The Falling Man

Chapter 2

Ethel quickly heads over to two of the doctors and asks where they want her. As she is doing this she notices another soldier being carried on a stretcher into the hut this one looking in very bad shape with blood and bandages covering his face and head. The rest of his body is wrapped in a blanket. Another injured soldier comes but is the first one to be walking in not carried. He looks quite skinny and lanky but somehow strong at the same time. I notice he's sporting a mustache also. He has blood running down his face and both arms with bandages wrapped around. Soldiers are trying to help support him while he walks in but he pulls his bleeding arms out of their support and saunters in by himself.

"Do you have expierence in assisting in amputation?" This question snaps her right out of observing the new patients. "I'm sorry?...You said amputation?" Ethel responds while gulping down bile. "Yes. The removal of body parts. Do you have expierence?" The doctor responds quickly while putting on gloves. "I do not sir. I'm sorry." Ethel states nervously. "Come observe then please." The doctor states and quickly walks to the patient that she just saw being brought in wrapped in a blanket. Her breathing immediately picks up as she follows behind the doctor.

The doctor and nurses quickly get to work. Ethel stands to the side feeling slightly useless and anxious. For the next 45 minutes though she observes the nurses closely following their exact movements and talking notes in her mind. What she wasn't prepared for was the actual sight of the newly removed limb. She couldn't help but stare at the arm being carried past her. "Do you understand what you would need to do for the process of an amputaion now?" The doctor asks Ethel. "Yes sir." She squeaks out. As she says this a new soldier is being carried in and the doctor asks her to tend to him. "There are no stations or assigned nurses for patients here. You go where your needed." With that the doctor walks away and Ethel rushes off to help the newly brought in soldier.

Upon arriving to his bedside she is told he was shot. The soldier is very awake and responsive and is also yelling at everyone "get the fuck off of me!" This is a trauma response she is used to seeing in Dublin with the men who are shell shocked or experiencing PTSD. Although he doesn't want to be touched he also needs to be treated, so with the help of the soldiers that carried him in, she starts taking his uniform off to find the wound. "It's alright." She says in a feeble attempt to calm the soldier down. "Lay flat on your back for me." Ethel instructs him. The soldier is wincing in pain but seems to be somewhat calming down. "On my back or on my stomach?" The soldier asks Ethel. "I need you on your back." She responds. "Alright." The soldier groans. She notices he's a British soldier from the uniform and the strong accent. It seems most of the soldiers here are British. "Alright." The soldier states again and rolls on his back. She immediately grabs gloves and scissors and starts cutting down his pant leg. She still doesn't have eyes on the wound. "Where did you get hit?" She asks him. "Somewhere." He states. Helpful! She thinks in her mind. "My back is in a lot of pain." He breathes out. She quickly goes to grab an elastic band and ties it around his arm and administers him morphine to hopefully help ease his pain. At this time one of the doctors comes over to get a look at the bullet wound. Ethel moves her position to the top of the bed and takes hold of the soldiers hand in hopes to bring some comfort to him. "Some Germans around huh?" She asks the soldier; an attempt at a joke to distract him. She hopes after asking that he doesn't lash out at her for the somewhat insensitive question. "Yeah. Right in that..the little cunt was less than a yard away from me." He responds to her as the doctors work away. She shakes her head and continues holding his hand. "You didn't shoot him back?" She asks him after a moment. "I was a little busy...Laying on the ground crying like a wanker." He says in between winces. He takes a deep breath and looks up at me in the eyes. She glances down at him momentarily but quickly turns her focus back to the doctors ready to assist if needed.

- (switching to first person pov sorryyy)-

About four hours have passed since I held that soldiers hand. The doctors were able to patch up his wound and he seemed to be doing well now. Since then I've been rushing around non-stop helping other patients. I finally have a second to breathe now as no new soldiers have come in and everyone seems to be as stable as they can be. I decide quickly while I have the time to grab some lunch for myself. I rush out of hut 5 and work on locating the food hut. Deciding I don't have time to waste I walk over to another nurse I recognized from my hut. "Hello, would you be able to tell me where I would be able to find some lunch please. It's my first day here." She asks the brunette nurse. "Yes. It's right at the back of the camp. I'm also heading there now so you can follow me." She responds nicely. "What's your name?" She says after a moment of walking. "Ethel, and you?" "Frances it's nice to meet you." Frances had longer brown hair pulled back into a bun at the base of her neck, brown eyes, and she had quite a big nose but it suited her I thought. She was British. I was starting to think everyone at this camp was British. As we walked to get lunch, she pointed at huts around the camp and let me know their purposes. I take a look around me fully taking in the whole place for the first time. We arrive shortly later and I grab myself a bowl of some sort of stew and the most semi unstale piece of bread I could find. In the food hut everyone's together. Nurses, doctors, soldiers. It's quite big but there's a lot of people and not so much room for sitting and eating as it looks as if all the tables and chairs are taken. As me and Frances are looking around for a place to sit, I hear an "Oy! Oyyy!!!" from my left. I look and there's a about five soldiers lounging in the truck bed of a military vehicle. The culprit of the Oy oys I discover is actually quite attractive. He's waving us over. "Looks like you lovely nurses need a place to sit!" As he pats the truck bed with his hand; wide grin on his face. Deciding I do indeed need a place to sit I quickly glance at Frances to see if she is fine with sitting there too, to which she shrugs in a non chalant way. I decide why not and head over to the truck.

I notice all the soldiers are puffing on cigarettes accept the one who yelled over to us. He's instead sporting a toothpick in his mouth. Interesting. I think to myself as he stares me down while I quickly consume my food wanting to get back to hut 5 as soon as I can in case more soldiers pile in soon. Nobody is saying anything and it's quite awkward to be honest. "What's your name?" The toothpick lad asks me. "Hmm?" I ask looking up at him with my spoon still in my mouth. "Weird name that is." He chuckles to himself. He has quite a cheeky look to him. I have a feeling he's broken on the inside but uses humour to cover it up. Which I guess is fair enough if your fighting in a war and everyone around you is dying. "Ethel." I state while looking back at him almost glaringly. "It's very nice to meet you Miss Ethel. I'm John. John Shelby." He holds out his hand for me to shake while sporting a smirk. I shake it and for the first time in a while genuinely smile.