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"It's just thunder love, it can't hurt you."
Mary reached to the shoulder of her boyfriend, but he fastly slapped her hand away and curled back into the fetus position while lying on the ground. His palms covered over his ears, only hearing the bombs falling close to him. The carpeted floor disappeared, Tommy could feel the sand against his lips and the bright sun hitting on the back of his head. He heard screams of dying men, the screams of people exploded by the bombs.
"You're home, you're safe." He glanced up, his cheeks still resting on the ground. Wide eyes stared at the young lady he vaguely saw in front of him, only recognizing a shape in the shadowed figure.
"Mary?," he breathed through his chapped lips.
"I'm here, Tommy, it's really me."
Another thunder hit, the soldier jumped back into the position he had been hiding in, his hands protecting his head from a fatal injury. The limbs of his body were shaking extremely, his mind was screaming very painfully.
Mary took place in front of him and positioned her head right in front of his eyes, he would be able to glance in hers if he wished to. She hoped it would bring him back. The young girl was desperate to touch his cheek, bring him back by the touch of her soft skin against his, but didn't want to scare him even more. She silently waited for the thunder to stop exploding, not taking her eyes of the person she loves most. She noticed everything on him, his bitten fingernails, hairs not combed in a couple of days, the locks dirty and greasy. Big bags underneath his red eyes, sleep not rescuing him from the nightmares. She noticed his clammy hands grabbing onto the back of his head, arms covering his ears to block out the sound.
"Tommy?"
Mary could hear the thunder becoming louder again, light flashing through their apartment.
"You're safe, nothing can harm you."
The young man's eyes darted up, locking with her light brown ones. His head was exploding but his hand reached for hers and placed her palm against his left cheek. Tommy put his head back into the position he just held it, but he softly hugged against her skin, feeling the warmth breaking through his cold body.
"You're here," he mumbled.
"That's right and so are you. We are in our own apartment, it's just you and me."
"No enemies."
"Only us." Mary parted her lips in a suiting smile, her eyes glowing in the lightning.
"Only us," he repeated, the shakiness in his body transferring to his quiet voice.
The thunder shot through the sky again, Tommy flinched his eyes shut and he grabbed her hand very tightly against his face. He whispered to himself to concentrate on her skin, on every bump and scar that showed him the reality. He wasn't in the war, he was home now.
"It's okay, it's okay," she assured him in a soft and slow voice, not speaking too loud so that she wouldn't trigger anything.
"Home."
"Yes Tom, you are home."
Mary's eyes started to fill with big tears, seeing him break in front of her, tore her heart in shreds. She wanted to take his nightmares, she wanted to suffer instead of her boyfriend, he went through enough already. She wanted him to able to sleep again, manage like he did before he joined the army into the war.
Tommy pushed himself from cradling on the ground, trying desperately to sit straight and snuggle in the arms that would calm him. Mary mimicked his motions and sat as well, still a bit of space between the couple. She didn't want to force herself on him, she knew he needed time to allow her to come closer.
The thunder hit once more, but fastly decreased in volume. The storm was softly drifting off into the next village, ready to startle and scare more soldiers who suffered from the many flashbacks. This time, Tommy didn't flinch, his focus was on the hand he pushed against his freckled cheeks. His brain picked up every motion Mary's fingers made, her thumb slowly brushing over his cheekbone to his nose. His eyes were on her palm, seeing every line that drew through her skin.
He softly pulled her closer to him, his hand on her free arm and placed that around his waist. He rested his forehead against hers and sighed loudly, a large breath escaping his lips. The soldier glanced from his grip on her fingers to that arm, slowly crawling up to her shoulder, neck and face. His eyes stayed on her bunny nose and then to her eyes, a lonely tear escaping the inner corner of her brown eyes. Tommy wiped it away and brushed through her long blonde hairs, detangling every knot in her locks.
"I don't want to hurt you," he admitted to her, his voice becoming more steady and his posture lost its shakiness.
"You won't."
"You are crying because of me."
Mary pressed a soft kiss against the skin of his hand.
"I'm crying because I care for you, not because you've done something to hurt me."
"You don't have to worry about me."
"I love you, Tommy. It is normal that a person worries about someone they love," she told him quietly, her voice bringing the soldier back from the flashbacks.
"I love you too." And he softly placed a kiss on her lips.
