Wounded!Airpilot!England X Nurse!Reader
Rating: Teen (violence and bloodshed)
Setting: Hospital in America. WWII
Title: Unable
Based on Roald Dahl's collection of short stories: Over to You
POV: England's
I swear I was running. I was running across a field. I don't how I got here but I do not care. I feel so free. Just to run like this on a beautiful day. There's a cliff over there. I should stop running otherwise I would fall over. But I couldn't stop running. I don't understand why but I can't. It's as if these legs aren't even mine. I tried to grab the cloth of my pants but they kept going. I tried to trip myself but every time I did, my legs would catch themselves and I would keep on running. The cliff is right in front of me now.
I fell.
I fell… It's so black here. Fortunately, there were branches growing on the side of cliff so I tried to snatch one of them. Most of them were rather small so my weight just ended up breaking them. Then I was able to grab a bigger one and I didn't fall anymore. My heart won't stop pounding.
'Thank God.' I thought. 'Oh, thank God. I'm so glad I'm not falling anymore. I can relax now.'
But I was wrong. There was a sound of some sort of explosion. A plane? Yes; my plane has just bursted into flames. Somehow, I knew that without even looking. I suppose it was just instinct. But why did my plane catch on fire?
I had no time to think about that because suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my stomach and in my left leg. I glanced down and saw holes in my uniform. I've probably been shot. The pain was so intense that I had to let go. So I did.
As I fell, I began to wonder where this deep abyss will take me. Perhaps I will meet my death. No; not perhaps. It's certain I will meet my death. It's absolutely certain because that is where any abyss will take anyone. Everyone knows that. I've been falling for quite a while now. I can't see for how long I've fallen because it's dark and I can't see my watch. I could've been falling for five minutes or for an hour but I do not know because of the dark.
I think I've stopped falling. I still feel the wind but it's not brushing me the same way it would when one is falling. The wind is cold and the cold is settling on me like a blanket. I could feel a mattress underneath my body and a pillow underneath my head.
'Where am I?' I thought. 'Did I land on top of a mattress?' I'm not so sure of it because if I did, then I would've bounce on it and die from the blow. A mattress couldn't save me. It wouldn't cushion my fall. I still would've died.
"Ah! I'm glad to see you're awake. We were afraid you'd never get conscious again." It was a woman's voice. It sounded pleasant to hear. It helped me relax from all the terror and confusion that I've felt from the previous events.
"Where am I?" I asked.
"In White Rose Hospital."
"Where's that?"
"(Hometown), (state of America)."
'Ah, so this is America.' I thought.
"Why can't I see?" It was black. It took a few seconds for the woman to answer.
"Your eyes are closed, silly. Can't you open them?" I tried but I couldn't. I tried my hardest and I even tried to raise my hand so I could open my eyes but even my hands refused to move. I began to feel slightly afraid. It shouldn't be that hard to perform such a simple task and yet, it was.
"I can't." I actually wanted to cry. I'm so afraid. First, I was running and then I fell over a cliff. My plane caught on fire and I've been shot in my stomach and leg. I fell for a very long time and suddenly I'm in a hospital in a foreign country. Now, I can't even open my eyes.
I wanted to cry so badly. The sides of my head began to hurt and my eyelids and lips won't stop twitching. My face began to burn and I felt sick because I was going to cry. Even though I wanted to cry, I refused to. As a gentleman, I cannot cry in front of a person. I simply can't.
Suddenly, I felt a washcloth rubbing over my face. It was warm and a little wet. Once the cloth retreated, I opened my eyes to see a beautiful nurse standing in front of me. Her eyes were a (dark, bright etc.) (e/c) and she had (h/l) (h/c) hair. She was truly breathtaking.
"Aha! Your eyes are open now!" She had a beautiful smile. I smiled back at it.
"Thank you." I was silent for a moment. I was still looking at her smiling face and her beautiful eyes.
"…What's your name?" I asked. I had to know her name.
"It's _ _."
"What a pretty name." She blushed. How cute.
That's how _ _ and I met.
I've been at the hospital for a week. Later, I learned that while we were fighting the Germans in Athens of Greece, they had been shooting us down while we were on foot. We were able to hide the planes beforehand because we knew that once we start to set up camp we will be vulnerable.
