Author: Lauren Myska

Book online «Right, Left, Wrong., Lauren Myska [ebook reader macos txt] 📗». Author Lauren Myska

One

The smell of gunfire lingered around the men who lay broken, bloodied, and even some dead. Bullets ricocheted off the concrete walls striking some of the men outside. Nurses were moving frantically, trying to save every single patient they could. All around this makeshift hospital, men cried out for their moms, their wives and their children but to no avail. They had a job to do and nobody could go home unless they finished it or unless they were dead. One soldier sat upright, leaning over the bed with his head hung. And just a strip of fabric to support his clearly broken arm.

“What is your name, boy?”

Asked LT. Thomas Anderwald, he limped to the first bed he could see that didn't have someone already dead or someone who wished they were. He was assigned to this platoon and it was his job to make sure everyone got home to see their families. He watched as the brown-haired boy lifted his head to see who he was talking to. His chocolate brown eyes met Thomas’s blue eyes and instantly Edward looked like someone punched him in the gut.

“PVT Edward Aken, sir”

Thomas moved to stand at the edge of the bed. He was taken aback at how young this boy looked.

“And how old are you?”

The LT asked with his eyebrow raised. Edward slid off the bed and stood with his hand at is forehead saluting his lieutenant to show respect,

“2 months shy of 18, sir”

Thomas cocked his head and studied Edwards’s frame. His dusty brown hair was shaved bald except for a patch in front where he brushed to the side. Something about him made Thomas feel like he was back at home.

“He's younger than I was when I joined” thought Thomas.

“Come here son”

Edward staggered to reach the foot of the bed to meet Thomas. He clumsily knocked into a nurse who was aiding the man in the bed next to him.

“Sorry ma’am”

Edward apologized and tried to help her pick up the needle and thread she dropped while sewing up the man’s arm. While getting up from the floor, Edward knocked over the table which held the nurse’s supplies. Frustrated, the nurse grabbed Edward by his good arm and walked him swiftly to the edge of the bed.

“I’ve had enough of your antics; you are released to go back to duty”

The nurse said coldly. Edward apologized profusely but to no avail. The nurse just pointed to the door and said

“OUT!”

Thomas stood there and watched the whole thing unfold. Edward walked towards the door and started to leave.

“And just where do you think you are going, son?”

Edward turned around slowly forgetting why he got out of bed in the first place. He grimaced at the thought of what his lieutenant will do since he turned his back on him.

“Back on duty, sir”

Thomas thought for a moment, if I let him go back out there, he will surely die. I may need him for the plan.

“I have a job for you”

Thomas looked into Edwards eyes and could see he was afraid.

“Now, hear me out, I don’t want you to get hurt Mr. Aken.”

Upon hearing this, Edward relaxed a bit.

“Maybe I’m not in as much trouble as I thought?’ he said to himself.

“Sir yes sir” Edward replied loudly.

“You’re on scut, Mr. aken. Anything these nurses need; you will provide them with. Within reason, of course.”

A very young blue-eyed blonde wearing a white u-shaped hat and a black dress approached Thomas. she was obviously eavesdropping.

“Sir with all due respect, Mr. Aken could not handle what we do. He is much too sensitive and definitely not hand-eye coordinated.”

She looked at Edward with a glare and spoke with venom in her voice.

“Then you should definitely teach him!” Thomas chuckled sightly remembering what just happened. With that being said, he turned on his heel and walked out the door. leaving the nurse and Edward there to sort out their differences. Edward didn’t get a say in the matter and he knew better than to argue with a superior. He had learned that the hard way.

"YOU"

The nurse said curtly. she pointed her slender pale finger at him

"DONT TOUCH ANYTHING OR ANYONE"

Then she too, turned on her heel and swiftly walked away to tend to more patients. Edward, being left standing there dumbfounded, walked towards a bed and sat at the edge. He thought about back home, John and Michael his brothers. He thought about his mama and how much he missed her. He even let himself think about jenny and silently hoped she was doing a lot better than he was.

