Wan; Unnaturally pale, as from physical or emotional distress.
Margaret hadn't realised how pale she'd become
That everyone had, really
It was the war, damn thing slowly sucking the life out of them
Those late night shifts in OR that bled into late mornings
The food that only just kept them alive, in a cocktail with black coffee and every kind of booze
Because sometimes 98.5 survival rate just wasn't good enough
Then you had to sleep afterwards, to scrape together your last dusting of strength.
Just like she was doing with her pot of rouge
Some colour to hide the strain, to keep soldering on
No use complaining