It was in a field which was close to farmland, a vineyard, and a village of all places. The residents helped us with hiding the planes by covering it with vines, grass, branches and basically the entire earth. But in the midst of that, the German fighter-planes were already flying over us, spraying us with bullets. They hit my Gladiator and a Spitfire or two. The Gladiator went up in flames because most of it was made of thin, dry wood and it would have burned nearby planes with attached foliage if there was wind.
While we all tried to clear away the residents by shouting the following words we learned to speak in Greek: Τρέξτε! Οι Γερμανοί είναι εδώ! (Run! The Germans are here!), one of the German bastards was lucky enough to shoot me in the stomach and leg as I was running.
Once the noise of their planes faded away into the distance, one of my comrades was able to get help and called over the doctor. He patched me and told them that my injuries were to severe and I won't be able to stay if I want to heal fast so I can start fighting again. The general's resort was to send me away to the Greek hospital. They redressed me with proper bandages and sent me to America. That is why I am here.
I talked to the nurse occasionally so I could learn a little more about her. She just got of collage and studied to be a registered nurse. This is her first year here. I told her about the shooting in Athens and I said 'from what I understand from my experiences with the Germans, they are all bastards. Especially the one who shot me and my plane.' She looked at me for a second and then said the following words.
"Are they all bad? There is one who I met when I visited Italy. He was very kind and yet strict. He's so serious and seems a bit scary but really, he is a good guy."
Once I heard that, I instantly shot up from my bed and started a rambling apology but my stomach began to hurt. I cringed in the middle of a sentence and the nurse noticed my pain and told me to lie down. "It's alright. Don't excite yourself now. Rest a little, okay?" I nodded in reply.
Then there was that one time when I had to take a bed-bath. _ came in with a warm tub of water and three towels; one for me to lay on, one to wash with and one to dry. I had to strip off my hospital pajamas so they won't be in the way. I felt a bit embarrassed as she looked at me while rubbing my body with a wet towel and some soap.
"So, uh… have you ever seen a man's body before?" I asked. I felt a bit silly for asking such a stupid question. She laughed a little.
"Of course I have." The word was like a knife to my heart for I had thought that she already found love and it was not me. But she sewed up the wound by saying that she is a nurse afterall and that she has given bed-baths before. I smiled at her and she smiled back.
It has been a month now and I think something is beginning to grow between _ and me. The thought of it made me happy. Because I love her. Others may say that she's just doing her job but I know that's not true. The way she talks to me and the way she smiles at me. The way she laughs with my little jokes. And when occasionally flirt with her, she would blush and giggle.
But she is a nurse afterall and I'm a soldier. These months with eachother and the love that grew with that is just folly. A dream. I may as well just savor it while it lasts. That's what I have been doing anyway. But still. I have to confess to her. I have to tell that I love her and that I've always had. I've loved her ever since I opened my eyes to see her blooming face. I blush whenever I think of that moment and laugh a little to myself. I'm in love with her. And I'm aware of it.
As we conversed, she got and said that she will bring down lunch to my room. But I grabbed her arm hastily. She turned to face me.
"Are you alright?"
"Oh! Oh, yes. I'm fine. I'm just… not hungry today." She giggled a little.
"I guess the breakfast was a little bit too big to stomach." She sat down in the nearby chair. Sometimes our conversations are a little long so standing around is a bit tiring. She would pull it up every time we would talk and now it stays there as a permanent seat.
I plan to confess to her today. I'm going to confess to her today.
"Hey. …_?"
She looked at me with a curious smile.
"Yes?"
My heart won't stop pounding.
"I…have something to say."
It's so hot in here.
"Fire away." She said.
My palms feel so clammy.
"I…"
Here I go.
"…uh…I…."
I'm going to say it.
"I love you, too." Huh?
"I love you, too." She said while blushing and smiling.
"You do?"
"Yes." I exhaled while laughing and tried to say something but I didn't know what to say. The one I love confessed to me and my head is spinning.
"Good, I…. I just- I'm so happy. I didn't think you would- Oh God. I never would've imagined that-…" She laughed at my giddiness.
"I-it's alright. I'm glad you feel the same way. But I don't think I have ever asked your name before."
"It's Arthur Kirkland." She smiled.
"What a pretty name." I smiled back while blushing.
~End~
References to the stories of Over to You
A Piece of Cake
Running in a field
Falling off a cliff
Grabbing branches while falling
Winding up in a hospital and hearing a women's voice
Death of an Old Man
Running in a field
Seeing the cliff
Beware of the Dog
Bed-bath
Katina
Athens, Greece
Hiding planes in foliage
Residents
Shooting from the Planes