In All These

October 27th 1897

Time. A rather small fixture with an infinite meaning depending on who you're asking and what the immediate feeling of that person was. Time was the past, the present and the uncertain future but right now as she sat in the over populated room of the refugee camp, celine o' relly could see time as nothing but pure and overt torture and she had viable reason for seeing it and feeling this way.

Today made it 5 months since the war began, 5 months since she had last seen her father and brother, 5 months since Her country's flag and identity had been tarnished because of a single man's greedy and refusal to compromise, and 5 months since she had seen the walls of her home that is if she had a home with the war ongoing. As celine stared out of the guided window to nothing in particular she couldn't help but wonder if she would ever have had a chance to prepare herself and her family before the war had hit but it had taken everyone with so much surprise as it all happened like a disappearing act in a fiction movie. One moment her and her family were making plans for a vacation to santo scal and the next she was dropping of her father and brother at the army base and that was the last time she had seen them in 5 months.

She clamped the newpaper in her hand vehemently afraid of what she might find in it, she felt the sweat from her palm slowly slipping into the pages of the paper. This had become a daily ritual for her and everyone at the refugee camp. Every morning at exactly 7:15 am, the camp was issued a copy of the Vintage times, the only newspaper that was still in operation since the war began. One might wonder why a newspaper would be so dreadful but this was no regular newspaper that usually contains exaggerated information on government and politics and pointless advertisements of pointless products, this newspaper contained names, names of fathers, sons and brother who had sacrificed their lives for the war, who would be remembered as heros, who had died before their time.

The newspaper was updated each day as new names were added to it and that was all the more reaskn for the dread and fear of everyone in the camp. It was passed from one refugee to another and each one search for a name that they could recognize while silently praying that they wont find any.

Celine liked being the last with the paper. The time it took to go around the room of 34 persons helped her to prepare her mind and gather her thoughts. She wanted to be ready for the worst but when the news paper got to her , she found that all the fears were still right there just like they never left and honestly, they never did. So here she was staring out of the window nothing at but a deserted field, expecting the worst with just a little glimmer of hope that today would be like the other days since the beginning of the war and the newspaper would be void of her father and brothers name.

"Nothing is going to change if it isn't going to" a voice said

Celine heard the person before actually seeing them. She was going to dismiss it and return her attention back to the paper but her curiosity got the best of her. The refuge camp was located in a deserted field in the middle of know where and the occupants were internally displaced civilians and a few medical and war soldiers who attended to the civilian and volunteers. It wasnt your everyday camp with fun activities. The refugees hardly spoke to one another, each one of them trying to make sense of their situation and trying to process in their own way. The only time there was a conversation it usually was between a solider or volunteer and a civilian and for this reason Celine attention was spiked and she slowly turned wanting to know who was speaking and who was being spoken to.

A strong pair of legs clad in army combat uniform was in her line of sight. Slowly she moved her gaze up taking in the solider and stopped when she got to this face. He was looking down at her with a smile at his face and she could tell that what he said had been directed to her. She didnt know why though, people hardly spoke to her in the camp, they had no reason to.

" the news paper... you cant change whats in it, no matter how much time you take to consider it. Time is just going to pass thats all"

Celine could only stare at the handsome stranger in the uniform. Unconsciously she took mental notes of everything that seemed so wrong at that particular moment; a military personnel was speaking to her and from the stethoscope around his neck, she deduced that he was a medical personnel as well so why he was speaking to her she did not know. The soliders rarely spoke to the civilian. The only time they interacted with them was when they orders as regards eating or sleeping arrangements or when there was an emergency. In addition to that, he had a smile on which was really weird considering the fact that the circumstances did not call for it. It was the first she had seen in a while and by far one of the prettiest she had seen in her life

" what" she replied

" oh, she speaks" he said with a smile

" i was talking about the newspaper" he said as he began to scoot to her level.

"I'm Terrence, whats yours name" now he was at face level with her

Celine could only stare and it was only when he saw that her gaze looked uncomfortable transfixed to him and she had no plans of looking away did he give her a small nudge

" your name please?... in this time and age preferably?" He chuckled

" Celine, Celine o' relly"

" well then Celine, pleasure to make your acquaintance, consider me your new friend and as your friend, i promise to make myself available for your newspaper morning ritual regardless what might be in it"

And with that he witdraw the newspaper from her hands and slowly preyed it open. He didn't say anything more to her, just waiting patiently for her to identify a name.

After a few minutes he flipped over the paper and asked her if she could recognize any names and with a smile quite similar to the one he was giving her, she replied

"No".

***

Terrence kept his promise .he showed up every day at exactly 7: 15 and sat beside celine while the news paper went around the room. At first when he started visiting her, she had seemed uncomfortable with him around her but with time and effort and apparently his smile which she seemed so mesmerized by, she had lowered her guard and even began to speak to him . The refugee camp continued to increase in number as the war continued to spread fast and many of other refugees camps were destroyed.

The war at this point seemed hopeless and more soliders names appeared on the newspaper. However Celine was no longer as downcast or sad as she was when the war initially started. She had found a good friend in Terrence. She told him about her life and her family, about how she, her father and brother had moved to Switzerland from bentuli ( an imaginary place) a year after her mother died from Influenza, a strange illness that killed one-fourth of the population of bentuli. She told him how much she missed her brothers, crying when she spoke. She also told him her fear of losing her only family to the war. He listened to everything she said attentively and offered her words of consolation. He was honest with her on the war statistics and the survival chances of the soliders. He didn't sugercoat their situation but helped her prepare should the worst happen. He joked a lot and he always had something to say. Celine sometimes caught herself smiling thinking about him and she was glad that she had something else to think about other than the war.

