The houses in this part of town were well painted and had lovely lace curtains hanging before the sparkling windows. There were wind chimes hanging from trees in the yards that hung motionless as we passed. Most of the houses had small yards filled with colorful autumn trees that helped lighten up the mood. Usually a nice yard like that would be occupied at all times, but tonight the city seemed like a deserted ghost town.

We continued to our destination down the wealthy streets and turned to the left, heading east to the English Channel (the river as we call it) that divided the borders between London and Paris. The sirens left a ringing sound in my ears and the piercing screech was hard to ignore. I hefted my little sister higher up onto my back so that I would have an easier time carrying her.
We went about halfway down the next street when my father stopped. We all listened and held our breath. The increasing screeching from a nearby bomb flew and hit the building on our right. BOOM! Before it hit, Papa raced over and tackled Ambo and I to the ground, covering our heads. Glass and debris flew everywhere hitting the walls of the building on the left. Chunks of debris hit the ground and bounced around. After the debris stopped flying Papa lifted off of Ambo and I.

I looked back to see my mom sitting on the ground wiping her face, still dazed from the explosion. I scanned the street covered with debris and gasped as I saw dad lying on the street with a huge chunk of building crushing down on him. NO!!! I jumped up and wiped the blood from my eyebrow and started to race over to him thinking the worst when-

“Stop.” He whispered, barely moving a muscle.

He was alive! I stopped and listened to what he had to say while Papa, Mom, and Ambo scrambled up from the mess and hurried over.

“There!” he continued moaning in pain. “They are there, at the end of the street! Hide yourselves!”

“No!” I screamed. “I am not going to leave you! Not when you are hurt and defenseless like this! Are you hurt?! Come on dad don’t do this to us! We are not going to leave you hear to die...”

“Kiki you listen to me young lady! All of you hide yourselves, I will be fine! You no longer have a choice!” He yelled with his powerful voice.

I looked around frustrated and heard unfamiliar voices approaching. My mother grabbed my arm and quickly whispered, “Kiki, we must hide they are coming! Your father will be fine! He is right, it is better to have one of us caught than all of us!”