I opened the front door to our house and I couldn’t believe my eyes. People running in all directions there were cracks in the concrete, trees were withering away due to the vast amount of radiation in the air. I stood there staring out the front door looking at the destruction of the town that we lived in.
After we had the all clear from the army saying that we could leave our houses I decided to go for a walk into town to see what else had happened to our beloved town. When I made it into town it was a devastating sight, the army was all over the place picking up dead bodies in the middle of the streets who had been unfortunate to be walking around when the blast went off. There were also lots of reporters roaming the streets looking for someone famous to interview. I saw a group of young boys, not much older than me, smashing the front window of a local shop and stealing television sets, videos, and anything else they thought they could sell for some food and fresh water.
I decided I didn’t need the hassle of getting caught up with this gang and quickly crossed the road. As I walked up what was the High Street all I could hear were people crying and asking for help. I knew I couldn’t do much as I had to make sure I got home safe and in one piece. I walked along for a little bit further, my brain blocking out the scenes of death and the smell of decomposing bodies which hadn’t been cleared up. I headed towards the Odeon and thought it would be nice to see a familiar building which brought back happy memories of Saturday afternoons with my mates. I was not prepared for the sight in front of me. What used to be a glorious building was reduced to only three walls and no roof. Littered all around were broken seats and splintered wood. The big screen where I watched Austin Powers was nothing more than a brown looking sheet waving in the hot breeze. This was more than I could bear. All I wanted to do was go home to the safety of my family and try and shut out all I had seen.
An army lorry stopped and asked me where was I going. I told them I was making my way home and I secretly hoped that they would give me a lift. No such luck. The bloke in charge told me to hurry up as it wasn’t safe for anyone to be on their own and that when I got home I should turn the radio on to listen to the news on any updates as to when we could expect help from elsewhere. As I walked through Tesco’s car park I came across about 15 cars that were burnt out. There were small groups of people trying to decide what would be the best thing to do and where the safest place would be to stay the night before moving on.
When I got home my mum was waiting at the front door crying. I had been gone for hours and she thought something dreadful had happened to me. I told her what I had seen and what the army officer had said about turning on the radio and listening to the news.
At least we were alive, we were the lucky ones – or were we?
