Disclaimer: i do not know the tomorrow series. are you really that suprised?
We sat together in silence. The gentle breeze, softly shifted the grass. I couldn't help but feel nostalgic as the sun set.
This place had been a key point our resistance. It was one of the few moments I was proud of.
It was strange how it was only the two of us now. There was Gavin, back at the farm but it wasn't quite the same. He hadn't been there since the beginning. He hadn't begun the trek down into hell. He hadn't faced the horrors we had. He hadn't seen his best friend shot. He hadn't sat roses on her grave. Perhaps he would tho. His parents were still missing.
It felt as if everyone was missing. Some gone, some dead.
I felt so empty without the gang around now. We had lived in each others pockets for so long, nothing felt right without them. We had seen people we love die and felt pain beyond all comprehension. We had quite literally been to Hell and back.
I leaned my head on Homer's shoulder. His arm wrapped around my back. I wondered if he would ever make the trip up there again with me?
I doubt it.
Hell was forbidden word between us. We never spoke about the war and in a way I don't think we ever would. I remember long ago when I was a child asking the old man who marched proudly every Anzac about what he did in the war. He just gave me a grim sort of smile but not a word past his lips.
That was us now.
No words could say what we went through or how hard it was to deal with now it was all said and done. We didn't need words. We had each other and that same grim smile.
It spoke of pain and guilt.
It spoke of hardship and death.
But it also spoke of what we achieved. What a bunch of teenagers could do in the face of battle. I thought of Lee. His strength and determination had been scary at times but we wouldn't have made it without him.
And Fi, she was my rock.
Hell, even Kevin made a difference. I thought of my best friend who we lost first. Kevin may have had his cowardly moments but when he took Corrie to the hospital knowing they might kill him, I couldn't have been prouder to call him my friend. I just wish she had made it.
But my heart would always go out to Robyn. She sacrificed herself for us and I will never forget her. Every night when I closed my eyes I could still see her face as she pulled the pin from the grenade. She was the real hero. I could never find the right words to say how much what she did she meant to me.
"I can't believe they are rebuilding the bridge tomorrow." I whispered. I clenched a bunch green grass, tearing out the blades.
Homer reached down, pulling my hand away from the earth and into his. It wasn't the bridge that upset me. It was what that bridge represented to me. It had been one of our defining moments. It was the first time we had managed to hurt the enemy. It was the link between our lives before the war and after. The missing bridge had been the gap. It had been the thing that separated us away from the rest of the world. Nothing anyone would say, not the kids at school or the irate farmers could change how I felt about that bridge. The only person left who could understand, sat at my side. We stared out at the place where the old Wirrawee bridge had been.
Homer murmured into my hair. "I know what you mean."