Jenny:

I knew he was out there somewhere; I miss the way he held me that night, the way his skin felt on mine, the way we burned for each other’s touches. Our last night together. But that was almost 5 months ago. Perhaps he found someone new, maybe someone different. Someone with a better fashion sense and high esteem. I had nothing to offer him or anyone else. The last thing I had going for me I gave to him that night. he said I was his first but the talk of the town said otherwise. I had hoped he didn’t forget about me and said his prayers. He’s going to have to when I get done telling him the news.

Edward:

“What are you doing on my fresh LINEN?”

Someone screeched. Pulling Edward back into reality and out of his daydream. The blonde nurse came running towards him.

“Oh no, this is not going to go well.” Thought Edward.

Jenny:

I felt a flutter in my stomach and knew the bundle I carried was hungry. My stomach growled in agreeance so I walked to the kitchen to grab something to eat. I still had yet to tell my parents since the morning at the doctor’s office. I begged him not to tell my mom. I even slid him a twenty. Apparently, he obliged. I had to wait until Edward was back. He had to know before anyone else. He has to come back home. He just has to!

Edward:

“I told you not to touch anything!”

The blonde nurse yelled while Edward sulked. The blonde nurse furiously grabbed Edward and dragged him through a make-shift doorway with a sheet hanging halfway through it. She sat him at an empty seat in the back with a table in front of it.

“Sara! find him a bedpan to clean!”

The blonde nurse stomped away and went back to what she was doing again. A frail, sickly, old lady came to Edward with some soiled half toilet looking pans and a bucket. She too wore a black dress with a u-shaped hat. Her white thin hair fell in clumps down her back and she smelled as if she defecated on herself and hadn’t showered in weeks. But hat could have also been the soiled pans Edward was smelling.

“Now boy, I don’t know what you did to get on Mel’s bad side, but I bet you regret it now”

She chuckled and shakenly handed Edward the pans and placed the bucket at his feet. Edward gently took the pans from her hand and placed them on the table in front of him. Sara started to hum a tune that caught Edward by surprise.

“How do you know that song?”

He asked. He’d know that tune anywhere as it was his father’s song. He looked at Sara with sad, surprised eyes. Sara jus looked at hm with knowing eyes and walked back to the front. She returned a second later with a sponge and a bucket full of steaming hot water.

“Clean these please, and let me know when you are done!” she said and walked back to continue her duties. Edward emptied out the contents of the first bedpan and gagged while brushing it out. “This is going to be a long day.” He thought.

Jenny:

I wrote him a letter, but I don’t have the heart to send it. It feels too cold and unnatural. Definitely not the way I should tell him. I’m running out of time though, our child will be here in a couple of months. He, as well as everyone else, is unknowing. I’ll have no choice but to send the letter tonight!

Edward:

The walls trembled around him, groaning and swaying with each passing minute. He sat with a bedpan in hand and a brush listening to the building, trying to estimate how much time they had. Edward knew it was only a matter of time before the building came tumbling down.

“Miss Sara?”

Edward called out. He stood up from his chair and went through the doorway. He studied everyone, the nurses frantically trying to get all their patients safe and out of the building. The men in their beds, desperately trying to get up and flee. Edward could hear the bombs being dropped and the sounds for hundreds of guns casting bullets into the enemies. Time slowed as the last bomb dropped, he could hear the bomb slowly falling to the ground, he could hear all the nurses and the soldiers running and crying for help. He took a deep breath and walked towards the back.

“This is it” he thought.

Jenny:

“My dearest Edward,

I hope this letter finds you well. I hope you are okay and coming home soon. We were unbeknownst to the consequences of our actions the night you left. We are both to blame. But I am with child now, Edward. Your child. And the time draws near where our child will be in this world. I would very much like our child to have a father. I have yet to tell anyone of our child. I knew you had to know first and now you do. Please come home my love, for we have much to celebrate.”

Love,

Jenny