Goodnight Mister Tom chapter 7.5 by Scarlett

“Are you coming out Will?” Zach asked. He hopped over the fence and was stood in the garden. 

“Hello Zach,” Tom said “I’ll get him fer yer now,” He went back inside the house, leaving Zach alone in the garden. Zach wandered over to the Anderson Shelter – which was now dry- and jumped inside. 

“Hi Zach,” William said, emerging from the house. Willie looked around but there was nobody in the garden.

” Zach!” He called. In the shelter, Zach held his breath and tried hard not to laugh. Suddenly, he jumped out of the shelter and shouted as loudly as he could, “Boo!” Willie gave a high-pitched squeal. “It’s only me!” said Zach, “Wanna go out and play in the fields?” 

Willie nodded. 

They climbed over fences until they arrived in a huge, empty field. “According to the other boys, this place has been abandoned for years,” Zach said “nobody ever comes here.” 

Willie looked around. “This field’s huge!” He thought. 

“Let’s play!” Said Zach. They played games for hours, running round and round the enormous field. 

“William!” Zach shouted “Look!” He pointed to the corner of the field where a man stood. 

“Who’s he?” asked Willie.

“Dunno,” said Zach. He gasped. “What if he’s a German coming to gas us and kill us? He’s wearing all grey. German soldiers wear all grey! I saw a poster of their uniform once.” Zach looked scared. 

“What should we do?” asked Willie. 

“I don’t know.” 

Suddenly feeling adventurous and brave, Willie had an idea. “Let’s follow him!” 

Zach hesitated, but said, “Fine, but only to check who he is.” 

The man jumped over a fence and left the field. “Let’s go!” They ran across the field together towards the fence. Once they reached it, they stopped for a break. 

“I’m so tired,” said Willie. 

“Just keep going!” said Zach, who was much faster at running than Willie. 

They climbed the tall fence. “This isn’t Little Weirwold!” said Zach. They were stood in a little park. There were swings, a climbing frame and trees. “Wow!” said Zach. “Wot is it?” Willie asked, puzzled by how happy Zach was at the sight of a few rusty bars of metal stuck together. “It’s a park!” Zach said “Weren’t there any in London?”

Willie shook his head, “I don’t think so.”
“Oh, let’s go on the swings!” Zach ran to the swings. He sat down on the little red seat and kicked his legs. The swing creaked as it lifted off the ground. Willie, who was still stood next to the gate they came through, petrified of the swings. “Come on!” Zach said, swinging higher and higher. Willie cautiously walked over to the carnelian red swings. He sat on the seat, but didn’t move. “Go on! You can do it!” encouraged Zach, “It’s easy!” 

He did the same as Zach. “Ahhh!” Screamed Willie, as it swung towards the trees. He flinched, but gave a sigh of relief as the swing went backwards.
“Copy me,” Zach said. He kicked his legs. “Good!” said Zach. Willie began to enjoy it. They both forget about the suspicious-looking man in the field.

They went on the climbing frame, and Willie found he was quite good at it. In just a few minutes, he got to the top and could walk around it easily. Zach, who was also good at climbing, spotted a tree. It was tall and had lots of branches coming off it. It looked like a good tree to climb on. “Let’s climb that tree, Will!” said Zach. “Ok.” They ran to the tree and Zach climbed up first. Using the small branches as steps, he made his way to a high, thick branch. He sat down and shouted to Willie. “Come on!”
Willie was scared to start with, but it got easier. He climbed up and loved it. He felt so happy, he never wanted to get down. He was finally having fun! “I’m going higher!” said Willie, feeling brave. He tried going higher, to a branch at the highest point of the tree. The smallest branches seemed to get even smaller and Willie could see anywhere to put his foot. About a metre higher, he saw a tiny branch to step on. Willie stretched as much as he could, and got his right foot on it. Now he had to pull up his other leg. He held onto a thin branch further up, and tried to pull himself up. His right foot slipped and he lost grip of the higher branch. Willie tumbled down the tall tree and hit the ground. Zach, who had been cheering him on the whole time, screamed as he saw his friend fall. He quickly got down the tree and ran to see how Willie was. 

“Will?” He said “Are you alright? Are you hurt?” Willie’s eyes were shut and his clothes were torn. When he got no reply, Zach shook him. Willie’s eyes opened a bit and a tiny tear slid down his bleeding face. It must have stung, because Willie jumped. “Are you ok?” Zach asked. 

“Ye...” Nobody had cared before. No one had ever asked him that question before. “No, I’m not,” whispered Willie, finally being honest.
“What hurts?” asked Zach.
“Everything!” replied Willie, “Especially my leg.”

Zach looked at Willie’s leg. A trail of blood dripped down to his ankle. The skin had been ripped on his knee and the bone stuck out at the side. Where there was still skin, it was purple and swollen. .