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CHAPTER FOURTEEN | bad news |
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When Lucy woke up that morning she would never have guessed who she would wake up next too. At first she thought it was a dream when she lent over and found her head buried in someone's else's chest. With one of their arms around her waist and the other under his head as a sort of pillow.
She never expected to see John Egans dark hair and bare chest first thing like this. But it had happened. Not just the sight of John shocked her but his unclothed body and bare chest also added to her emotions.
"Well, good morning."
Lucy buried her chest into his chest in embarrassment. She had been staring at him for a while now.
"Morning." She muttered and looked up to meet his eye. He smiled at her.
"We should get going soon." Lucy said but he clearly protested seeing as John's arms moved around her trapping her in.
"Or we could stay?" He whispered.
"Stay with me, Lucy Cleven?"
How much was too much handsome for a man to be? Because in this very moment Lucy was questioning her own existence as she looked at him.
She pondered on his question for a moment, just to keep him guessing.
"I think you're asking too much of me, John Egan. I've got to get back before I.."
She was about to finish her short monologue when John encased her. His arms wrapped around the small of her back making Lucy let out a small scream as he pulled her back yet again.
"You're not going anywhere." He laughed and took her lips in one swift move.
After about an hour the pair of them were finally ready to leave their staple hotel room. Making their way back onto the streets of London, which seemed to be in utter chaos from the nights previous German bombing.
Lucy looked to her right and spotted the destruction. One destroyed house had seemed to cause a lot of damage. A mother wept in the distance as a group of nurses and men covered several bodies with a white linen sheet.
"Come on." John said and grabbed her hand in his taking her over to the small boy that was selling some newspapers.
She already knew what he was looking for. John was staring down at the newspaper in his hand reading about the mission last night, the mission that Gale was on.
"What does it say?" She asked trying to peek over his talk shoulder.
John said nothing instead he walked over towards the red phone box and dialled a number. He waited for a few seconds before finally speaking.
"Did we have a good game?" He questioned the person on the other side.
A few other words were exchanged between John and the other side of the phone. Mostly concerning baseball related things such as matches, games and when he would be playing.
Lucy understood some of the terms. After all Baseball was Johns favoured American game. However when he hung up the phone quite abruptly and kicked the box Lucy didn't know what was wrong.
Until John's glassy eyes met hers. He blinked a couple times and bought his hand up to rub his forehead.
"I'm sorry." He muttered and lifted his arms around Lucy's shoulders.
"What happened?" She asked trying to pull away but to no avail.
"What is it?" She quipped yet again. "Is Gale...okay?" She trailed off.
John shook his head and her world began to crumble.
"Gale's plane went down over Bremen."
Those six words twisted inside Lucy's very gut. Those six words sent her spiralling into a pit of darkness, a pit where her brother would never be.
Gale had gone down? How? It was Gale he couldn't go down. There was no place in Lucy's mind that envisioned her brother's plane being shot down. There was no vision without her brother in picture.
"W-what?" Lucy asked. Her lips trembled with pure emotion, whether it was sadness, fear or anger not even Lucy was sure. Her whole body felt like shutting down, her movements froze her in her very steps. Her knees felt weak, in a bad way.
"I'm going on the next mission." John told her. His eyes had a layer of tears covering them but none fell. He wanted revenge for his best friend's sudden loss. What was Bucky going to do without Buck? They were the dynamic duo of their boot camp and of Thorpe Abbots, the two majors, the two Bucks.
"I'm going too." Lucy said. Her thoughts moving to the people who had shot her own brother down, the Nazi's.
The new thought made her want to be back in the b-17's. Back in the hell machine and cock pit that she worked from. She craved to be back dropping bombs, and helping contribute to the war effort.
She wanted to avenge her brother. Was he dead? Captured? Or just simply alive bud barley. She needed to know. She needed to save him. Her chest felt even heavier whenever she heard his name echo through her head.
Gale was her brother, her big brother who could never get hurt and would always protect and look after her. What was she going to do without him?
"No, you not." John replied. "You're not going on a mission."
Johns own mind could hardly comprehend loosing his best friend. What would he do if he lost her too? He hadn't waited this long to feel Lucy Cleven in his hands, to just get a taste of her, he wouldn't let go. He wouldn't let her go.
"It's my job." She informed him.
"I won't let you go." He repeated moving his hand to the lengths of her dirty blonde hair, that matched her brothers.
"John, please just let me go." She whispered tears slipping down her cheeks. "I have to do this, for Gale."
John nodded slowly, taking her in for yet another hug. He squeezed tight hoping this moment could last forever, it didn't. One hand met the small of her back and the other moved behind her head, comforting her.
"I know." John hushed and moved his hand to her cheek trying to wipe away any stray tears.
"It's Gale." Lucy sobbed out still not fully believing what she had heard.
The grief seemed to come in shock waves and hit her every few minutes making her breaths deepen and her heart thud faster, in a way she disliked. The mere thought of Gale made her want to be sick. Imagining his face, and taking in the fact that she may never talk to her own brother ever again.
That thought turned her world bitter, and black. That's when Lucy realised the brutal realities of war. Sure she had known, she had experienced it first hand. But up until now she hadn't lost someone, whom she held so dear to her heart, to the perilous cycle.
On the train journey back Lucy bought her knees up to her face and cried the entire way home. She hasn't wanted to cry so much but once the tears started to slip she couldn't stop them. They just keep on flowing through like a fast flowing river. Grief was a horrible thing but deep sadness was an even worse experience.
