Charlie heaved a sigh and slumped back on her bunk, exhausted. Trying to find the rest of her unit amongst the hundreds of nurses on the ship was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Not, of course, that she'd know anything about that. But no matter how many people she'd asked or how rigorously she'd searched the crowd for uniforms with patches identical to her own, finding anyone who was bound for the same tiny English village as her had been impossible.
She supposed it made sense that there wouldn't be too many nurses in a unit. There weren't enough of them to go around in total, across the entirety of America, let alone to spread generously throughout Europe and have enough to spare for Africa and the Pacific. Still, she hoped she would be able to find at least one other girl in the same unit as her before the ship docked and she had to make her way to London, and then from London to Aldbourne; she'd never had to travel by herself before and doing all of that alone seemed like a baptism of fire.
By the time her fourth day on the ship rolled around Charlie decided to give up looking for others altogether. Whilst it was true she'd hoped to spend at least half of the eleven days on the ship with the other girls she was due to spend the war with, the odds seemed to be tipped against her; it didn't seem as though any of the other girls in her unit were on the same ship as her at all. Maybe they'd gone over to England earlier than she had, had perhaps decided to opt out of visiting home first. Or maybe they were going later - perhaps not all of the nurses were needed overseas at the moment. Perhaps they were still finishing their training.
Really, Charlie thought it was ridiculous that they kept them so in the dark about everything. She had no idea who she was serving with, where she'd be living, or how long she'd be staying there for. All she'd been told was the name of her unit - the 23rd Field Hospital -, where it was stationed, and the hospital she'd be serving in whilst awaiting deployment to combat. It had seemed like all the information she could possibly need to know when she'd first received the letter detailing everything, but now she found it sorely lacking. Could they not have taken the time to put at least one name of someone in her unit in the letter, someone she'd be travelling with? Frustrating. The whole thing was frustrating and she hadn't even made it across the Atlantic yet.
Her final Thursday morning aboard the ship was ushered in with wind and rain. The wind of late February had been chilly back in New York but as they neared Britain it became biting. Charlie braved the cold if only to get some fresh air. After living in the pockets of all of the other girls bunking with her for so long, she wasn't sure how much more of the overwhelming heat and the thickness of pre-breathed air she could take.
Out on the deck and leaning against the railing, Charlie closed her eyes against the lashing of the wind and the spray of ocean water on her face, letting the rainwater flatten her hair. Her cheeks started to sting with the harshness of the cold and her ears began to ring, her fingers bright red and shaking even where they were clenched tightly into fists in her pockets. It was all still a welcome relief from the terrible heat and noise inside. At least no one was stepping on her fingers or knocking into her legs whilst climbing up the bunks on the way to their bed.
She remained that way for a while, letting the wind and rain beat at her face and neck, allowing the sounds of the waves beneath her to calm her pacing heart. Strands of light brunette hair tore loose of the updo she'd styled it in and stuck to her cheeks and lips but she didn't mind; it was better to have them stick to her skin with rainwater than with sweat, in any case, as they had been for the better part of the last week.
"Oh, wow," gasped a voice which started coughing the moment the words were out.
Charlie opened her eyes and squinted against the salt water, turning to the door she'd emerged from herself only about ten minutes previously.
The only other soul on the ship brave enough to venture out into the icy wind and rain turned out to be a fellow Cadet Nurse, a girl with captivating bright red hair who stood wearing the same uniform Charlie did as if she'd been born in it. Her crimson hair whipped into her face as she coughed the chill out of her throat, its curls already flattening under the rain. When she finally freed herself from breathlessness and her hair she looked up at Charlie immediately, as if having had an intuition that she was standing there, and grinned.
"Just a little bit cold," said the girl, still grinning. Her face wasn't one Charlie recognised - she was sure she'd have remembered running into such a striking girl, if not because of her hair then because of the scar making its way from her left temple to the edge of her lip, angry as if it was still only recently sealed. No, this girl had clearly managed to evade Charlie in her search for anyone going the same way as her once they docked in England, and she couldn't help but hope that that might mean she was in her unit.
"Only a very little bit," Charlie agreed, smiling back at her. "A beautiful day to be at sea," she went on as the redheaded girl approached the railing and came to stand a little ways away from her.
The girl crossed her arms on the railing, evidently not minding how cold and slippery it was to the touch. She leaned over the edge to look into the deep blue of the ocean beneath them, where the waves were furious at their defeat as the ship cut through them as easily as a knife through butter.
She let out a small laugh as Charlie leaned over the railing, too, gazing into the ocean along with her. "It'll get worse the closer we get," the girl said, though not ruefully. Instead, she sounded excited by the prospect - delighted, even. "From what I've heard about England, it rains and rains and rains, and then when it's done raining it rains some more."
Charlie laughed lightly, pushing up from the railing and turning to face the other girl. "That about covers what I've heard about it, too." When the girl faced her as well she smiled warmly and offered her hand. "I'm Charlie."
"And I'm Autumn," replied the girl. She gave Charlie's hand a firm shake.
Charlie couldn't help but smile; the name suited her so well. No doubt she'd been named for her hair the colour of autumn leaves.
"Pleased to meet you," Autumn went on. "Where are you headed once we dock?"
"A small village in Wiltshire," replied Charlie. She was about to go on and name it but Autumn cut her off without seeming to realise she was doing it.
"Not London, then?" Autumn quirked a brow.
Charlie shook her head with a tiny smile, amused by the other girl. "Unfortunately not, no. Though I'm hoping I'll be able to get there at some point. I don't think I'll be too far from London."
