Short Story- Return To Me

Return To Me

As I turned towards the sunset, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around slowly, my heart thumping like a drum in my chest. Who could it be? I had thought I was alone.

Behind me stood a tall handsome young man, with curly brown hair and blue eyes. I turned pale when I saw him standing there and took a step back. It was Daniel Kilenton. The last time I had heard anything about him it was a letter to say that he had died in the war.

Tears started to fall down my pale face as he put out a shaky hand to stroke my cheek. He brushed away a tear, and smiled sadly. It was then that I realized that he was wounded. His right arm was wrapped up in a bandage and blood could be seen seeping through the cloth.

“I thought y-you w-w-were…. I got a.. l-letter s-saying you were d-dead.” I stuttered, unable to take my eyes off the young man who I had thought I would never set eyes on again.

“Jessie, I promised you before I left that I would return to you and I have” Daniel said, tears now streaming down his face, “I thought of you every day, when I was away overseas in the war. But now we are together again and I’ll never leave you again.”

I smiled and fell into the arms of the man I loved. We hugged each other where we stood, tears streaming down both of our faces.

“Does your family know you’re back?” I asked, looking into Daniel’s blue eyes.

“No. I came back last night but was staying with a mate. I wanted to see you. I couldn’t live another day without seeing you again. I stopped by at your house but your mother told me you’d be here.” Daniel smiled, “It’s getting late. Let me walk you home.”

The two lovers walked down the path together in silence hand in hand, in the direction of Jessie’s house.

“What happened to you then? We all thought you had died. And what happened to James? His parents received a letter that he would be returning on the next boat” I asked, breaking the silence after a couple of minutes.

“You mean James’ folks don’t know…?” Daniel asked, his face turning pale.

“Don’t know what?” I asked, my heart beating in my chest like a drum.

“A couple of us, James, Andrew, and I, were sent to capture a German soldier from across no-man’s land. There was a large explosion…” Daniel started to trail off, and tears appeared in his eyes.

I put a hand on Daniel’s arm, and he looked at me with round sad eyes.

“I injured my arm, badly, when trying to get away but James didn’t make it.” Daniel said, looking as if he was far away back on the battle field.

I couldn’t say anything. It felt as if I had something stuck in my throat. Many of the young men that I had known growing up had been killed, or lost, in this war. Tears came to my eyes, again. I was just glad that Daniel had returned to me.

Daniel sighed sadly, and looked at me. He placed a strand of my brown hair behind my ear and smiled sadly.

“James and I must have been muddled by mistake when the telegrams were being sent out. I must tell his folks the bad news.” Daniel said, sadly.

“What about Andrew?” I asked.

Andrew was my cousin and we hadn’t heard any news from him for the past month.

“He made it out alive, and will be soon back with his people too. But he won’t ever be the same…” James said, then he shook his head sadly, “I don’t want to talk about the war. I want to enjoy the present moment, with you. Come on, let’s get you home.”

We walked along in silence until we got to my house. Then James kissed me on the cheek then left to go back home and to his family, who he hadn’t seen in months.

As I watched him walk off down the road I prayed silently to myself, “Thank you Lord, for returning him safely back to me.”