It was ten years ago when the bombs dropped. We, my brother and I, were just kids when it happened, but I recall all of the mayhem that happened that day like it was yesterday. My mother was screaming for me to get into the bunker and that Nick would be fine where he was. She didn’t know. She never paid attention to Nick, or me. She had never been the same, or treated us the same since our dad had left. “He’ll be fine, get down here now!” she yelled. I didn’t believe her. I had to make sure that he was going to be perfectly okay. That’s what older brothers do, right? I ran out of the front door, across our front lawn, and into the tree house we built with out dad the summer before. I knew he was there. That’s where we would always go when he was scared. I climbed up the ladder one rung at a time, when I reached the top, I heard the planes. I looked to the horizon... they were coming, and fast. I knew I had minutes, seconds maybe. I crawled through the make-shift escape hatch held together by pieces of twine. The door flew open, and there sat Nick huddled in the corner.
“Nick!” I yelled, “We aren’t safe here! We have to get into the bunker!” He didn’t move. “NICK!” I yelled louder. The roar of the planes had almost drown my scream out. They were right above us now. I waited a few more seconds, but knew that it was precious time being wasted. The planes passed over head. I ran to Nick, picked his shaking body up. There was a eerie silence when we reached the bottom of the tree house. I couldn’t see or hear the planes from where I was standing. Nick wiped the tears from his eyes and grabbed my hand. I knew exactly why he had done so. The siren was sounding. The siren was sounding and we were still outside of the bunker. We had ten seconds at most to get back inside the house and into the basement. “Run.” I said, eyes pinned onto our front door.
The flash of light had drawn my attention from our house to the eastern sky. Then without warning, an ear shattering boom! We were knocked onto the ground form the force of the shock waves. Another flash of light, followed by another boom. Each time we would try to get up, another shock wave would just knock us over again. We were getting no closer to safety. Tears flowed from my eyes, pinned to the ground, ears ringing from the bursts of energy. My hand reached for Nick’s. It found it, and it held on tight. This was the only protection an older brother could give. Assurance that we were going to survive this... Assurance that I couldn’t promise was going to come true.
“Nick!” I yelled, “We aren’t safe here! We have to get into the bunker!” He didn’t move. “NICK!” I yelled louder. The roar of the planes had almost drown my scream out. They were right above us now. I waited a few more seconds, but knew that it was precious time being wasted. The planes passed over head. I ran to Nick, picked his shaking body up. There was a eerie silence when we reached the bottom of the tree house. I couldn’t see or hear the planes from where I was standing. Nick wiped the tears from his eyes and grabbed my hand. I knew exactly why he had done so. The siren was sounding. The siren was sounding and we were still outside of the bunker. We had ten seconds at most to get back inside the house and into the basement. “Run.” I said, eyes pinned onto our front door.
The flash of light had drawn my attention from our house to the eastern sky. Then without warning, an ear shattering boom! We were knocked onto the ground form the force of the shock waves. Another flash of light, followed by another boom. Each time we would try to get up, another shock wave would just knock us over again. We were getting no closer to safety. Tears flowed from my eyes, pinned to the ground, ears ringing from the bursts of energy. My hand reached for Nick’s. It found it, and it held on tight. This was the only protection an older brother could give. Assurance that we were going to survive this... Assurance that I couldn’t promise was going to come true.