"It's not Aldbourne, is it?" Autumn ventured, turning her face into the wind and smiling when it threw her hair back in her face. "Where you're going?"
Charlie's face changed in an instant. She could feel the beaming smile lighting up her face, even cautious as she was of coming across as too enthusiastic. "Yes!" she exclaimed in her excitement. "Aldbourne, in Wiltshire! Are you headed there too?"
Autumn smiled almost lazily. "It just so happens that I am."
Charlie's smile softened with relief. "Really? I've not managed to find anyone from my unit yet." She shook her head with a soft laugh before going on, "Though, to be honest with you, I stopped asking a while ago."
Autumn chuckled her agreement. "It's so loud in there that every conversation I've had has consisted about ninety percent of 'what did you say's and 'can you repeat that's. I stopped trying as well, in the end." The two of them shared a smile before Autumn went on, "So you're in the 23rd?"
Charlie nodded, so relieved to have found someone else in her unit she really could have wept. She couldn't wait to get back to her bunk and write yet another letter to her parents, assuring them that she'd finally found a friend after the many, many despairing letters she'd written to them lamenting that she hadn't.
"I keep wondering how many of us there'll be in our unit," Autumn said idly. She leaned back out over the railing and closed her eyes against the spray of the water, her smile easy and alive.
"Not too many, I hope," replied Charlie with a small shrug, smiling as she watched this strange girl interact with the world as though she was experiencing it for the very first time. "It'd be nice if there were only a few of us. That way we can really get to know each other."
"I'm hoping there'll be quite a lot," Autumn admitted on the contrary, finally pushing herself up to standing again. She didn't bother wiping her face, just let the water drip down it and soak her uniform. "We'll need all the help we can get if we're going to be looking after however many men." Even as she voiced her frets there was something casual about her voice, unbothered and cheery, as though all of this was just an adventure and there was nothing in it worth worrying about. Charlie envied her for her nonchalance just as much as she was puzzled by it.
Charlie considered Autumn's words for a moment and then nodded. "That's true enough." She looked around her, squinting through the rain as her eyes swept the deck, as if waiting for someone to appear. "I wonder if any of the others in our unit are onboard right now. There's so many of us it's impossible to find out."
"Maybe," Autumn said. She buried her face into her collar as a particularly violent gust of wind slapped her across her soaking wet face, making a grimace into her jacket that made Charlie laugh. "I'm gonna have to get inside soon," she confessed. "It's freezing out here."
Charlie hummed her agreement. "I came out here because it was so hot in there, but now I'm going to have to go back in because it's too cold. I'll be glad when the ship docks if it means normal room temperatures, that's for certain."
Autumn grinned as she led the way across the deck and through the door, holding it open for Charlie.
Charlie relished the warmth as it closed again behind her. The overhead light was bright in comparison to the grey outside but the tight metal walls were a welcome sort of closeness.
"How long do you figure until we're sweating again?" Charlie asked while chafing her hands together. Her cheeks were rosy and her hair plastered in swirls across her face. Raindrops were still slipping down her nose and temples and jumping onto her collar but, like Autumn, she didn't bother to wipe them away; at this point, she was so wet there would have been no point in expending the effort.
"Oh, about five minutes, I'd say," remarked Autumn casually with a wry smile. "And we're wet, too, so we'll not only be hot and sweaty, we'll be sticky as well."
Charlie let out a sound that was half a laugh and half a groan. "Lucky us."
Charlie followed after Autumn, a silent agreement passing between them that they'd go to Autumn's bunk. They made their way through the labyrinthine hallways, dripping a trail of water like breadcrumbs as they went, and when they made it to their destination Autumn sat down on her bed, even soaking wet as she was, and gestured for Charlie to do the same. Charlie cringed as she did it but Autumn didn't seem to mind, already beginning to make introductions to acquaint Charlie with the tens of girls surrounding them on all sides.
"Is it raining out there?" the girl in the bunk above Autumn asked. She peered over the edge of her bed and made a face at the two figures dripping water on the mattress below.
"It's dry as a desert, actually," answered Autumn without missing a beat, pulling at her hair in an attempt to unstick it from her face. "Just thought I'd go for a swim, see how long I could keep up with the ship before I got caught in the propellers."
Charlie snorted a laugh that she hastily covered with a cough into her sleeve. The girl above huffed and muttered something snarky before lying back down again.
Autumn shot a glance at Charlie beside her, still giggling into her sleeve, and grinned. "How old are you, Charlie?"
Charlie lowered her arm almost tentatively and smiled shyly. "Nineteen," she confessed. "But don't tell anyone." She didn't want people to think she didn't deserve to be here just because she'd been born too late.
"You lied about your age?" Autumn surmised. She didn't seem to doubt Charlie's aptitude at all; instead, the smile that took over her face held something like pride at her small act of rebellion.
"I graduated high school early," Charlie explained with a sheepish shrug, still smiling bashfully. "I didn't see the point in waiting around until I was old enough when I was already ready to train."
Autumn gave her a conspiratorial smile. "Your secret's safe with me."
Looking at her, this strange but kind girl who had already seemed to take Charlie under her wing, Charlie believed her, and let the shyness fade from her smile in place of gratitude.
"So, Charlie, where are you from?" Autumn asked, and the conversation raced on from there.
The pair of them covered all of their first bases, got the getting-to-know-yous out of the way, and then found themselves acquainting each other with their more complex thoughts, things they wouldn't normally disclose to an all-but-stranger but not thinking twice about it just now.
By the time they got to England, Charlie thought, it would be as though they'd known each other forever. And probably, by the time the war ended, they would have.