As I rose from a heavy slumber I was first aware of the stickiness of the air and its loamy fragrance. The ground was lumpy as if I was on a bed of earth and rocks. My clothes felt as damp as a flower in the dew of the dawn. I half wondered if I was still dreaming as I sat up taking in the shafts of light bursting through the gaps in the leaf canopy above.
"Don't leave me..."
I recognised that voice instantly it was my wife's. Coming to I realised that I was lying on the pavement surrounded by everyday people minding their own lives. Thousands of soldiers stood stiffly in starched and pressed uniform as if they were waiting to go to battle.
Suddenly, a clunking and screeching sound penetrated amidst all the chaos taking place at...
The station? Why was I at a station, did I sleep walk, or am I still dreaming?
A train had arrived. Mist rose, spiralling away from the gleaming structure, reaching up into the sky and pulling out the stars.
As I sat up, a sharp prod on my leg made me look in horror. I was wearing uniform. The uniform I wore when I went to fight... Dunkirk? Looking up, the beautiful face of my wife was crumbling in front of my eyes. Why was she crying? Why was I in my uniform?
"All soldiers for France, board this train!"
Seeing the masses of men boarding this train and waving goodbye to their sweethearts. I realised what had happened.
Time had backtracked to six years ago when I left to fight in France. I would have to endure Dunkirk again. But why?
I got to my feet, eyes transfixed on my wife's. If we really had got back in time and this was not a dream then my wife would tell me...
"William," she said to me. "I'm pregnant." Then she burst into tears. Just like what she did six years ago.
I kissed her. In that one moment it was just her and me, her and me against the world.
I'm sorry, I thought as I kissed her, I'm sorry that I have ruined your life and that I'm not who I used to be.
"Last call for men travelling to France!"
"You should go." Alice said to me. "You don't want to miss the train."
But I do. I thought to myself. Nevertheless, I boarded the train, found a seat near the window and watched her and all the other women and children left at the station, not knowing if they would see their husbands or fathers again.
As the train started to pull out of the station, she ran alongside the train, all the way to the end of the platform.
"I love you!" She screamed as the mist blanketed the station and the train chugged on.
"I love you too!" I knew she couldn't hear me but it didn't matter.
Sitting back in my seat, I started contemplating what could have possibly happened. The most reasonable thought I got was that I have been sent back in time to have a chance to change the past. Maybe I can save my brother and father's lives? Maybe when I return home I will be the same as when I left?
These thoughts stayed with me until I fell into a deep sleep. What if I die? Was my last thought.