The Falling Man

Chapter 1

January 10th 1917

Ethel has been serving as a nurse for the war in South Dublin for a year now. She had nursed more wounds than she could even think to count and held many hands of many dying men until their breathing slowed and the life left their eyes. Moments like those tore her soft heart apart, although sadly she had gotten used to the constant ache in her heart. It seemed to never leave. She started to find the sight of a man's life leaving his eyes almost fascinating at this point. You can see in that moment his soul getting ripped into the heavens. It made staring into her own eyes in the mirror somewhat hard and terryifing. She had cried a lot in the last year. In the beginning she hated not being able to save every life but as time went on she got used to it; becoming almost numb to the whimpers of the dying men. She could feel herself changing, becoming colder, angrier. Even though she noticed, there was nothing she could do to change it. She hadn't laughed in a year. The only time she smiled was to make someone else feel comfort. Even then it was fake and forced and felt unnatural being on her face. Today was her first day at her new posting in Rouen, France. In some ways she was happy to be at this new posting. She was closer to her brothers who she knew were both stationed in France. She clung onto the thought of them getting a minor injury and getting sent to her hospital and getting the chance to hold them in her arms. Ethel wanted to make sure they were okay not just physically but mentally. She hadn't seen them in well over a year and she misses them dearly and worries about them constantly. Although, not believing in god she found herself praying for them every morning and every night. Her sister was stationed at a hospital in Somerset, England; so another big part of her wished to be there instead. She missed her sister (who is more like a best friend) more than she could put into words.

Ethel is starting work today at a stationary hospital. Stationary hospitals are essentially a bunch of huts filled with around 300 beds and 300 injured men. Where Ethel is there are 5 stationary hospitals which means 1,500 beds and 1,500 injured men. To say she was scared was an understatement. Back in Dublin she took care of men with more long term needs, men that wouldn't be returning to war. It was tough but it was no where near being on the front lines and she knew that. Here men were going to be coming straight from the battle field into her care. She was filled with anxiety as she fixed the strap on her white heels.

She stood up from her cot in the nurses ward where all of the nurses slept and lived. She smoothed down her light brown almost dirty blonde hair before putting on her white cap. She glances in the mirror and catches eye contact with herself before immediately ripping her eyes away. Her eyes were dark brown. In dark lighting they almost looked black. Her older sister, Gertrude had her mothers eyes, they were bright blue and the men would flock to her after receiving one glance. She couldn't look herself in the eyes these days without feeling a jolt through her body.

She headed out of the ward quietly. None of the other women were talking to eachother on their way to work. She found it quite odd. In Dublin, even with the circumstances the nurses would still find something to talk about when they had the time. She figured there was good reason for the silence and that she would find out soon.

The sun was rising ahead of her. For a second she forgot where she was it looked quite beautiful. That was the first time she had taken note of something beautiful other than the odd handsome soldier in a long time. The sky was filled with yellow and orange with a silhouette of a church from the neighboring city. She brought herself to a halt and stared at the view for a moment before continuing onto the hut she had been assigned to. At this moment all you hear besides the footsteps of the surrounding people and the odd chirp of birds flying in the distance is silence. It's very unsettling. She wished in that moment to be one of those birds unaware of the surrounding war; flying into the sunrise. At the same moment she is taking in the silence and the view of the birds she notices a new sound. She turns around and sees a truck approaching quite quickly. She moves out of the way and watches the truck pass. She realizes it's a military vehicle most likely filled with dying men. Being snapped back into the reality of where she is, she rushes to her hut not wanting to be late on her first day.

Ethel walks into hut 5 and the first thing she lays her eyes on is a blonde man staring at the ceiling with tears running down his face. His neck has some blood on it and he has a tattoo on his chest. Standing beside him are British military sergeants awarding him a medal. She imagines he's not crying at the honor of receiving a medal more of what he went through to end up on the bed he's lying in. The sergeant is speaking to him lowly and lays the medal on his chest with a pat. She's knocked out of this thought by the immediate chaos of new soldiers being rushed into the hut. She quickly moves to the side to let them pass. There's two of them on stretchers, being carried by fellow soldiers, both of them are naked having had their uniforms cut off and covered in blood and wounds. The first one is rushed past her quickly. When the second one gets closer shes horrified to see his face as he passes. You can barely see his facial features as it's covered in black mud and bright red blood. She's not used to seeing men fresh off the battlefield. As the second soldier passes, she sees he has his eyes open and is staring right back at her. She feels almost a punch to the chest. His eyes are the brightest blue pair of eyes she's ever seen. Piercing out of the mud and blood. She's almost knocked back. But nonetheless, she gathers herself together quickly. It's time for her to get to work.