World War Love part 1

                                           April 19, 1944 2:46 pm

I fell to my knees. I see him collapse onto the rocky soil with blood squirting from his neck. He’s been shot. They killed him. I crawl behind a bush so the same fate doesn’t fall upon me. If there’s one, there are more. They wouldn’t risk just sending one soldier to a camp of U.S lackeys. I slowly turn to see the Nazi soldier that shot Logan, but instead of just finding one soldier I see truckloads of Nazis running down ramps and towards our camp. I turn around and run to warn the others that the Nazis have arrived. I’m waving my arms, shouting. The Nazis are not far behind me. I finally reached General Eisenhower.

“Sir, the Nazis, they’re coming!” I bend down trying to catch my breath from running. I turn around and cock my gun back ready to shoot. Everyone is scrambling, people shouting, men hiding, guns clicking. I prepare my own base. I point my gun at on coming Nazis. I take my aim and fire.

                                         June 15, 1997 2:00 pm

“Hey grandma?” Izzy asked me while I finished loading the dishwasher with the dishes from this morning. 

“Yes love?” I respond 

“What’s that bracelet that you always wear on your arm?” She points at my right wrist while sitting on the counter playing with her hair.

“This bracelet was a promise. It reminds me that he’ll always be with me” I close the door of the dishwasher and turn the bracelet around on my wrist. I then go to rub my wet hands on the hand towel hanging from the stove handle. 

“Who gave it to you?” She looks up at me continuing to sit on the counter.

“A man who I once loved” Tears start to fill my eyes as the memories start to come back.

“What’s the story? Can you please tell me?” She hops off the counter and slides toward me. I look at her and I see a young girl who will someday love someone the same way I did.

“Oh alright, but you must promise me that you won’t interrupt” I grab her hand and lead her to the living room where I’ll sit and tell her the story from beginning to end.

“I promise”. I sat down and set her to the right of me. 

“Ok, to start this romantic story, I’ll start at the part when I first met him.” I wrap my right arm around her shoulder. The memory of that night starts to flood to the front of my mind. I haven’t thought about that moment in 20 years. The colors and scents and music, I remember every little bit of it. 

                                      August 10, 1942 8:30pm

I walk inside the Downtown bar in Grand Rapids wearing a red dress. The moment I walk past the doors, the loud noise of laughter, gossip, clinking of glasses, and clattering of heels against the wooden dance floor hit my ears. Tonight will be the last night before I head into war. War is deadly and unpredictable, my mother didn’t agree with my idea of joining the army but my father supported me. He believes that my enlistment is worth the cause. The U.S army needs soldiers. So to celebrate my (potential) last night, I’ll go to my favorite bar in the entire state. 

I walk to one of the bartenders and ask for a Gin Rickey cocktail. One of my favorite drinks. Rich tart refreshing drink with zero sugar. Perfect for a 20 year old. As I wait for my drink, I take a look around the bar taking in the last little bits of scenery before I leave home tomorrow morning. The bartender walks back to my seat and hands me my Gin Rickey and quickly goes up to another customer a little ways down the bar on my right. I take a small sip of my drink taking my time to taste it knowing that I shouldn’t have too many drinks. I don’t need to be hung over on my first day of camp.

I twirl the straw around in my empty drink not knowing what to do except go through all my thoughts in my head. I stop moving the straw and instead push the empty cocktail cup away towards the edge of the bar and sit in silence and staring at the wall of the names of World War 1 heroes. Maybe my name will be on that wall someday. I feel someone's finger tap my left shoulder so I turn around to see the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen. His tall figure shows off his muscular biceps and piercing abs. His golden brown eyes that reflect the beautiful white light in the room. 

“Hi, my names Logan” He takes a little bow and places his hand in front of me about to ask the question that I think he’s going to ask.

“Would you like to dance with me?” He stands straight up waiting for me to say yes and take his hand.

I pull a smile on my face. “I would love to.” I take his hand and I stand up and he leads me to the dance floor. Once we arrive at the polished wooden dance floor he spins me around to face him. I place my left hand gently on his shoulders, and connect my right hand with his, making sure not to grip too tight. A new song starts and me and Logan start a smooth rhythm to match the beat of the song. I look in his eyes and he looks in mine oblivious to what's going on around us.

