1914. - H.S.

Chapter 4.

He was here, could he really be here? I hoped so. I needed to see him. I needed to know he was well. But it just seemed too coincidental to be true. If he was here he must have been injured and I needed to know he would be safe. If he was here then I could ask him how General Newton ended up with that letter and I could finally speak to him after all the months he had been away and after having only been contacted through the means of two letters. Two letters, that's all I had.

It was when my mind drifted to the thought of these letters that had now been confiscated on the grounds of a close patient relationship that I realised he had to be here, he just had to be and as soon as my thoughts pushed me to this realisation my feet were touching the ground, pushing myself off of my uncomfortable excuse for a bed.

“Lillian? Where are you going?” I heard Mary ask but I didn't reply as my main focus lay far away from her concerns and nosey attitude.

I pushed through the tent's opening and into the outside space. It was dark now and very cold, my thin nightdress was doing little to keep me warm and it seemed as if there may be a frost on the ground in the morning.

My feet picked up the pace as I hurried through the grounds of the hospital trying to think of every possible place the young soldier could be. I was frantic as I tried to find him yet I felt at peace and I felt free as I ran across the grass, my breath coming out in front of me in an ice coloured moisture. There was a distant sound of soldiers stirring in their beds, probably in pain and all I could think was I hope it's not him, I hope he isn't in pain as many others are.

“Miss Wells?” a stern voice said from behind me, interrupting my moment.

“Yes Matron” I spoke, once I had turned around.

“Is there a reason you are running around so carelessly at this time of night?”

“No Matron, I just needed some fresh air”

“Well the air certainly is fresh and I'm sure running around wearing only your nightgown you have gained plenty of it now. I suggest you return to your tent and go to sleep as everyone else is doing”. I sighed in defeat realising my search for Harry was going to have to be a lot more cautious and subtle.

“Yes Matron, goodnight” I replied before turning around to walk back to my tent where I'm sure no sleep would be had.

*

My searching for Harry eventually seemed to have reached somewhat of a dead end. I knew he was here it was basically a fact now. Not only was the evidence amounting to it, I knew it in myself. I could sense he was close to me. Whilst I had tried my hardest to find him, I had been far too busy to be successful, there was barely five minutes of rest around here until bedtime, and as I had previously found out that was certainly not the time to be searching for him. The best way to find him became getting the information out of someone, someone like General Newton who I was now making my way over to with a cup of pea soup on a tray.

“Soup for you General Newton” I spoke, passing him the tray as he sat up.

“Thank-you Nurse” he said before sputtering. I turned around, having plenty of other patients to attend to and planning to go back to Newton later for more information on what he knew about Harry.

“Wait, Nurse Wells” he shouted after me.

“What is it?” I asked abruptly.

“I have something for you”, he reached under his bed and retrieved something from under it before pulling my hand towards him, forcing it out flat and placing the item onto it. Paper, with my name on it. It was another letter, I was sure of it.