I feel groggy. It's as if I had been sleeping for days. There are distant gunshots, but I ignore it from having been so familiar with the sound from college.
I wake up an hour later. The sunlight is now beginning to fill the white room - making it glow.
I stretch my arms, sitting up, and peering around at my surroundings. This isn't my room.
I reach for my cellphone all over my body as I pat it down, then patting down beneath the sheets. I do not find it.
Panic surfaces. I must have left it in my car, or maybe someone abducted me! Maybe the person took it from me while I was asleep. This is some messed up bullshit.
Bang bang bang.
There's someone banging at the door.
I see now from the kitchen.
He fires a shot from his gun into the door key.
Fuuuucccckkk
"I'm coming" I say.
I open the door to find a beautiful, tall brown hair man with blue eyes, and a chiseled jaw. He shouts at me in fernch.
"I... eh..."
"You are an American, aren't you?"
I nod my head.
"I can't very much believe you, seeing as there is no reason for an American woman to be here. Unless they are a spy."
With that, he quickly binds my wrists with rope. He leads me out of the house, and down the path.
There are a few women walking around with curly hair and sleeved dresses that carry luggage with them, as if they are evacuating.
A man dressed as a soldier barks at them in French, and they head with us towards the pier There, a sailor and his kids wait on a sailboat.
I turn to get a better look at the man who saved me. He is in a rush to get back, but he looks at me with kindness and sincerity.
"Whomever you are, whomever left you there, you must have been scared. You don't deserve to die - not today" he says.
I stare back, lips parted, as he stares into my eyes.
"These might be the last days of my life. I would like something to remember you by. Is that alright?"
With that, he kisses me - hard, slow, and deep before pushing away, breathless, and grinning like a schoolboy.
"What's your name lad?" asks the sailor.
"Colonel Edward Worthington, and don't worry" he says, looking back at me and winking. "With a kiss like hers, I will definitely come back for her."
We depart for the sea, watching all of the other townspeople depart on boats.
There are soldiers running around.
The sea sways left and right. We are out there for what seems like hours. The kids play cards on the bottom deck. I go down to sit with them.
"Do you like Pokemon?" I ask.
They just glare back at me like I'm the weirdest woman they've ever met before going back to their game.
I go upstairs to find the sailor sitting on his boat, staring back at the beach.
"What's your story sassenach?" he asks.
The truth might not be believable. Maybe this was a group of cultists or paid actors.
"I want to speak to the American embassy" I say.
"You won't be getting anywhere once we land you on the shores of England" says the sailor.
"I don't know how I got here" I explain. "One minute I was touching the radio and..."
He spat near the ground where I stood.
"I don't care" he says. "There are men dying out there, and all you can think about is your pretty little head. You should be grateful that young man saved you, considering you're probably a German spy."
I shut up. Off in the distance is the clear sound of artillery fire. Smoke pummels from the town towards the sky.
His little girl runs from downstairs to the arms of her dad, clearly terrified of the noise.
I venture downstairs now, determined to find a way to connect with the kids once-more, until I find a newspaper that lay on the table, and read the date: May 25, 1940.
I sit down, head swirling with the memories of the flashing lights in Mimi's apartment.
A plane flies overhead close, and suddenly my heart starts beating rapidly. What happened here? Why didn't I pay more attention in my history classes?
...
We stay for two nights.
I keep to myself as the radio plays in our house.
"Calling all British seamen. The allies await on the beach. The germans approach to demolish them. There's not enough room to save them. Please, for your King and country, come back for your men. Help and do as much as you can."
The Captain gathers us back on the ship as he steers it back to the beach. The distant whirring of other ships are heard, until they catch up with us.
It's a ghastly sight on the shores of Dunkirk. Man after man awaits rescue, dehydrated and drinking alcohol. Some are passed out - knee deep in water.
We come up to shore, shoveling men into the boat. We could only hold 63 men inside, and they near filled every space where one could walk around. They stunk of salt, sweat, piss, and alcohol.
There were many other men to help us, and we carried them to the main ships. When those ships were full, we carried them back to England.
We worked all day and night, but we were running out of time. Food and water were brought earlier for the remaining men, but soon they were out of those.
The Nazis were closing in - close enough that we would have to leave for good.
Some soldiers lay on the beach dead from starvations. Others ended it earlier on at the hands of their own revolver.
We take our last group of 43 back. I ask about Edward but the men I ask shake their head. We head back to Brighton.
There, the last shipments of rescued soldiers are being sent off via the trains. Volunteers say they can help more, but soon we are told that there is no more time - the Nazis are there.
"Miss, there's someone to see you" says a young soldier.
YOU ARE READING
A Time for Love
Science FictionAnnie, a 21 year old singer stuck in unrequited love, is on her way to her grandmother's when a storm appears, swirling overhead. She enters the room to find a radio playing noise back from 1940 about the war. Touching it, she's transported back in...