The Boy At The Docks

14) Life goes on

Third Person

The first year:

The first year went by, the world progressed and so did the war. Charlie had started to invest in mills at the docks so he could provide for those without a job and he'll contribute to the war. Kyle,Rodger and Nico has either taken on their family business or Charlie took them on because he wasn't prepared to say goodbye to someone else too. Even thought his life was full of turning up to dinner parties and reading the newspaper to see where the most catastrophic outcomes were happening each day, he would still think about Oscar.

Oscar.

But while Charlie was busy sipping fancy champagne, Oscar was out on the front lines in Belgium. Unlike many other men he met at the very beginning, he survived and many days, he wished he hadn't. When you've seen the pure horrors of a man's lust for revenge, you've seen over thousands of men stand next to your side as you clamber over the trench tops to claim 5 inches more of just mere dirt and see them being shot the very moment you do, I don't think you'd wish to live a second longer.

Oscar would often sit wide awake at night, staring at the stars above and wish for more than this life could offer.

The third year:

Half way there and many thought it would come close to an end. By now, Charlie was one of the top business surviving in these life risking times and had quickly forgotten the name of his lover that had left for war three years ago. But this only happened because with his earnings, he's spend it on crates and caskets of fancy champagne and beer bottles to waste away the large gap his partner left for him to fill.

Often, Kyle and Nico would help him to bed after a long night in his office and clean up his once beautiful house. His mother and Evelyn saw were it was going with Charlie and decided to find sanctuary else where, but this didn't mean they came to check up on him- it only meant that they could live in a functioning house. Charlie would often lay there, his tie hanging loosely around his neck, shirt untucked, collar button undone and a beer bottle in hand as his best friends would try to get through to him. But Charlie was starting to loose hope in the one he loved for coming back, so he started to fill his heart with anything he could fit in it.

By now, Oscar was recognised for his outstanding survival techniques and assisting people in covering more ground for the British Empire and was promoted to 2nd lieutenant. Now, helping to improve survival percentages and overall formations when taking more land for the empire. But not once, not once, did the idea of being back home in Dover, with Charlie, slipped his mind at every passing day.

Fifth and half year:

Now, people had started to gain hope for the war ending, Oscar included. With his help, many lives were saved and more turf was retrieved from the enemy's grasp, which led him to being prompted to Sargent. He was no longer in the little leagues and was now playing with the big boys, the big boys that would scare you half to death if you let yourself closer than five feet. But Oscar's skin was now tough, things that used to scare him were now just as silly as being afraid as the dark to him. Many Lieutenants and Sergeants around him thought he had no weakness, no fears or something that could make him crack his perfect attitude. But there was one thing, One person who could do that to him.

And their name was Charlie Hills.

But for Charlie, Charlie had forgotten the name of the man he loved. He still would intoxicate himself deeply every passing night to forget any scars left. Rodger was now apart of the mission "Save Charlie" that Nico and Kyle had made. Thus mission consisted of Rodger taking meetings and saying everything Charlie had said to him since he was in no fit state to even stand, Nico would be busy inside the mill to make sure everything was running smoothly and Kyle would stay with Charlie (where that would be) to make sure his lips didn't touch another bottle of brandy.

It wasn't as if Charlie had no feelings, in fact, he was filled to the brim with them and that's what he hated the most, so he'd drink at night and if he had to go to dinner parties, he'd not drink the night before so he was sober another to convince his business partners his company was still being run by a presentable man.

The day the war ended:

Once the word of the war ended had filled the trenches, cheers could be heard for time long after. Oscar was full of delight like many others around him as the act of returning home started to take place. It was a long and tedious one but nothin could beat from the overall upbeat feel you could feel when leaving those trenches and marching your way to the nearest docks with ready ships to take you home.

Charlie had been passed out the entire day since there was an excuse to overdose on alcohol since the news had been spread, leaving no thought other than to drink in his head, not even remembering the promise that his lover made him saying he'd come back when it was all over...