Memory
The second month.
Day Thirty-three
Edmund got out of bed when the first rays of sunlight entered his small bedroom. He got dressed and then he slowly descended the stairs so as not to wake the other inhabitants of the house. He began to cook, he was hungry. His appetite was coming back little by little so he took the opportunity to eat and regain his strength.
Aunt Alberta came into the kitchen when Edmund was about to sit down to eat. Aunt Alberta stopped walking when she saw him. She hadn't expected to see Edmund.
“Goodmorning, Ed.”
“Goodmorning, aunt Alberta.”
Edmund slid his plate across the table to give it to his aunt before getting up and cooking again.
“Thank you. How are you today?” asked aunt Alberta.
“Better. What about you?”
“I’m fine.”
Aunt Alberta started talking to Edmund about everything and anything, he didn't always answer, but it didn't matter to Aunt Alberta, she was just happy that her new baby was doing better. That was all she had asked for.
They ate their breakfast in peace. Well, until Lucy got up too and she let out a cry of joy before literally throwing herself around her brother's neck when she saw him sitting in the kitchen.
Throughout breakfast, Lucy hadn't taken her eyes off her brother, and her smile hadn't faded either. If she hadn't stopped looking at him, it was because she had been afraid that her imagination was playing tricks on her, she was afraid that if she looked away for even a single second then Edmund would disappear.
“Can you stop staring at me, Lu?”
Lucy looked away reluctantly, but she still looked at him out of the corner of her eye.
No one had seen it - except Lucy - but Edmund was smiling and it was a small victory for her.
Edmund hadn't left the house that day, but at least he hadn't gone back to his room. He had helped Aunt Alberta with the household chores.
Day Forty.
Edmund and Eustace were playing a game of chess. It was just the beginning of the game, but Edmund was already winning. He knew it. He also knew that Eustace was letting him win.
“How did you meet her?” asked Eustace, curious.
“Who?”
“Dahlia.”
Hearing her name being spoken aloud, Edmund felt like crying again. He took a sip from his glass of water. He moved one of his knights on the board and took Eustace's pawn. And he told him the story.
Realizing that Peter and Lucy were gone, Susan and Edmund quickly got up and went looking for them. They had no trouble finding them, they just had to follow the sounds of commotion to know where they were. Susan had her bow and arrow in her hands and Edmund held his sword tight. When they looked around they saw Narnians and a boy was standing in front of Peter. But Edmund only had eyes for the girl who was near the Minotoror.
Edmund was so taken aback by her beauty that it took long, embarrassing minutes before he could look away. And, he was certain that her complexion had turned as red as the coat of arms of Narnia when she smiled at him.
In reality, it was nothing special. She had long hair, it was brown or maybe black, a common color, but yet in her color took on a whole new dimension. She had green eyes with a tiny hint of brown in them. She looked small – although it was hard to tell at the time, everyone looked small next to the Minotors. He thought he saw freckles too, but he was too far away to actually see them. He internally laughed at the irony of it, from where he was he could see that she had a bit of brown in her eyes but if she had freckles.
His heartbeat echoed in his ears so much that he couldn't hear the conversation between his big brother and the boy - he found out later on the way that it was Prince Caspian.
Prince Caspian took the four Pevensie children to where they were all hiding. Edmund was walking behind his sisters, he had his head lowered to see where he was stepping, he didn't notice right away that he was joined by the young girl whose name he still didn't know.
“Your majesty?” her voice was so soft and barely above a whisper.
“Yes? Sorry?” Edmund turned his head towards her and he fell to the ground when she smiled at him once again.
She had laughed just before helping him up and she helped him remove the leaves and twigs of grass from his hair. Edmund blushed again, but this time he couldn't tell if it was because of shame or because she had touched him.
Due to their proximity, he could finally tell that she did indeed have freckles and he had no idea it could be so pretty.
“You really feel?” laughed Eustace.
“I sprawled out full length.” laughed Edmund while remembering.
“What a first impression.” Eustace mocked him.
“Yeah…it’s your turn.”
Day Fifty.
Edmund was in the living room, he was sitting near the window with an open book on his lap although he was watching more what was going on outside than he was reading his book. He didn't even know what story he was telling. Her uncle and aunt were not there. Only Lucy and Eustace were home with him.
“Dahlia?”
Edmund sat up quickly when he thought he saw Dahlia. He got up, dropping the book on the floor and he walked towards the door, he opened it and he shouted once again the name of the young woman. He had imagined it. Dahlia was not there.
Edmund closed the door reluctantly.
