Moonlight Bay by Emily Chadwick

The sound of gunfire cracked across the bay.

Before the fighting had started, it had been a quiet evening. The water was unusually calm, waves lapping gently at the shore as they glistened in the moonlight. The sky was a clear, inky blue, and the stars were scattered like glitter over the dome of the heavens.

It was a still night, a perfect night.

And then the guns shattered the silence.

The gunfire was followed by screams, panicked, frightened screams that rose in number. Every so often, there was another burst of gunfire, and the screams spread.

Then the docks caught ablaze. Dark smoke filled the sky, blocking out the stars, and the light from the fires swelled hungrily.

It seemed as though the whole world was falling apart.