Sweet Satisfaction (Purple UGC Winner 2014)

Sweet Satisfaction - Eight

Eight

Ingoldisthorpe, Norfolk, England

I stared at the words. I blinked. I blinked again. The lack of punctuation couldn’t help me decide the mood behind it.

“Did my father send this telegraph?” I asked Emma. She nodded fervently.

I rounded on Rose as worry and fear bounced into my stomach, making it flip over and over. My whole body was a shaking, crumbling statue, losing its regal-ness.

“We were staying with you until March- until Father finished his mission!” I cried, forgetting to use the word ‘inquiry’. Why else would we be called home, unless something had happened to Father, making him return early? I felt like I had been slapped; Emma’s eyes were narrowing, even Mary and Rose were throwing me urgent looks. When your Father is a spy, you don’t tell a stranger he goes on missions.

Emma’s voice crackled through the air like a sharp whistle. My insides churned; she was going to ask, she was going to ask… In fact, she stated something more obvious:

“Elsie, can you read? It says for you to go home, not Mary.”

An hour later, my trunks were packed and stowed in the carriage. I was standing in front of Rose, Mary and Emma, supported by Beatrice, as I kept swaying on my crutch.

Rose caught on to the anxiety that filled my face.

“I’m sure everything will be fine,” she tried to reassure me, giving me a hug.

Emma went ahead to open the doors as Mary and I stared awkwardly at each other. Something had changed between us since she had laughed and played with Emma.

“Well, keep yourself safe then,” I finally said with a false note of cheeriness.

Then I hobbled out the room, through the big oak doors, down the crumbling steps and to the carriage. Tears glazed my eyes.

Beatrice and I were waved off and then a silent atmosphere filled the carriage. Beatrice didn’t know where to look. I started to sketch but the pencil snapped, as I pressed too hard.

Venom filled my hands and I threw the book with a scream. I was so angry at everything; I could rip my hair out! I wanted to return home with Mary and not carry the burden of knowing I was returning to something changed.

Why me, why had I been called home? I had already had so many shocks such as Emma’s slap. That was definitely undermined by the bomb attack. I saw the Zeppelins everywhere I went, even in my sleep. Had Father been involved in a bomb attack, had the Zeppelins reached him too? The Zeppelins had reached Percy and Alice in the street I was in and stolen their lives from them, whilst I was spared. Was Mother alright?

Beatrice stared at me, as my fingers curled up into tense claws, shaking and I let out little gasps. She saw the tears coming before I did and threw me into a hug as I started wailing.

“It’s alright,” she told me soothingly, patting my back.

*****

“Elsie, Elsie,” someone called, bringing me back to the present. Lifting my eyelids seemed tiresome, a huge task. I guessed I had been asleep for a while. The light had dimmed, and my head hurt.

Feeling groggy, I peered out the window. I was instantly hit by cool and refreshing air against my face, the smell of salty sea overpowered my nose and the seagulls’ calls were welcoming.

“Home,” I whispered.