Warzone {Dunkirk H.S.}

5: Facing Disaster

GWEN

Gwen had been right previously - she was indeed leading the boat in the completely wrong direction, and if she had not stumbled upon the soldier – whose name she had learnt was Harry, she and Vivian would have been hopelessly lost. But luckily enough, he seemed to know his way around a boat, and was willing to help them. She did not know why he had agreed after such minimal effort from her – she would have thought it would take a whole lot more than some defiant statements and desperate pleading to persuade a soldier to return to the very hellhole he had just been saved from, with nearly nothing in return. It surprised her, and it pleased her. He seemed like the brave type, and she had had a feeling about that from the beginning. She could see why Tommy would have befriended him and liked him, what was there not to like?

Of course Gwen berated herself for assuming automatically that he was some great man, there was always more to someone than what meets the eye – but that was just what she had been taught to believe. In truth, she already had developed a strong liking towards Harry, and she could tell they would get along, despite having just barely met him.

In the beginning he had been nervous, awkward almost, tense, afraid – everything you would expect a lost soldier to be. But after their small conversation, Gwen noticed that he seemed to loosen up, in a way. Of course she did not expect him to fully leap into trusting her and be overjoyed at the prospect of going back to a place he hated, but he was kind enough to not complain. That, or he knew better than to argue. She smiled as she had the thought – it was not often she met a man who was not afraid of her going after what she wanted rather than sitting quietly, he seemed almost impressed by it too – that was new for her. Tommy was the only man she knew who was not mildly intimidated by her ideas and 'mad' behavior, and the only other one who would not have called her completely crazy for doing what she was doing – but she was not even sure how Tommy would react to it. But she did not have time to think about how Tommy would feel – she knew he would not be happy, why would he be, she was risking her life. But it was her choice and she was doing it for herself, too, not only for him. She had been beginning to feel suffocated after living in Dorset for all of her nineteen years of life, after all.

Gwen did not have time to dwell on what would come of her actions, though, she had to focus on getting the task at hand done first. She snapped out of her trance of thoughts, she was standing on the boat deck and Harry was by the wheel, pulling the sails and navigating the boat all on his own. He had the crumpled map next to him and occasionally turned to look at it, but mostly he seemed to know exactly what he was doing. Gwen found herself getting lost in staring at him more times than she would have liked – but she just could not help it. He was intriguing, interesting – the horrors of war had not yet taken their toll on him, and his eyes were still gleaming and bright in the early afternoon sun. Tired circles surrounded them, but she could tell that although he had seen unfathomable things, he had also seen beautiful things, and the glint of life and hope was still present in his eyes. He had gone back to his partial silence, he seemed to like it that way, and Gwen did not want to distract him or interrupt his thoughts until they were on a steady path to Dunkirk. Plus, although she would never admit it – she liked admiring him. From the sharp curve of his jawline to the soft curls of his drying hair, he truly was a magnificent human being. It made Gwen more nervous than she liked, and she wished that she had not taken so much time to admire every little pretty detail about him. Before, when she had been talking to him, she had been too focused on Tommy and convincing him, making sure he was okay, to notice just how handsome he was, it would have completely thrown her off. But she told herself to not let it get in the way of reaching Dunkirk, that was all that had to matter to her for the moment.