The Nurse

Chapter 2: Down In the Poppy Field

Belgium 1916

Eloise stepped carefully and quietly through the thick wooded area, a gun clinched tightly in her hands. Her eyes scanning the surrounding area looking for anyone that might be there to harm her. In the distance she could hear the ringing sounds of gunfire, which was nothing new since the war had been going for almost a year. The hot summer air hung around her like a hot blanket, leaving a sticky feeling on her exposed skin. She tugged at the collar of her button-down shirt, wishing that it was cooler than it was. Through the thick forest she saw the fresh spring that ran freely downhill. The woods brought a sense of peace to Eloise, as she lived alone in them, hidden from the fighting world around her.

Quickly, she took the jugs that hung over her back to the clean water and filled them up individually. Her eyes and ears observant for all events. The birds could be heard singing their morning songs, chirping melodious tunes around her. Above her the echo of fighter planes rang through her ears. They were near, she could hear it in the air.

Once she filled her water supply, she sat down on a nearby rock to rest her aching feet. Life was no longer the same. A sense of dread lingered in her melancholy heart, unknowing when the horrid war would end. She had no one left: No mother. No father. No friends. Everyone she knew disappeared when the Germans invaded the neutral country, calling it their own.

Although life had taken its toll on the people of Belgium, she made certain to have no enemies around since she was in the middle of them all.  She could not take the risk of being murdered by someone based on the way her alliances fell, when in reality she was neutral on the entire matter.

She was jolted back to reality when the sound of machine gun fire blasted overhead, knowing that an aerial battle was taking place above her. In a haste, she took the gun into her hands and ran toward a thick grove of trees. She hunkered down behind a small bit of brush encompassed behind the trees, listening to the fighting taking place above her. Through the empty space of the naked tree limbs she caught a glimpse of the low-flying aircrafts, swirling and turning against the gray sky.

The echoing rumble of the fighter planes' machine guns rang in her ears vibrantly. She held her shaking hands over her ears in hopes to muffle the dreadful noises. Soon, she thought, the sounds would end and all would return calm, but at the moment they were ringing loudly. She could feel her heart pounding violently in her chest, feeling as if it could explode at any moment. When the silence came, a sigh of relief slipped from her dry lips.

Instantly, she returned to the stream and gathered the water containers onto her back. Mindfully, she started her fast walk down the dirt-worn path. Her feet carried her quickly over mudholes and bushes, while her mind constantly focused on her surroundings. Her keen senses remained on-guard for any soldiers that could appear at random along the pathway. In the distance she could see the outline of her small cottage hidden deep within the wooded forest.

She abruptly stopped at the entrance and placed the containers down beside the doorway before entering slowly. With the gun in her hand, she scanned along the entirety of the tiny single room. To her great relief, it was empty. She took the water inside and latched the door tightly shut, placing a chair under the knob. This was her life. Always hiding with the fear that someone was there...

The room fell into an utterly eerie silence. Something had happened—she could sense it in the stillness of the empty house. Hesitantly, she took the rifle into her trembling hands and approached the door. Upon opening it, she reluctantly poked her head back outside. She slowly began walking down the beaten path, following the light beyond the edge of the forest. Her heart pounded with each step she took, nearing the colorful outside world—a place she had seldom seen since the war had begun. In the distance of the sloping field, she could see a beat-up plane lodged upright in a deep bank. The damage she could not yet determine from where she stood. The red poppies of the field danced around the dark, fallen plane as a gust of hot, sticky air blew around her.