“I never did catch your name” He smiles at me. I look down for a split second before looking back at him. I don’t know what to say. The words wouldn’t form. I continue to stare at him until my name finally leaves my mouth.

“Ava. My name is Ava”. I stare at his beautiful eyes, staring back at me with warmth and affection. I think I’m in love. 

“It is very nice to meet you Ava” he replies. We continue to dance for the next two songs. When the song “At Last”, by Etta James, ends Logan leads me to the pool table in the back of the bar. For the next couple hours, me and Logan talk about our life back home and our enlistment in the war. I found out that we were in the same division! Aside from the conversation, Logan gives me feelings I never thought I’d have for a boy. My parents always told me to stay away from them. But he truly makes me happy, even if we’ve known each other for two hours. When I get home, that’s all I’ll think about. Him.

August 11, 1942 5:29 am

I finish tying my shoelaces and straighten my jacket. I take one more look at my house before getting in the car to head to the train station. This might be the last time I’ll see my family. I hear my mother call my name so I spin around, pick up the last of my luggage and walk towards the car. I push the suitcase in the back next to where I’m going to sit, and get in myself. As soon as I sit down I close the car door and immediately buckle my seat belt. I look up and my mom starts the car. We are on our way to the station. 

A good thirty minutes had gone by the time we arrive at the train station parking lot. My parents help me carry my luggage out of the car and to the waiting area where I see a whole lot of other men dressed in uniform waiting for the train, just like I am. Most likely for the same reason. Off in the distance I see the train coming so I turn around to say my last goodbye. I see the watery tears flowing down my mothers face as she silently cries. I walk towards her and give her the biggest and tightest hug I had ever given to someone.

“Please return home” my mother whispers in my ear while she returns the tight hug.

“I will. I promise” I whisper back. I feel my own tears start to form. After hugging my mom I do the same thing to my father, except this time he says something different than what I’d expect him to say.

“I love you” he tells me, cutting short with the sentence. He continues to hug me. 

“Love you too”. I release our hug and take one last look at both my parents, I smile and turn around to pick up my luggage. The train has stopped and opened its doors for the passengers so I walk into the train, turn right, and sit in the closest seat I could find. I set my luggage next to me and on the floor and look through the window to see my parents waving at me. I wave back at them. Where my next stop is is someplace I’ll have to find out.

November 12, 1942 10:43 am 

“Hurry up you lazy asses! I don’t got all day!” the commander yells at the men behind me. We’re just finishing up our fifth lap around the lake. Everyone's tired and hungry. Logan looks back at the guys with a sheer grin on his face that reads ‘haha’. I laugh and continue to run. He does the same. After we finish our laps, me, Logan, Marcus and John make our way to the water table along with our other campmates.

“So..” Marcus tries to catch his breath. He grabs his water bottle and guzzles a few mouthfuls of water.

“What's next on our list of hell?” He takes another sip of his water. Just as he was asking that question, Commander Jones was walking by with his usual clipboard.

“If you have a problem with my fitness training, you shouldn’t have enlisted in this army, Williams” he looks at Marcus and immediately Marcus’ face turns beet red. The groups of men walking by laughed while choking up the water they had in their mouths. Jones walks away to the main office tent along with General Eisenhower and our lead secretary. 

“Don’t feel bad Marcus. Jones just has the stick up his ass as always. Nobody ain’t going to pull it out” John pats Marcus’ shoulder and leads him to our sleeping tent. Logan and I follow grabbing our water bottles. We all sat down on our beds that we moved so we could all sleep next to each other. The next thing we hear is the radio buzzing. News about the war has come. The radio was closest to me so I tuned in on what the speaker was trying to say.

“The Japanese are at it again. U.S ships are being continually attacked. It is up to Richmond K. Turner to bring the reinforcements to save the U.S from these nasty communists.” 

“Ah it’s the stupid Japanese. What did we ever do to them to make them want to bomb our naval fleet?” John asks while laying down on his bed. 

“Who knows. All we have to do is keep fighting until the war ends. There's nothing we can do about it”. Logan leans back against the bed frame. I just sit there hoping that the next ten minutes last a long time. After sitting in ten minutes of silence, Logan, me and the others get up and walk to the field to do our fitness exercises. You can already tell how this is going to go just by seeing that Commander Jones is leading these exercises. Everyone gets in their spots and prepares for the worst. The first round that Jones gives us is the push ups. Everyone gets down on their hands and knees and gets in formation. 

