Soldierboy

Chapter Thirteen

After her brief encounter with Danny in the street, Kelly suddenly felt a little nervous about going out as much.

The expression on his face, with its hint of uncertainty as his eyes met hers, stayed with her.

In one way she felt a little guilty about just hurrying away like a coward, unable to face him again. But she told herself that on the other hand, what else could she have said or done, under the circumstances.

Seeing him again so unexpectedly had been a shock, and the way it had affected her. If had smiled and spoke to her, she realised she might have weakened in her resolve to stay away from him.

Now that time had passed, and the hurt she had first felt by his betrayal was fading a little, she found herself admitting she did miss him, and she hated herself for that.

But it was too late now to make things better she realised miserably, in a few weeks time Danny would be returning to England, and fretting about what might have been, or if she should have reacted in a different way, was pointless.

She was lying in her bed, wallowing in her secret misery under the pretence of having a bad cold, so she wouldn't have to go into work a few days later, she just didn't have the emotional strength to face everyone pretending to be happy any more, when her mother came into her room

"Are you okay love, do want me to get you something?" she enquired in concern

"No I'll be fine in a few days," Kelly replied, "I just feel like I am coming down with something, I might take a lemsip later or something," Kelly fobbed her mother of, feeling a little guilty about lying to her

"Alright, by the way, the postman's just been, and there is a letter for you, don't think its anything official though your name and address have been handwritten, and it seems to be local from the stamp on it" she said thoughtfully, handing Kelly the white envelope.

"Thanks Ma," Kelly took the envelope of her, now curious herself, wondering who it was from.

She didn't recognise the sloping handwriting on the front, but it was addressed to her under the title Miss Kelly Caruthers, so it seemed very formal.

She tore open the envelope and pulled out the two sheets of notepaper inside, infolding them, the first thing her eyes fell on was the address in the right hand corner, and realised it was Danny's name and the address of the army barracks.

"Are you sure you are alright Kelly?" her mother asked again in concern noticing her daughter suddenly turning pale, ""Who is the letter from?"

"Um, its from Danny," Kelly blurted out

"Oh that's nice," Her mother smiled, as far she knew, Kelly and Danny had parted as amiable friends.

"Well I will leave you to read it in peace, just give me a shout if you need anything." she told her before disappearing and leaving Kelly alone with the letter.

Kelly noticed her hands were suddenly shaking whilst holding the pieces of paper, and she forced herself to try and calm down, before she started reading the letter, taking in a deep breath, recovering from the shock.

Her heart was thumping loudly, and her mouth had gone dry, as she tried to figure out why he was writing to her now of all times.

But finally she found the strength to get around to reading more than the address in the corner.

Dear Kelly" it started,

I know you told me you did not want me to get in contact with you the last time we spoke, But the other day, seeing you again on the street like that. shook me. So much so, that Craig persuaded me that doing this was a good idea, so if you are mad at anyone, be angry with him.