Could Have, Should Have, Didn't - A Narnia Fanfiction

Chapter Four: A Douse Of Uncertainty

One day, fourteen hours, twenty-seven minutes, and one hundred complaints from Timothy. That was exactly how long they'd been waiting.

Edmund was keeping track of the time by glimpsing up at the large clock in the waiting room, the metal hands barely seeming to inch. The hours they'd already spent waiting made his head spin, and his ability to be happy drained away.

Before this, they all had to go through check-ins and searches where guards made sure they had nothing dangerous on them, which, Ed thought was invasive. Couldn't they trust the people to turn out their own pockets, to open their own coats? Why did everyone think they were criminals? They weren't.

Now their group was waiting until they could finally step foot on the boat and make their journey to America. For Ed, this journey was mostly about his family, though he did want to start fresh, forget things.

Edmund inhaled and exhaled heavily, fixing his wool coat. The air in this room couldn't have smelled worse- the atmosphere was a mixture of sweat, dirt, and, other mysteries his nose couldn't even decipher.

When would this torture end?

A sigh came from beside him as Lucy, who was trying to stay positive, but losing it slowly, snapped at Timothy and Robert who were arguing. She fixed her hair and pouted her lips, her eyes dull.

Timothy's voice rose from next to Lucy. "Everyone's too close!"

Make that complaint one hundred and one.

Silence was all that could be heard from Rita and Edith. Both girls observed the clock like Ed, with unblinking eyes, continually shifting on their feet.

He assumed everyone's legs ached and burned like fire. All that walking they did to get here, all those cramped cars; and yet they couldn't sit. The hard-backed chairs, which looked less than comfy, were all taken by others who had gotten their first and they weren't even an option.

Thankfully, they didn't have to hold their suitcases, so their arms didn't ache too. Their luggage had been put on a conveyor belt and was said to be handed to them once they exited the waiting room and got onto the boat that would push off to America. He just hoped the promise would be kept, he didn't see why it wouldn't be kept, but, if they were treated like criminals, perchance no one would care...

Breaking up the roar of voices surging from everywhere, thundering noises came from his stomach. He was hungry. Everyone was hungry. But, the signs on the plain, chipping walls stated clearly that "No food was allowed."

None of them even had a secret morsel to share, they had nothing between themselves. Besides the hunger, as if that wasn't bad enough, stress stirred his stomach around. He wished he could give everyone food, he wasn't blind, he could see when they pressed a hand to their stomachs, and he wasn't deaf, he heard their bellies growling; but, that would have to wait. They could be brave enough.

Amongst other horrors, the bathrooms were awful, being impossible to get to; and each trip was awful. Anytime anyone had to go, another would have to go too- Ed made that rule, he didn't like the thought of Lucy, Edith, or Rita being alone in the mass of people. Really any of them. Specifically with the creepy old men in low slouching hats that hung around in the area, smoking and standing, even though signs protested any loitering. Their eyes were dark and they looked at him with heavy glares, making him want to shiver, but he didn't, he couldn't.

What kind of man did that?

A weak one, he supposed. A man Peter would never be. Peter would be strong enough to ignore their gazes, to challenge them; Edmund could do the same.

So, he made sure that the girls always had a male escort with them, to lead them and keep an eye out. At least Timothy and Robert listened to him about that; if nothing else. And he made sure to not break eye contact with the men, to add a sinister glint to his own gaze, hoping to intimidate them, like, how Peter would, if he were here.