“On the count of three! 1! 2! 3!” Jones yells at us. Everyone goes down and back up. After the first 5 the guy next to me drops, already giving up thinking he’ll get away with it. I continue doing the push ups not feeling a bead of sweat yet, then I see the commander walk over to the guy. This won’t be good. 

“Get up soldier! Your not done until I say your done!” He bends down and screams those words in his ears. Now the guy gets up and starts doing push ups again, I’m wondering if it was even worth it to bring Jones into this. 5 minutes have passed by and I start to feel the burn in my arms and abdomen area. Pain I’ve never felt before. I feel like giving up but I know that if I do Jones will start swearing at me and I’ll get the stick up my ass. I want to turn to look at Logan and his progress but I’m afraid if I move an inch out of line I’ll break my form and collapse. I’ll wait till after this is done.

Another 5 minutes passes until the Commander yells that we’re done. I fall flat on my stomach along with some of the men right next to me. I turn my head and see Logan facing me with a big smile on his face. He probably stared at me during the push ups. I can’t help but smile back, seeing his adorable face is hard to not smile back at. We both laugh in sync, pushing ourselves up getting prepared for the situp part no doubt. After the situps we do the planks, then the squats, the climbers, leg raises and lunges. The next two hours were torture, half the men didn’t make it past the climbers. By the end me, Logan, and a one other guy I don’t know the name of pass the entire exercise.

“Good work Miss Smith, Good job Mr Eslinger, and you as well Mr Roronoa” Commander Jones nods at all of us and marks on his sheet of paper.

“What do you suppose Jones is writing on his sheet of paper?” the guy next to Logan asks us. I still yet to know his surname but for right now I’ll to refer to him as Roronoa. 

“I think he’s writing down good reports for all of us. We’ll be at the top of his list when he needs us to do tasks. At least that’s what I think” Logan stares at Jones while he walks to a different section of the camp training the other soldiers. 

“That’s a good guess” I remark. I look in the forest behind me. I see a small black figure move behind a bush and past some trees. Curiously I get up and jog to where I saw the figure. But I arrive to find nothing. No tracks, just nothing. I shake it off and get back to the guys.

“What is it?” Logan puts his hand on my shoulder, worriedly, if I’m ok.

“I thought I saw something but it’s just my mind messing with me” I help Logan stand up and Marcus and John follow. We all head to the mess hall to grab some food since we haven’t eaten since 8 am this morning. For the rest of the day, all I need to do is clean out some tents and organize the trucks. This shouldn’t be too bad. 

November 12, 1942 7:47 pm

Deer meat is the best meat, in my opinion, along with potatoes and roasted vegetables, the best meal any soldier could ask for. I finish chewing my last bite and push my plate aside waiting for the others to be done. My, do they take such small bites, my grandma could have eaten faster than these 25 year old's. Instead I look at Logan finishing his dinner. He doesn’t even know I’m staring at him. Seconds after he swallows, he turns his head to stare at me. Now we’re looking at each other. Part of me tells me to take him back to our tent and spend the rest of the night just me and him. 

“Do you want to get out of here?” He whispers so only I could hear him.

“Yes” I don’t hesitate to reply. The others were so wrapped up in their conversations that they didn’t notice me and Logan leaving. Finally! We ran to our tent hoping no one saw us leaving. I giggle, a female instinct that I hope to get rid of and never use it again. He pushes the doors to the tent aside and leads me to my bed. He spins me around and looks me down on my face. 

“After this war passes, I’m going to marry you.” He hands me a beautiful bracelet made of twine and a beautiful wooden design carved into it. A heart with our initials on it. 

“It’s my promise that I’ll always love you. You’ll always have a piece of me with you”. I put the bracelet on and put the biggest smile on my face. I looked back up to him and reached in for a kiss. Understanding the memo he kissed me back and wrapped his arms around my waist. Lovingly I press my thin lips against his big tender ones, never wanting to let go even though I know that someone might walk in and catch us. I don’t care, I love him. I’ll always love him. If it wasn’t for that kiss, all of us would’ve been dead. 

To be continued…

This is only part 1, I didn’t have time to write all the parts of the story for this week so for next weeks writing prompts, I’ll write part two and have it submitted in “Write about light returning to a place that has been deprived of it for a long time, literally or figuratively”.