Chapter 14. Hear that voice again

  It had been a long morning. After a tiring walk up from the harbour

  Charlotte emptied the basket of crayfish into the outside laundry

  tubs and sat under the trellised walkway that lead back to the house.

  A flurry of finches flitted through the vines overhead. She closed

  her eyes and soaked in the scent of the climbing honeysuckle.

  As she listened to the finches chitting to each other, Charlotte thought

  she heard the sound of male voice in the house.

  Coming in from the garden she found Nain Joan and Vie sitting with a

  man who had a walking stick lent against his chair.

  "Please don't go to any trouble." the man said.

  "It won't be any trouble at all." Vie said. "I'll make us some tea."

  She squeezed Charlotte's hand as she walked past into the kitchen.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  "Charlotte," Nain Joan said, "let me introduce our guest."

  The man got awkwardly to his feet. A short cropped beard partially hid

  the scarring on his neck.

  "It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Charlotte." he said, "My name is Elijah."

  *

  Vie set the tray down.

  "One thing the War has shown me," Elijah said, "is how small the world is.

  When I told Finn I was coming home to St. Just, he asked if me I would

  stop by and visit."

  Charlotte poured the tea. "My sister and I used to try to scare each other

  with stories of the haunted stone circles of St. Just."

  Elijah laughed. "So you've you been there then."

  You're still a handsome man thought Charlotte.

  "How did you and Finn meet?" Vie asked.

  Elijah looked away for a moment. "Finn found me when I'd lost all hope.

  Our squad had been tasked to do a night time raid on the German lines,

  but before we were even half across we were spotted. My friend got hit

  and I got hit when I stopped to help him. We dragged ourselves into a

  shell hole for cover and waited for help, but none came. We waited all

  that night and the next day. We were both in a bad way, my friend had

  lost a lot of blood."

  Elijah stirred his cup of tea.

  "He told me he'd dreamt of his Mother singing to him when he was child,

  and he asked me to sing to him. So I sang. I sang every song that I knew

  and I held his hand until he died."

  Elijah wept. "That's how Finn found me."

  *

  The next morning Vie sat at her writing desk and re-read the letter

  that Elijah had given her from Finn.

  To my dearest Vie,

  When the War is over, will you come away with me and find a place

  somewhere in this world, that is as far from here as it is possible to be...

  Vie had said yes a hundred times before she'd gone to sleep. On the

  desk were some blue wild flowers that Finn had put in the letter.

  ...amongst all the churned earth and misery here, there are still some

  small fragments of colour that give me hope.

  *