The Nurse

Chapter 3: Survivor

Albert propped himself up onto his elbows, scooting back in the bed. "You are different than anyone else I have met in Belgium."

Eloise looked at him with a puzzled expression on her face. "How?"

"You actually trust a German to be in your home."

"I don't trust you, but I don't hate you, either." She replied bluntly. "I guess when you don't have anything to lose, no one can really take anything from you. I have nothing left for you to take, except my life and it doesn't have much worth to the world anymore."

He stared at her confused. "What about your family?"

Her eyes roamed around the empty room while the images of her past life began to trickle back into her subconscious. The painted picture of her mother and her father returned to her memories, while the scenes of her childhood replayed in full color. She shut her eyes tightly, bedding the resurfacing feeling back down into her heart. When she opened her eyes, the darkness loomed around her, hugging her like a mother to her child.

"They are all dead." Her voice went cold and stern. "But it wasn't the war that took them. No man was at fault for their death except the grim reaper himself." She bit the corner of her lip nervously, fearing she had said to much already.

Albert redirected his gaze back onto the ceiling, letting the silence of the night fill into the room once again. The open wound of the past was present again in Eloise's heart and she had to close off the pain that she had worked so hard to heal.

"I am sorry about your family." Albert kindly spoke, leaning his head against the cold metal bedrail. "I know that family is very important in a person's life and it must be hard to lose them all."

She shrugged calmly, sitting down at his bedside. "You learn to relive once they are gone." Eloise shook her head, pursing her lips together. "Some wounds never truly heal, you just learn to live with the pain."

Eloise took the warm handle of the candleholder into her hand, letting the light illuminate her face. "You should try and rest, captain," she nodded, pressing her hand against his shoulder. "Your wounds will not heal on their own."

♠

The morning light shone brightly from underneath the wooden door, driving away the dark shadows the night made in the small cottage. Eloise could feel the burning sensation in her tired eyes as the sunlight pierced them. Albert was still sleeping soundly leaned against the rail of the rickety bed. A peaceful expression rested on his square face as he slept. She pushed herself up from the hard wicker chair. The loud creak of the old wood echoed in the still room, leaving her with a fear that she awoke the sleeping man. She halted momentarily and stretched her limbs outward. A satisfying sensation coursed through her stiffened body as she worked the kinks out of her muscles.

                She wandered to the corner of the room where she kept her small supply of food and water, which consisted of the objects she could hunt or gather in the week and remain unnoticed.  The stockpile was very bare, but offered enough sustenance to support life. She found a wooden bowl and filled it with tiny wild strawberries. Quietly, she placed the bowl of fresh red fruits and a tin cup of water beside Albert, who remained in a deep rest.

                Around the room were the remnants of nursing material from the previous night. A porcelain bowl rested on the floor, stained red with the crimson blood of the stranger. Inside the bowl was the long needle she had used to stitch his wounds. Linen clothes were scatted around near the bowl and around his bed. They, too, were coated with droplets of blood.

She looked down at the destroyed table once again, wondering what she could do with its remains. While thinking, Eloise gathered herself some berries and began eating them silently in corner. Her mind pondered on what the long hours of the new day would provide her with. She could not help but think about the outcome of the soldier in her bed. It was too late to leave him now, he knew about her existence.