The Fox & The Crow

Chapter Twenty - Two *not edited*

Red. Bombs flash. Soon after, their loud booming crack shakes the glass windows above my hospital bed. I lay on my back, watching flashing lights and blaring sirens' screams as all of London goes back into hiding.

I take in slow breaths and quickly swallow a lump that has been forming in my throat. I feel heavy, my eyes brimmed with tears. I blink and feel them slowly cascading down my cheeks and filling my ears, tickling me.

Another bomb goes off. The alarms in the hospital continue to scream, waking the staff. I make no urgent movement to leave as nurses all gather patients and rush them away in wheelchairs. I simply lay in my bed, dripping with sweat, crying quietly while counting the seconds between each bomb.

12 ... 13 ... 14 ... 15 ... 16

White flashes light up the sky and the thundering of bombshells ensue. Red.

Red is always the color that follows. Fire, blood, pain, suffering. This color can be associated with nothing else. This war is nothing but proof.

Violet.

My fingers curl around the damp sheets as I try to force my eyes shut; without seeing her.

She stands there, right behind my eyelids, and stares back at me. Her eyes glazed over, crystalized. She doesn't open her mouth or make any movement.

I try to imagine taking her hand, focusing on the feeling of her skin, restored to its healthy and living state. My left hand begins to warm and my fingers slowly loosen their grip around the bedsheets.

Behind my eyes, she slowly smiles, warm and pleasant.

¨We'll meet again.¨ She looks up to my eyes, her's now restored with life and laughter.

I keep my eyes shut tightly, watching her figure slowly disappear. I hear her voice humming a tune, one that we had heard on the radio before. She loved it when I sang along.

Another bomb goes off and my body stiffens. Shaking, I spread my hands out over the bedsheets.

Sing.

¨We'll meet again,¨ My voice is a hushed whisper. I try desperately to focus on Violet, but she doesn't return to me.

¨Don't know where
Don't know when¨

My voice breaks and I cough. My eyes begin to fill as I take a sharp breath in before singing again.

¨But I know we'll meet again some sunny day¨

I suck in another breath and feel the tears now pouring down my cheeks. I do not try to wipe them from my eyes. More bombs go off in the distance. Burning buildings, scream, crumbling to the ground, reduced to rubble within seconds.

¨Keep smiling through
Just like you always do
'Til the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away¨

I cough again and begin hiccuping as I continue.

¨Elaine,¨ a young voice calls to me. I keep my eyes closed. ¨Elaine, honey, you need to be moved along with the other patients to the storage room downstairs. The bombs are too close, sugar. Don't you hear me?¨

¨So will you please say hello
To the folks that I know
Tell them I won't be long¨

I can feel people lift my body and gently set me down in a wheelchair. I slowly open my eyes to see hospital staff running to different rooms, helping injured patients walk, or applying new bandages to re-opened wounds.