10. England (1/2)

chapter x

"journeys on the train are so incredibly fascinating; although you move so fast, you see so much more details of the world from the other side of the window than you would normally see if you were staring at it from just few inches away." blythe once told julia when he came back from his first year in redmond. and julia couldn't think of anything else but what he told her, when she sat down in her cabin on the train.

she couldn't sit still, she just couldn't wait for her first day as a vad. her mind was overfilled with the view from the train window and going on the ship and seeing london… but most of all she couldn't wait to experience helping others. she knew that she will be horrified by the sights she will see, her mother told her all about the time when she was a vad in the first war, but julia knew that it was war after all and these men needed help. her help.

she also hoped that maybe she will be able to meet up with gilly who was fighting

avely in london and thereabouts. his general send a private letter to mr and mrs ford a week earlier telling them that gil truly is one of the

avest and organised men in his division. and merry with jake were somewhere in iceland, in the place julia could never remember the name of. she was so glad that at least they had each other, and marshall douglas as well of course.

"now, if anything, even the slightest injury will happen to them, i will be there to help them." julia thought to herself and grinned with satisfaction. of course she was still afraid of many things, it would be quite impossible not to be afraid when you're going straight into the centre of the war, but julia managed not to think about the things that scared her most of the time.

"i wonder if my roommates will become my kindred spirits?" julia thought "or if our matron will be nice? or if the wounded soldiers will be very frightened? or if there will be bombing day after day?" she shook her head reprimanding herself "stop thinking about such things, julia una blythe!"

and indeed she stopped, not because she told herself to do so but because, while looking out of her window, she saw a…

"-ship!" she gasped and jumped from her seat, walking towards the door of her cabin.

merry, troy, jake and gilly. they all saw the ocean before and each of them described it to julia but she found it very much different from everything they all told her. she thought it was so calm and yet so strong and… musical. she always loved the sound of waves but she never heard it the way she did on her journey across the atlantic.

julia was very glad that her mother wasn't around her for she would be terrified by the amount of time her daughter spent outside, looking at the ocean before her. during this four-days at sea, julia found it very comforting to seat outside and close her eyes and just think and dream. dream about everything and anything she wanted to dream about. each evening she would write in her newly started war-diary every new thing she thought about and wanted to do, somewhere in the future. "i want to travel. i want to go to every country in the world. i want to learn new languages. i want to learn how to be patient. and how to cook, properly.".

however she didn't allow herself to dream about love and… well… blythe. it hurt her too much to even think about him in that way again because every single time blythe came up on her mind, she would think about the day during summer when she saw him kissing cornelia goodbye. it was like a knife put in the softest part of her heart, but she hid it, very gracefully, from everyone.

julia didn't even notice when those four days went and so when she saw the famous white cliffs at dover, she couldn't help but running outside, like a little girl, and letting her eyes eat the view in front of her. "here i am england! i am ready for you! are you ready for me?" she whispered to the cliffs. and for a moment she thought that the

eeze that just hit her face

ought a quiet answer: "yes.".

dear mother, father and cee,

i am officially in london! i think that i will never quite believe that i'm really here, it is a completely different world. it's so crowded and full of places i only heard about from newspapers, magazines and troy's stories. it's such a lovely city, full of history which i intend to discover soon!

you probably heard about the blitz? and that the germans are throwing bombs all over london every single day? yes, it is all true unfortunately, but don't you worry about me, our matron showed us the shelter and how to use it and so i'm fully prepared for all the bombs germans are in the possesion of, and i promise you, i'm safe. thank goodness, since the three hours ago when i arrived in london, no bombing occured!

it's almost midnight but i don't care about the time in the slightest bit, because i'm not tired at all! besides, olive, my room-mate has her own torch and we both write to our families now with a turned on torch standing in the middle of my night table. olive jones is my bosom friend already. she is my age and she is from surrey, where her whole family is from. olive has a round but thin face with a funny pointy chin, skinny nose and lips, and very dark eyes which i think are almost entirely black. she has dark

own curly hair, just like aunt nan's. olive is as crazy as i am and she adores my nickname greatly, but she preferes to call my "bath". it really seems as if we knew each other forever.

my other room-mate, claire babineux (her father was born in paris) is… well, as rose would probably describe her, "a perfect porcelain doll", in every meaning of this phrase. she is nice, or rather, tries to be nice, but constantly fails in it. her make-up accessories and jewellery take up the whole table we have to share between the three of us! but she is beautiful and that leads me to a question: why is it always that the most annoying people are also the most beautiful?

at least i have my olive, who hates make-up just as much as i do! however she uses a lipstick "so that people can see that i do have lips!" she said to me today.

mum probably asks if our room is clean and big; the answer is: yes, it is mother-dear. not necessarily as big as i would imagine it to be for three people to live in but it's big enough for us. our matron, mrs ashby, is a fat and old grumpy woman. i know that it's quite harsh of me to say so but oh, if you could see her face this evening when all the other girls and i came, you would know why i described her so.

speaking of a devil, mrs ashby just came into the room and discovered we're still writing letters although the others are fast asleep… i have to go to bed now. my day-duty starts at six in the morning and ends at six in the evening so i suppose that even if i'm not sleepy at all, i have to get some rest.

cross your fingers for me for tomorrow, will you? (i know that you won't get my letter before tomorrow but please keep your fingers crossed for me anyway)

i'll write tomorrow!

and the day after tomorrow!

your loving daughter and sister,

julia una blythe

"julia, wake up! wake up!" claire shaked her room-mate in despair and looked at the clock hurriedly.

"what time is it?" julia asked sleepily while rubbing her eyes and slowly sitting up on the corner of her bed.

"we have half an hour to get ready, girls!" olive shouted from their bathroom.

julia gasped and stood up quickly, making her way towards her uniform which was hanging on the door handle. olive stormed out of the bathroom while putting on her shoes. she smiled to julia and kissed her on the cheek quickly while she was getting out of her night-gown.

"morning, morning!" olive greeted her and put the small two sandwiches on julia's night table.

"oh, thank you so much, dear, for

inging me