She learned a lot of things about Terrence from their tkme. He had lost his parents at a young age and so he's grandparents had raised him in the best way the could. His grandfather was in the Switzerland militia before he retired and his grandmother was a housewife living of her husband service payment. He had gotten a fully paid scholarship to study medicine and biology at the militia university Switzerland with his grandfathers influence and when both of his grandparents pass on, he decided to take after his grandfather and joined the military as a military doctor. He was young, in his late 20's and he had spent 5 years in the miltary. He was a patriot and he stood in solidarity with his country even know he knew that boris demin the president of Switzerland was the instigator of the war. He was proud to be a soilder and although Celine forbid him from saying it out loud he knew that he was going to die a soilder.

***

Time went fast, a year passed and the war went on and Celine and Terrence fell in love. It was a love in affliction. The war was spreading fast and steady and Switzerland was crumbling because of Boris' hard heart and stubbornness. Many of the refugees fell ill and some even died as a result of malnutrition, thirst and lack of medical facilities. The medical personnels could only do so little with what they had left of medical supplies.

The newspaper no longer came daily or frequently so Celine had to wait till whenever the camp was issued one every once in three weeks. She kept hoping as her brother and fathers names had still not appeared on the list. She and Terrence grow stronger IN ALL THESE THING. They spent every free time that they had together knowing fully well that it was limited. Time was running out for them and Switzerland and the government had began to call on militias, non governmental volunteers and able bodies men and women to fight. Terrence was usually busy most of yhe time but he never failed to take a break to spend time with her,dropping in a kiss or two, a smile or a positive word.

***

The newspaper came and Celine knew a name

Geryson o' Reilly, Celine's older brother died serving his country and celine couldnt think of a heartbreak more shattering than it. She knew it, she had felt it in her soul that morning; something just didnt seem right. She wept, she cursed, she called her brothers names and she willed time to halt nothing changed. Terrence held her and said a silent prayer for her brothers soul. Celine lost hope but she had Terrence and he was enough for now

A year and five months into the war, Terrence got called to appear at the war front as a frontline soilder. Apparently the president was was desperate and proud and he wasnt going to surrender. Terrence was heartbroken all over again. She had not yet healed from her brothers death and now this. It wasnt fair to her and to Terrence. Their time was just too short.

Terrence tried to console her, tried to be brave but deep down he was scared, not for himself but for her. What would happen to her if he died. She was fragile and she needed him especially in these times.

He was to report in two days time and he decided to make the most of those two days with Celine. They stayed together, made love a number of times while affirming their love for each other. Terrence held her for long while she wept for him. He thanked for the happy moments she created with him and told her that he would gladly relieve those moments again, wars and all. He begged her not to forget him and promised to contact her if he survived the war.

The day arrived and it rained. It was the first rain of the year and it pour with a fury just like Celines tears but nothing could be done. Terrence had to leave and there was nothing that could be done anymore. Celine kissed him with so much passion as though she was trying to take all of him. She held his face, taking in all his features trying to imprint them in her mind. She said a prayer with tears in her eyes. He got into the combat van and she chased it waving until she could no longer see it. She had never felt so incomplete in her life.

***

The war ended two months later.

The ORN intervened and Boris surrender by their order. The newspaper had stopped coming before Terrence had gone to the war front and so celine had a way of knowing what was happening in the war, she heard from a few volunteers and soilders still remaining at the camp that the war was fatal and many soldiers lost their lives.

Two weeks went by quickly and all the refugees began to return back to their homes. Celine stayed behind. She had not yet figured out what to do. She hoped that she would find some information about her father and Terrence but the newspaper had not yet started its operations again.

A week later she got a letter from Switzerland base headquarters. He father was alive although he had sustained terrible injuries and had lost a leg. The caller assured her that he was going to make it and gave her a contact of the hospital that he was currently receiving treatments. She wept as she heard the news, suddenly filled with hopr. It wasnt over yet for her, all she had to do now was to find Terrence and break the news of graysons death to her father which seemed like the hardest part for her.

She decided to wait one more week before she would go out and figure out another alternative to finding Terrence. She refused to lose hope. She asked around for him and when she got non from the refugee camp she decided to go the help centres set of for the refugees to locate their families but non had any information about Terrence.

Three months passed and Celine reunited with her father. They had a heart breaking moments when she broke the news of her brother's death to him. He didn't shed a single tears as what soul he had left was completely shattered by the news. Celine cried for him and promised him that she going to take care of him and that they would be happy again. They were a small cottage house by the government as family compensation for grayson's death and her father was placed on a life time pension.

***

She got the call on the remembrance day of the war. She instructed to come to the military base the next day. She knew it was about Terrence and she couldnt help but wonder what it was that she would see in the base. She got there really early, was lead into an office where she was given a letter addressed to her from Terrence, a Switzerland flag and a medal of honor. The officer removed his cap and held it to his chest and with a "im sorry" laden with regret and pity, he managed to uproot the last glimmer of hope that celine held so dearly. Time finally stopped

***

Terrence died the day he wrote the later. He stepped on a land mine. His body was obliterated and an empty casket was buried in his funeral. He left all his property and estate to celine in the will he was asked to write when he was called to the frontline. Celine was heartbroken as Terrence knew she would be but she knew she would be fine because Terrence would be there to hold her hand as she opened up all the dreadful newspapers.Start writing here…