All Things Nice » Band of Brothers

89: Identity

Posey's first venture outside of the house was terrifying. She'd gone in the early morning, so that it would be quiet, and she'd gone alone, so that she wouldn't have to explain herself to anyone in the event it all went south (as she expected it might). But the world outside of the house wasn't as deserted as she'd hoped, and the entirety of the neighbourhood seemed to have somewhere they needed to be on that one Saturday morning.

She walked hunched in on herself, her hands curled into fists and clutching tightly to the skirt of her dress. Her eyes were fixed on the floor, only ever darting upwards to make sure she wasn't bumping into anyone or to cross the road safely. She was sure she looked like a petrified bunny rabbit fleeing from a near-miss with a speeding car but couldn't find it in herself to relax.

Posey hadn't set a destination for herself - she knew she was nowhere near ready for anything like that just yet - which meant the duration of her outing was entirely up to her. As it happened, she decided this duration wouldn't be very long. She walked for a few blocks, her head down and her shoulders up by her ears, trying to convince herself that it wasn't as bad as she had expected it to be, before a resounding crash filled the air.

Jumping back from where she'd been about to step, one of Posey's hands flew up to press against her pounding heart and the other braced over her head. Her breathing came in heavy pants, small whimpers breaking into every other exhale as she tried to calm down.

"Still in the trenches, huh?" joked a man she hadn't noticed, coming up on her left. He laid a hand on her shoulder which had her flinching away from him, the hand she'd had protecting her head now extended to keep him back.

"Woah," said the man, shoving his hands in his trouser pockets and shaking his head. "I ain't gonna hurt ya. You work overseas or somethin'? A nurse or somethin'?"

There was an unspoken agreement between people of her age group that the war was an unmentionable subject. There was simply no way to know what someone had been through just from looking at them - that was, if you were lucky. Clearly this man hadn't gotten the memo, for he stared at her brazenly as he awaited her answer, one eyebrow cocked and his foot tapping impatiently on the pavement.

"Or something," Posey replied, and turned on her heel to head back the way she'd come. That was enough of the outside world for today, she decided. The bang had only been the crashing down of a warehouse shutter but it had frightened her half to death, and now she was stuck with some presumptuous man who thought discussing trauma was a flirting technique. No, that was more than enough of that. She'd try again tomorrow. Or next week. Whenever she regained her nerve.

"Touchy subject, huh?" the man went on, hurrying behind her. He either couldn't take a hint or didn't like the one he was getting, for he was coming up on her left in no time at all. "If you weren't a nurse what did you do?"

Posey didn't reply. She sped up, keeping her eyes down and her wits about her to try and get this man off of her tail before she led him right to where she lived.

"Hey, where ya runnin' off to?" he demanded, cutting in front of her and blocking her path.

"Can you please leave me alone?" she begged, trying to keep herself together. Her first time leaving the house and this was what happened. She'd been stupid to go alone. This wouldn't have happened if John had been with her.

"Well that ain't very nice," taunted the man, coming closer.

Posey panicked. Without thinking she slammed her knee into his groin and ran past him, turning the next corner and navigating her way home as fast as she could.

The moment the front door was closed behind her, Posey let out all of her breath in one long exhale. She slumped back against the door, her eyes falling closed, and tried to breathe deeply to slow her heart rate. She was shaken, that much was clear, she only hoped she could hide it well enough that she wouldn't be interrogated as soon as she encountered either John or Mrs. Daniels.