Hope at Dunkirk

4.

The soldiers had performed CPR on the Nurse, making her splutter and cough but most importantly, wake up. Once Harry heard of her awakening, he slouched and relaxed in the slightest, knowing she was awake and safe on the boat. The boats began to leave back to Dunkirk, saying there will be more back later to pick them up. Tommy spotted his friend on the back of a particular boat, who without consent from the other soldiers, left a rope in the water for them to hold on to so that they won't have to wait to get back to land.

Harry and Tommy held on to rope all the way back to the beach, where it soon reached day again. They were now back to where they started, back on the sandy beach and potential bomb sites. Tommy and his friend decided to sit down on the beach, even though they barely knew each other at this point. Tommy had found him burring his friend in the sand, so he decided to help him in his time of despair. They had stuck together since, not uttering a word to each other. Tommy didn't even know his name.

Harry sat down with them, looking out to sea in hopes of maybe a ship that won't be bombed or torpedoed. They will get off this beach, even if it kills them. Harry was sick of the sea, and the guns, and the bombs and the whole definition of this war. He was surprised he had lived as long as he had, surviving two ship wrecks and many bomb attacks before hand. He didn't know how long his luck would help him though. Some soldiers die within 10 minutes of being at war.

He laid down on his side on the sand, his elbow keeping him propped up to look out to sea that he wish would be filled with ships by now. He looked over his shoulder to see Olivia sitting further towards the sea a few metres diagonal from them. Harry looked at her curled up posture, hugging her knees to her chest with her short brown hair flowing behind her. After she got off the small boat and back on to Dunkirk, she perched herself there and hasn't moved since then. Harry felt something clench in his heart when he saw how lonely she was, and got up from his spot on the sand.

"Where are you going?", Tommy asked but Harry ignored him, walking across the beach and over to Olivia.

She didn't turn her head when Harry sat down next to her, her eyes still settled on the sea. The boy thought of something to say in his head, and cleared his throat from his croaky voice from the sea air.

"Are you cold?", he asked while squinting from the harsh wind that came off the salty water. No answer came from Olivia, but the goosebumps on her pale arms answered for her. Harry shrugged off the jacket on his shoulders and shuffled closer to her, slipping the dark green clothing over her back and shoulders. She turned her head in the slightest to look at the soldier, who now sat in his long sleeved button up uniform, still having some warmth unlike Olivia. 

A feeling washed over Harry when he saw fresh tears in her eyes, and a sorrowful expression on her face. He knew that it wasn't from sand in her eyes or the salty air, she was terrified. She probably had never even been out from her hometown until now, and now she was on a beach that was far from safe.

"I want to go home Harry....", she whispered, her words barely reaching Harry's ears. The tears leaked out of her eyes and down her cheeks, but were swiped away by the wind's strong force. But Harry saw them all too clearly, making him act without thinking.

He carefully slithered his arm around her shoulders and let her head fall in between the crevasse of his neck. Olivia curled up to him, sniffles soon followed her tears as she let Harry comfort her on this God-forsaken beach. She held his jacket tightly around her, smelling like sea water but gave her a more sense of safety. Harry enjoyed the feeling of having her so close to him, and droned out the sounds of the waves crashing against each other. His hand settled over her far shoulder, as she cried into his neck. In his eyes, he didn't see her as weak. He saw her as helpless.

"We'll make it home", Harry mumbled to her. "I promise".

Tommy and his nameless friend watched the two from a far, seeing at how they held each other tightly in this dreadful time. They could tell they felt something for each other, especially at how close they've been in the past few of hours of only just meeting.

And once again, they waited.