Sunlight slipped in through a crack in the long cream curtains, shining a soft beam of light across the dark room. Silence hung thick in the air, tinted with sadness and pain over what was soon to come. Anna lay asleep; completely still; the only movement came from the slow rising and falling of her chest. Michael lay next to her, his arms wrapped tightly around her body, tears in his deep brown eyes. A heavy weight was crushing his heart astonishingly, like a ton of lead pressing against him through his thin night clothes. The young man felt torn, trapped in a nightmare from which he had no escape. Duty. His duty, he couldn't turn his back on it, though it was killing him, he knew there was no way out.
As slowly and gently as he could, he shifted Anna so she rested against the pillows, kissing her softly on the curling blonde hair that covered her head. He wiped away a stray tear that had dared to fall down his pale cheek. Did destroying three years of nothing but love mean anything to the government? Did they not consider everything they would be ruining? How much agony they were inflicting on so many of their innocent citizens? Michael answered all of his own questions as he glanced at his reflection in the large mirror. Green, once such a natural, pure color , now it represented so much hate and death, he'd never look at it in the same way again. The heavy uniform dragged down his slender frame, such a thick strong material that would be useless when it came to doing its job. Doing his duty meant risking leaving Anna behind forever, he knew this, it was as clear to him as the bright morning sky as true to him as his love for his wife.
Creaking slightly with the sudden movement, the bed or rather the girl stilled again as her soft green eyes rested on her beloved. In that one moment, that split second, her heart broke into a tiny million pieces, slicing through her body with a crippling sharpness. Just knowing about it or talking about it had become easy, she had learnt how to bury the thought deep under layers of false hope but seeing it, watching it, there was no way of hiding from that. Intense sobs took hold of her body, shaking her very core, letting stream after stream of salty tears, drown her face. Reality had hit her like a slap across the face, it was happening. Neither of the pair moved, just starred, looking into each others eyes, mirroring each others sobs, copying each others cries. It was here. The day they had dreaded for so long. There was no-where to hide, no where to run, no escape.
Hours flew by like minutes, minutes flew by like seconds, before she knew it, they were here, the loud noise of the train horn flowing through their bodies. Up and down the platform stood a replica of the same image, loved ones clinging to each other, crying, saying what could be their final goodbyes. Not one of the soldiers standing there waiting to be sent to fight, or not one of those women, who were waving farewell to the ones they loved, felt as Anna did at the moment. With no-one else left in her life that she truly cared for, Michael was all she had and this one moment could be all they had together.
A sudden sharp gust of icy wind, cut through the pair, curling around their bodies. It was a boiling hot summer day. Freezing winds did not come on a day like this without a reason; they did not pass by where they were not needed. As if, the weather was mourning what was too come of these two ill-fated lovers, the wind continued to blow, an eerie contrast to the burning sun and blazing air.
"Frank Thomas, Ray Matthews, Michael Brian..." low and muffled a voice rang out, the time was here, this was it, his name had been called. Their lips touched just once more, and he turned striding quickly towards the train. Michael's insides were curling with torture but he couldn't stop, he couldn't look back. If he did, he feared he would never be able to leave his Anna. Her screams stung him, her sharp cries which were full of distress and grief, pleading with him, to turn around, to come back into her arms once more, burnt into his memory, but he wouldn't look back. He couldn't.
Deep darkness drowned the world, like a mask suffocating it into sleep, not a moment of sunlight had passed since that day, not a moment of sunlight for two months. Some spoke of how it was the worst weather England had seen, most blamed it on that infamous global warming, others said it was God, clouding us, because of the war that we were inflicting on his people. Anna thought of nothing. She just sat, alone, her house deadly silent, her mind empty, lost without a place to find.
