08
Luca Simi
The Barlow RC High School
Sunrise. Today we march. Today we break the chains. Today we revolutionise the future. My name is Lewis. I am 14. I am alive.
The people in charge of our country neglect that. To them we are just walking debts that they collect. My Mother, my Father, my two older sisters and my baby brother. All of us together can’t make a change, but an entire city with one idea, sharing one belief can.
I picked up my scruffy grey jacket. My Father picked up the blue and golden banner. The 16th August was going down in history. The old gypsy (our next door neighbour) said croakily, “The crows are coming.” My Father told us to ignore her. I was confused but she wasn’t going to survive the winter so we tried to be as kind as possible.
We walked out on to St. Peter’s Square. The wind danced on my skin. 60,000 people, 60,000 men, women and children. This will be the biggest gathering in Manchester’s history.
A man named Henry Hunt stood on a raised wooden platform. He spoke with words as sharp as knives, “We are the forgotten, we are the hungry, the dying and the poor,” As he spoke I looked around and I saw a woman. She was in her window. She saw me and shut the curtains. It was strange. Why wasn’t she here?
The protest continued throughout the day. A man on stage was speaking. When he stopped. Why did he stop? GALLOP! What was that? GALLOP GALLOP! Something was coming. My baby brother began to cry. A murder of crows flew into the Square. A sudden silence loomed over the crowd. The floor vibrated. The Square lit up with an outburst of squawks from the crows. “CHARGE!” exclaimed a man.
Without warning, masses of men on horseback filled the Square. Panic spread across the crowd as quickly as the plague spread through England. People ran to the sides of the Square. It was no use. There was no escape.
They came in with sabres out. They came in with drunken rage. They swung their sabres slicing a woman’s arm to the bone. A horse ran between me and my family, separating us. I stared into my Father’s eyes. His eyes filled with fear. More and more horses ran past. I only saw glimpses of my family. My Mother was crying, holding my sisters in her arms. Something sharp hit my back. I turned to see blood spilled on the floor and when I turned back around my family was gone. I ran and didn’t look back, scared of the horrors.
