Sweet Satisfaction (Purple UGC Winner 2014)

Sweet Satisfaction - Thirty-Nine

Thirty-Nine

New Forest, Hampshire, England

I walked. And walked. My body ached so much that I wanted to give up. I forced myself to go further away from John’s automobile’s headlights, and nearer to help. The wind howled and crickets, hidden in long grass flattered to one side, cheeped. Pointlessly, I moaned ‘help’ over and over until I was dehydrated. Rain started drizzling down and soaked through my scarlet-stained, ripped wedding dress. Seizing the veil, I threw it into a bush.

After another twenty minutes, I finally saw the silhouette of a building and a beacon of yellow inside. I started sobbing with relief, running the last few yards. Trees started to line the road, twiggy fingers snagging and tearing my sleeves and tangling in my sagging ringlets. My legs, especially my knees, were twisting and crippling in pain, but I fought on.

I stumbled towards the farmstead, feet throbbing from so many blisters. I banged my first against the door, clutching my side, wheezing. I banged again, more urgently. I tripped onto my knees, which had gaping wounds, letting out a mangled cry of pain as the door opened. The man blinked, then crouched down beside me.

“Miss, what happened to you? Are you alright? Do you need to go to a hospital?”

“Please, my husband – at the turning down there. You have to get to him and the other man before they die.”

*****

 “I really can’t thank you enough.”

“Hmm.”

“No, really,” I turned to face Archie, the man at the farmhouse, looking serious, “You saved my husband’s life; you called the ambulance just in time.” He stroked his ginger beard, small, anxious black eyes meeting mine.

“What about the other man?” I frowned.

“We didn’t save his life.” The driver of the other automobile had died?

“W-w-what?” Archie gently placed his hands on mine in my lap and explained that the doctors had done all they could but he had died from his injuries. I started to stutter, body shaking, mouth forming an ‘o’ shape. The tears were coming again.

*****

When I awoke, daylight was leaking through the windows. My body sagged and was also stinging from stitches, cuts, or bruises. My ruined dress was the least of my worries.

John lay sleeping on the bed beside me. His jaw and legs were broken, right wrist sprained and the roots of his hair were still stained with blood. He was alive. But the driver of the other automobile was not. The guilt I felt over this was too intense and overpowering to describe for it was my fault. Why had I let John kiss me, when he should’ve been focusing on the road? And what about my kiss- what did that mean? Did I love John? Where did this put Bobby?

Of course I was glad John had survived but why him and not the other driver? Would John, pray to God, recover? Would I be widowed, still a virgin, having been spared last night?

“Mrs Knowlbodye?” I shook my head, rather like a little shiver, blinking. That was my name now. What if I would soon be widowed? I looked up with distress in my eyes, to see a grim-faced man wearing a black coat with a row of polished silver buttons, black trousers and a black hat secured by a string under the chin. I nodded fervently.

“Both your parents have been contacted and they are travelling to be with you. If you wouldn’t mind, could we step outside?”

*****

“So what happened, exactly?” he quizzed, pen hovering above his notebook.

“We, we, went round the bend. I guess John went over to the right too much, onto the other lane-” I saw the policeman’s frown and hurriedly added:

“-because of me, he got distracted for, for I was displaying my affections for him as we had just wed. And th-e-en the other car crashed into us.” My throat felt dry. How could I talk to this stranger, a man of the law, without feeling immensely embarrassed about my own feelings, mostly of guilt? How would he understand?

“Oh, thank you.” I smiled weakly at Archie, who was handing me a cup of tea. The policeman asked us a few more questions before leaving abruptly. My shoulders sagged down as I sighed wearily.

I thanked Archie again and then excused myself to go to the bathroom. Oh the way, I passed many nurses rushing around in white pinafores with a red cross on the front; they were the nurses who tended for the injured Tommies. And the number of them was growing bigger every day.

Peering in the chipped mirror, I discovered I was little better than a savage. My hair was one great messy spider-web, my fingers and lips were sore and cut, circles rimmed my eyes and the skin across my stomach was stained a ghastly purple.

I pulled off my shoes, as my feet were aching and I looked at my knees, which had been hastily stitched up. Then, as a sudden wave of emotions surged through me, I ripped my dress apart, pulling at every seam and stupid little bead. I started sobbing again, wretched, wretched sobs. And then Mother and Susanna’s arms were around me, and somehow, I felt as if they could make everything better.