards the living room. As she turned the door handle and peeped inside, an increased level of non-stop wailing almost deafened her. Aunt Aggie was rushing the children into their outdoor things and urging them out of the house.
“Switch the light out, Lucy, so I can I pull back the blackout.”
Lucy obeyed and, as she did so, spotted Hazel. Her eyes widened and she grabbed her by the arm, whispering urgently in her ear,
“It’s an air raid; you’ll have to come to the shelter. You mightn’t have time to reach the attic before bombs start falling.”
Hazel felt herself pulled out into the blackness outside. She had no coat and shivered with cold. She stumbled down the back steps. Lucy kept a tight hold on her arm and stopped her falling. Aunt Aggie locked the door and they set off into an unreal world. There were no street lights whatsoever. Hazel had no idea where they were heading but she realised the air raid could start any second. Terror surged as they hurried along gloomy streets where every few steps shadowy figures loomed up in the darkness. The siren stopped as suddenly as it had begun but there followed another sound - far more terrifying; the low rumble of approaching planes. Hazel thought her heart would burst with fright. They reached the shelter and stumbled inside. She found herself pressed up against Lucy in a corner of the dim interior. It was cold and damp but the voices around them seemed to accept the situation almost cheerfully. Hazel realised that air raids had become a part of life, a disruptive one, but something they had got used to. She daren’t speak to Lucy and knew that they would not be able to talk whilst crushed in with so many people. She wondered how long the air raid would last and what would happen at home if Aunt Jayne or Mum missed her. She couldn’t explain where she’d been? They’d never believe her.