Evelyn's Tale

-Two-

Three weeks had passed by rather quickly since Evelyn had arrived at Camp Toccoa, and during that time a particularly nasty stomach bug had swept through the camp, rendering both nurses and soldiers alike sick. Evelyn had been one of only a handful of nurses who hadn't succumbed to it and therefore had been forced to work almost non-stop to cover for those who weren't able to. She had managed to see her brother only twice and both times were just a quick half an hour in the mess hall, which didn't feel like enough time at all especially as she had been feeling a little homesick. It was ironic really because she had been so excited to get away from home and learn what it was like to stand on her own two feet somewhere else, but there had been a few nights she had almost cried herself to sleep because she missed home so much.

Evelyn knew that there had been one day when her homesickness had caused her to not work at her best, but she had quickly gotten over that and instead used work as a distraction. Aside from that one little blip, she thought she had worked well over the last few weeks and really proved herself, which was why she was a little unnerved to have been summoned to Matron's office when she started her shift that morning.

Pausing outside the door, Evelyn patted her hair ensuring that it was still confined neatly in its tight bun, and smoothed out a tiny wrinkle in her otherwise pristine uniform. With a shaking hand, she knocked and accepted that there was no going back now.

"Enter," came Matron's stern voice.

Evelyn took a deep breath and reluctantly pushed the door open, wishing she was about to step through some magical land and not an office where she would potentially be told off or even worse, maybe told to leave. Oh god, what if she was being sacked? The only other time she had ever been in Matron's office was at the end of her first shift when she had been asked to give her version of events on the fight between the two nurses she had been working with, and she had hoped it would have been longer before she was invited there again.

The first thing Evelyn noticed upon entering the rather small room was that Matron was not alone at her desk. Sat beside her was an older man with greying hair and a moustache who Evelyn immediately recognised as Colonel Robert Sink. Her heart began to pound. What was he doing here? It must be something serious to warrant his appearance, and Evelyn honestly felt like she was about to pass out at any moment. Bill loved to call her out on her dramatic nature, but right now she figured even he would be about ready to lose his mind.

"Ah, Nurse Guarnere," Matron peered over her thin silver spectacles. "Won't you please take a seat?"

With her knees shaking, Evelyn all but collapsed gratefully into the vacant seat in front of her and discreetly wiped her sweating palms on her skirt. If the two superiors watching her had noticed her obvious discomfort, neither let on.

"You must of course be wondering why you were asked here today?" Matron began. "Well first of all, I would like to introduce you to Colonel Sink, whom I'm sure you will have seen around camp these last few weeks?"

Evelyn tried to smile politely as Colonel Sink nodded in her direction, but her mouth was so dry that her lips decided to stick awkwardly to her teeth. She licked at them nervously as Matron continued to talk.

"It is actually Colonel Sink who wished to speak with you today, but I felt that due to the nature of the discussion you might feel more comfortable in familiar surroundings."

Evelyn furrowed her brows in confusion as a pit of dread opened up inside her stomach. If Colonel Sink was the one who had requested to see her then she could only surmise that something really was amiss and her level of discomfort went up even more. She began wracking her brains furiously to try and think of what she had possibly done so wrong, and when she could think of nothing her thoughts turned almost immediately to her brother. Oh god, Bill had done something stupid and gotten himself kicked out of the training programme or gotten a court martial, hadn't he? That stupid mouth of his. She had told him time and time again it was going to get him into trouble. Thankfully, before her brain could begin to think up any more worse case scenarios, Colonel Sink cleared his throat.