Roll Call

The air was crisp; the clouds hovered ominously in the low, sunset sky. The platform was coated in a fine layer of dust and the walls of the station hall were covered in black soot from the numerous trains that had passed over the decades. It was early winter and the traces of autumn had already faded out of the colour of the leaves. Pearly grey mist pervaded the air and swirled around their feet, the two of them, standing on the platform opposite each other, gazing into the other’s eyes.

He looked down and admired her face from the accentuated slant of her cheekbones to the subtle curvature of her jaw. Smiling, he traced a single line from the top of her temple, down past her tiny nose and gently caressed the bottom of her lip. She trembled slightly – something he had learnt to expect. From there he gently ruffled her soft, hazel brown hair; it was free flowing past her shoulders, not regimented in its usual bun. They had been spending so much time together recently that they hadn’t cared too much over their personal appearance – not since he had received the letter.

Conscription. Roll call. The meaning was the same in every country and carried an identical sentence across the continents– you were being called to sign your life away to the hands of fate, to be a pawn in the vast and volatile chessboard of war.

“It’s going to be okay,” he whispered brokenly, murmuring as he pressed his lips to her stone-cold forehead.

She looked into the depths of his pale, greyish eyes and saw the torment and fear that lay precariously around their edges, threatening to spill if the barriers of his bravery would waver for the slightest of seconds. He had charmed her from the beginning with his gentlemanlike manner and mild temperament, his strength of character and kindness.

They had met in the local town hall at the summer annual dance of this very same year. She had been new in town, her family having moved to the countryside so that her father could live in the fresh, unpolluted air – he had developed an aggressive form of lung cancer so had decided to live out the remainder of his days in the open, expansive spaces of the lustrous outdoors. She hadn’t resented moving away. She had always been a quiet, reserved person and didn’t care too much for the wildness London entertained through it’s extravagant theatres and lifestyle; the rural way of life suited her much better.

She had, however been nervous about trying to integrate into an entirely new community. Socialising with people she didn’t know had never been a particular talent she possessed; that was how she came to be at the town hall at all. Her parents had wanted to make the move an opportunity for her to start a new chapter of her life, so all but physically forced her to put on her evening wear and attend the event.

She had been sitting at a table, uncomfortable and tense as she watched the couples laughing and frolicking, exchanging stories and dancing with an ease of familiarity and confidence. It was then that he walked through the door, commanding the attention of the room with his smooth gait and air of assurance. She was transfixed.

He greeted some of the people she had been watching, flashing a set of gleaming white teeth. His hair was full and golden, his straight nose and chiselled features creating an irresistible masculine presence that she thought only belonged in the fantasy realm of movie glamour or romantic literature.

He looked over his shoulder and saw her staring. Horrified by the thought of her gawping expression she quickly averted her gaze, pretending to be fascinated by a loose ream of ribbon that had come undone on her chair. It was only when she felt the soft touch of a hand on her shoulder that she turned. He was closer than she had expected, bending down on his knees so their faces were level.

“Good evening, I’m terribly sorry to disturb you but I felt I must come and introduce myself. I’m the son of the man your family recently bought a house from. I was going to greet you the other day when I saw you but you had already gone into your house and I didn’t want to concern you.”