Hope at Dunkirk

13.

6 years later, after World War 2 ended.

Tommy walked through the front door of his home, stamping his feet on the door mat to rid the snow from his shoes. He shivered as he shut the door behind him, pulling off his coat and hanging it on the hook on the wall. He ruffled his black hair while walking into the kitchen, seeing his Mother doing the dishes in the sink.

"Enjoy your walk?", she said in her sweet voice, making Tommy nod with the hint of a smile on his face. He sat down at the dining room table, fiddling with his fingers that had scabs and cuts over them. A anxious habit of his were to pick them off whenever he saw them.

"How did you sleep last night?", his Mother asked, looking over at him as he kept his head down. A shrug came with his shoulders, gulping before answering.

"Better..... about four hours maybe", he replied as he stared at the family photo hanging on the wall in front of him as he sat.

"Well it's an improvement honey, maybe Dr. Noels with see some lead to follow for the bettering of your health", his Mother said optimistically.

After the war, Tommy made it home to his family who missed him dearly. The war continued but the soldiers who were at Dunkirk were labelled as off duty, trauma being a big part of their reasoning needing recovery. Tommy was one of the many who suffered dramatically after their evacuation, suffering from nightmares, anxiety, depression and several other mental health problems. This lead to the picking of his skin and the nail marks around his ears as he usually scratched at them, hearing the same sounds of German planes impending closer and the explosions. 

Being only 23, the still young boy decided to stay with his family until his mental problems faded. His psychiatrist Dr. Noels, supplied by the Health department of the government, helped him as much as he could. But it was a long, agonising process to recovery.

"Oh by the way, a letter is addressed to you that came in the post today", his Mother suddenly remembered and grabbed an envelope from the table beside the door, bringing it over to her son and placing it in front of him.

Tommy's forehead creased at the feminine cursive writing on the envelope, addressed to him especially. He never got letters. This was certainly an odd occurrence. Tommy's Mother turned on the radio that sat on the kitchen counter, turning it to a random radio station and leaving it on, walking out the room. The radio had seemed to be a good treatment to Tommy's problems, seeming as it calmed him down and some times distracted him from going too far into his thoughts.

Tommy turned the envelope over and pulled open the seal, pulling out the pale pink piece of paper folded inside. Opening up the paper slowly, his eyes ran over the cursive words inside that made his stomach leap and his breath catch in his throat.

'You are invited to the wedding ceremony of

Harry Styles and Olivia Findler

On the 19th of August, 1946 at the Preston Hill Church, Ayslebury'.

The radio beside him seemed to fade into the background as Tommy suddenly remembered his two friends that he had almost forgotten about over the past six years. He forgot about the two lovers who most certainly were going to stay together after their experience at Dunkirk. He didn't realise how far into their supposed 'relationship' they were, and now they were getting married.

A familiar name suddenly snapped Tommy out of his trance, making him turn his head towards the radio that had spoke so officially of the name he just read.

"Harry Styles, will be joining us in the studio today to tell us about his story of meeting his fiance Olivia Findler during the Miracle evacuation of Dunkirk on June 4th, 1940. The 23 year old will then be a permanent speaker on this station, so stay tuned for that later on today".

And after all these years that have passed, with a cold war going by and a current war in the Middle-East, the evacuation of Dunkirk will go down in history as one of Britain's most memorable learning experiences. Harry and Olivia lived out the rest of their lives together, being in peace and keeping each other grounded after the immense trauma from the war experience. The two lived till their late ages, and died knowing that Britain would never make anyone else wait again for salvation.

THE END.