Shell shock

Chapter 9 return

The next morning, without consent William was placed on a train back home. He didn't know where he came from but he did know he wasn't the William Owen who was last on a train. He could not think much anymore. His thoughts twisted into one. An image of lord kitchener plagued his mind. Bullets echoed in his mind yet did not affect the newly adjusted Owen. He was reborn. But reborn without life or choice.
He pondered his predicament. Almost trapped in the darkness of the mind. Eyes looked into nothing. Emptiness is plentiful.
The train came to an abrupt stop. William tried to move but he was strapped into his seat until a railway worker untied him and said.
"This is your stop please get off." Walking away as he said it.
William looked around. It was a strange experience, having control of his body once more. He stepped out of his seat and looked around. The train was empty like the end of an event, not even staff insight. A ghost train. He left the train and looked at the station. It was the same. No one in sight.
It was in this moment William decided it would be beneficial to go back home, so he did.
He wandered through the grimy streets of stone. He walked past people with blank faces. He walked past places he had been but could not recognise. Until he ended up back home.
The door stared back at him with a blank expression. He knocked on the hard wooden exterior and prayed he would be welcomed. Yet he wasn't welcome within.
The door swung open and Arthur's face stared back.
"Where've you bin." Anger corroded his voice.
William did not speak back, only stared.
"You're fired, you know that." He said more angrily.
"Can I see my sister?" William asked.
"No you don't live here anymore. You can't just show up after being gone and expect to be taken in!" He shouted.
"Did Grace say that?" Will asked.
"No, no she didn't. I just don't want you here, you're too much to care for." Arthur said sulkily.
Before William could speak the door was slammed in his face. This was home alright. Nothing cared for him anymore, not even himself.