Alerted by Edmund's cries, Lucy and Eustace raced down the stairs to join him.
“What happened?” asked Lucy, panicking.
“Nothing. Nothing at all. I thought I saw Dahlia.”
“Oh…Edmund…”
Lucy smiled sadly at her brother, who sat back down after picking up his book. Lucy went to sit across from her brother and Eustace sat on the arm of his father's chair.
Edmund looked carefully at the cover of the book which was now closed in his lap. He didn't want to meet their gaze because he knew what he would find there. Of pity. They had only looked at him like that for a month and a half.
“I really thought she was here…it seemed so real, Lu.”
“I know…it’s like when I think I see Aslan whilst he was not.”
“Except with Aslan, in the end, you were right. You really saw him. I know she was not.”
“I am really sorry, Ed…”
Edmund just shrugged, it wasn't his fault after all. It was his brain that had decided to play a dirty trick on him.
“It’s no big deal, right? Like you said, Lu, I’ll get over it.”
Day Fifty-Five
Lucy was coming back from the market with Aunt Alberta, they had gone to buy fruits and vegetables for the week. Lucy walked towards her big brother, her left hand was hidden behind her back and she smiled tenderly at him, like when she was little and wanted to soften him up to do what she wanted.
“I have a gift for you, Edmund.”
Edmund arched his eyebrow, he was intrigued but he said nothing, he was waiting for Lucy to give him his present.
Lucy handed the flower to Edmund who took it. It wasn't the first time Lucy had given her flowers or a flower.
“Thank you, Lu.”
“You know what kind of flower it is?” she asked, not entirely sure.
Lucy wanted to be sure her brother understood what kind of flower it was and why it was so valuable.
“The pompoms that mum had in the garden before the war started?” guessed Edmund.
“No. It’s a Dahlia.”
“Oh.”
Edmund's eyes gleamed with tears that threatened to fall but he quickly swallowed them back before standing up, kissing his sister on the cheek to thank her again and going to put her in a vase before leaving. go and drop her off in her room.
Day Sixty.
Edmund didn't know what time it was, the moon was already high in the sky, the night must have already started well. Stars decorated the dark sky. He tried to find the constellations he had seen in Narnia, but in vain. The English starry sky did not surpass that of Narnia.
He thought back to all the sleepless nights they'd spent staring at the night sky with Dahlia. And how the moon reflected divinely in Dahlia's eyes.
Edmund and Dahlia were sitting on the ruins in which they had been hiding for several days already.
“How is it where you are from, your majesty?” asked Dahlia.
“Call me Edmund. Technically, I’m not a King anymore.
“If you insist, Edmund.”
It was the first time he had heard her say his first name and the way she said it made Edmund's heart beat faster. He almost wanted to ask her to say it again and again, until her first name became just a word that didn't mean anything.
“England is… different from here. The air is polluted, people are mean to each other and the fact that we've been in the middle of a war for three years now doesn't do anything to fix the tensions.”
“Can you help in this war?”
“No. I’m too young to fight in my world.”
“Oh…”
Edmund then told him about all the technological advances in his world. He told her about telephones, trains and cars. He also told her about school and her good grades - he tried to impress her as if it meant something to her.
Dahlia looked at him in wonder. She drank in each of Edmund's words as if they were divine words. The world he came from intrigued her and she wanted to go there to see it with her own eyes.
“And, do you have one of those things…a car?”
“No, I’m too young for that, too.”
“Your world seems less funny for the young people.”
“It is.”
Edmund made the mistake of turning his head towards her. The Moon reflected on her face, giving her an angelic look, the stars embellishing her eyes even more. He was a goner.
As it was the day before the battle, it really felt good for Edmund to spend one last evening with a free spirit. He didn't want to think about what would happen the next day and the many lives they could potentially lose the next day.
“Are you afraid for tomorrow?” asked Dahlia.
“Yes.” admitted Edmund. “We already lost so many lives when we decided to attack Miraz’s castle, I don’t want to see any more of the Narnians' blood to be shed.”
Dahlia put a reassuring hand on Edmund's forearm and smiled at him.
“We will be victorious tomorrow. I know.”
“You will be careful tomorrow, right?”
“I will try to be. I promise you.”
Edmund nodded before they once again turned their attention to the starry sky.
Edmund ends up lying down. He faced his bedside table where a thin vase sat and in it - with an abundance of water that was surely not very good for the flower - was his flower, a Dahlia.
Edmund sighed before closing his eyes and finally falling asleep. He couldn't believe it had been two months already.