TL *Humaning the Best She Can*’s Reviews > The Deadly Life of Diana Penn (Cheviot Hills Time Travel, #1) > Status Update

As exhaustion finally claimed her, Diana’s last conscious thought was of her mother’s voice that morning, proud and worried in equal measure. Tomorrow would bring new calls, new emergencies, new chances to make the connections she’d spent a lifetime avoiding.

Diana sank onto her narrow bed, still in her filthy uniform, too exhausted to undress. As sleep claimed her, she thought not of the horror of the night, but of Rose’s smile and her mother’s trembling hands. Perhaps caring for others wasn’t the weakness she’d always believed it to be. Perhaps it was the very thing that made living worthwhile.

The normality of life continuing was so far removed from what she’d just endured that it felt absurd—like stepping from a nightmare into a half-remembered dream. The kettle whistled on the hob, the wireless played in the corner, and the smell of toast lingered in the air. As if the world hadn’t come crashing down only hours before.

“Thank goodness that dog led you to us!”

“Mushu? She’s a wonder that one. Lost count of how many people she’s sniffed out,” the rescue worker said, smiling through the grime on his face.

Convinced Mushu is a furry 🐕 guardian angel 😇!

They walked together through streets they scarcely recognised, their uniforms torn and caked with dust, their hair matted with brick dust and dried blood. People stared as they passed, but no one stopped them. London had grown accustomed to such sights.

Finally, a gap appeared, and the face of a soot-streaked Fire Brigade officer peered through.

“How many of you down there?” he asked, his eyes taking in the scene.

“Two,” Diana confirmed, glancing at Rose, who was stirring beside her. “We’re both alive.”

As the night progressed and destruction rained from above, Diana watched her mother drift into uneasy sleep, head resting against the tiled wall of Bethnal Green station. This small victory—a promise to consider leaving London—might be enough to alter the path ahead. To save Eleanor Penn from the bomb that had shattered both their lives in Diana’s original timeline.
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Managed a few pages before bed despite brain

The platform below was transformed. Gone were the usual commuters and empty tracks. Instead, hundreds of East Enders had made the space their nightly residence. Blankets and makeshift bedding covered every inch of the floor. Families huddled together, some attempting to sleep, others sharing mugs of tea from vacuum flasks.

Diana nodded, keeping her expression neutral despite the sickening knot of foreknowledge in her stomach. The Blitz would intensify over the coming days and weeks, with East London enduring the Luftwaffe’s attention. How many of these people would survive? How many of the streets she’d driven through today would still exist by Christmas?

What does this Watcher have up her sleeve 😳?