The Long-lost "Five Finger" Quickwrite!!!

*cue dramatic music*

This thing was so lost and forgotten that even Indiana Jones wouldn't have been able to find it! Anyway, it takes place during the times when everyone gathered in the basements during the bombing raids in The Book Thief.

When arriving in the cold basement, you could feel the staleness of the air. It wasn't frequented much before now, so there never was any way for fresh air to make it down here. It was crowded too, which didn't help at all. It got stuffy real quick. Parents were hugging their crying children to try to calm them down, some of the adults were shaking in nervousness, and others just sat down against the wall. Sitting looked like a good idea since there wasn't much to really much reason to stand. When sitting down against the wall I finally realized just how cold it was. The rough, freezing wall felt uncomfortable on my skin, so I tried to keep my hands and arms away from it. Without thinking, I let my hands rest on the ground to my sides, but that too wasn't a very good idea either. The ground was also cold and covered in dust and dirt. I know this is a basement, but couldn't it have been cleaned out at some point if the owners knew that this would be a shelter?

Anyway, at this point I was so busy trying to make myself comfortable that I had blocked out the noise and the movement of the cramped people. I did notice one thing though. It was quiet. For some reason, the noise had just stopped and you couldn't hear anyone talking. After listening carefully, a voice of a young girl appeared in the small noiseless void of the basement. She was reading from a book. The words had a calming effect and everyone had finally stopped panicking; I even forgot about my attempts to try to make myself more comfortable. Everything seemed to vanish and all that was left were the words that seemed to float above the crowd then distribute themselves among the people for all to enjoy.

The smell, the stuffiness of the air, and the cold floor didn't matter anymore. Most people probably even forgot about the fact that there could be an air-raid. Suddenly, there was an abrupt interuption. The sirens gave the signal that it was safe to return back to our homes. I'm sure a couple people almost wanted there to be another warning so they could listen more to the story, but when you think about it, it'd be better to listen to the story when our lives aren't possibly in danger.