Until we meet again (A war romance) (#Wattys2015)

Diana and Matthew

Diana:

Mum’s right eyebrow raised and I frowned.

“Well, aren’t you going to say something” I asked, my anger rising.

Mum laughed, “I’m waiting for you to explain the joke!”

“No joke, Mum, I’m pregnant.”

Mum’s smile slowly dropped and her eyes shone with fear.

“How- when…”

“I know it looks bad, but believe me, I never thought this would happen…”

“When people find out…”

“What are they going to do? I can hardly do anything now, can I?”

“I’m just- that baby will be discriminated against because its parent’s weren’t married.”

“But we will be soon!”

“What, you think people can’t count? They’ll figure out soon enough that you got pregnant before the wedding!”

“That’s not my- well it is but I never…”

“You don’t bloody think do you? You rush into these things without thinking about how it will affect you- and others! Oh God…”

“Are you listening to me? I didn’t mean for this to happen!”

Mum’s tone softened, “I know, I’m-sorry.” She embraced me in a comforting hug, but I could feel the anger she was trying to suppress radiating off her.

“What are we going to do, what am I going to tell people?”

“If anyone asks, you and Matthew are already married,”

“But what about the actual wedding?”

“It will have to be secret- Oh I’m sorry, dear!” I brushed my tears away, but I nodded. People couldn’t know about this. I remembered Amy, a girl a little older than me. She had never married, but had had twins. Ever since everyone found out, she was hated, until she had moved away. I thought of her now- what if I was the Amy replacement? Would my friends, people I had known my whole life, turn against me? I didn’t want to find out. I had always dreamed of a beautiful wedding with all my friends attending, but now that could never happen-and it was my entire fault.

“No, I-I understand,” I said reluctantly, tears welling up in my eyes. What was I going to tell Matthew? I didn’t want to think about it.

“I thought you’d be angry,”

“Oh, I am, believe me, but that can wait. We can’t let anyone find out,”

My eyes widened, “Wait!”

“What?”

“I have an idea.”

“Well, what is it?”

“We could get married, (as long as Matthew comes back soon,) then announce I was pregnant. Then, when the baby is born, we could say it was born early.”

Mother paused, her brain at work. Then, “That’s not a bad idea actually, but he’d have to come back soon.”

I stared out of the window longingly, “He has to.”

 Matthew:

My feet were itchy. God, they were itchy! But I couldn’t stop to scratch them, oh no; I was too busy with my duties. Every morning, we fired into the air, and one morning, Tommy hit someone. He smiled, but I saw the regret in his eyes, the regret that I knew would stay with him forever. I had put my hand on his shoulder and said, “It’s ok, you’re not the only one,” and he had seemed to cheer up a bit. I even (regrettably) let him have the bottom bunk that night, even though it was my turn. We hadn’t had to go over the top yet, and for that I was more grateful than I could express in words. That night, we headed to bed, while two of the younger soldiers took watch. The mud squelched beneath our feet. It had been raining heavily for the last few days, and everyone’s feet were soaked. I could feel the water pooling in the bottom of my boots. A most uncomfortable feeling, but certainly preferable to going out there and ending up lying dead in the ditch!

I jumped into the bottom bunk. Finally! I could actually move! My feet felt itchy, and heavy, and I couldn’t put off the temptation anymore. I pulled off my boots and my socks, and let the cool air sooth my irritated feet. I gasped. Large, red, bloody sores covered my feet. How had I not felt them? My breathing was shallow. I was panicking.

“Tommy,” I whispered. I heard creaking from above me, and then Tommy poked his head down.

“Matt, it’s too late, go to sleep,”

“Look!” I hissed and pointed to my feet. Tommy’s eyes snapped open and stared at my bloody feet in horror.

“What is that?”

“I think it must be trench foot. Remember when we were in the other trench, lots of young men had it? I thought I had escaped it but…”

“Obviously not,” Tommy breathed. Even he couldn’t make me feel better. “You can’t stay out here like this, you can’t!”

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow,” I yawned, suddenly realising how tired I was, “I’ll talk to the sergeant tomorrow, see what he thinks.”

Tommy sighed and went back to bed; soon I heard his quiet snores from above me.

I slept.