Dylan's Story

This is a story that I wrote after my boyfriend told me about a dream he had.

It was nothing more than a normal day at work, being a young 21-year-old welder, I was stationed on the 5th floor of a building under construction. As I worked I gazed out at the streets of downtown Manhattan, watching the people walk up and down them. A voice snapped me out of my thoughts, I looked up to see my friend pointing to the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. We watched her walk in and out of a bakery, my heart fluttered as she left, but I shook my head and pushed myself to work even harder, knowing I would never see her again. Evening came, my shift ended, and as I walked through the park to go home I saw the young woman again. She was sitting on a park bench and sobbing. I stopped to ask her if she was okay, she looked up with her large blue eyes full of tears and gasped that her husband had just left her to go to Paris with his French lover. She looked down and began sobbing again, I sat down next to her and did my best to comfort her. When she finished crying she told me that her name was Elizabeth. We talked for some time before she got up to leave. I watched her leave and smiled to myself, before making my way to my home in the poor district on the other side of the park. I thought about that evening to myself, thought about her name, Elizabeth, and for the first time in a very long time, I felt a fire ignite in my heart. 

As time passed Elizabeth and I became good friends. My life was going better than it ever had. I had a wonderful friend, whom I had strong feelings for, a good job, and my friend. Then one day as I went to work I could see a large crowd surrounding the entrance. I sensed something was wrong and pushed my way through the crowd, at the front, I could see my friend being taken away on a stretcher. His face was covered. I ran up and asked what happened, I was told that my friend had come to work early, slipped on the dew that covered the beams, slipped and fallen from the 5th story and died. Shock overcame me. For the longest moment, I couldn't hear anything other than my heart pounding. My boss's voice broke the silence. He sent all us workers home, so I slowly walked home. Once I arrived at home I sat in a chair and stared at the floor for hours the air filled with a grieved silence. 

The silence was broken by a knock on my door. I slowly got up to answer it, but there was no one there. I sighed and looked down when I did I saw a letter on the ground. There was no writing on the letter just a large red heart. The next day I went to work, to be sent up to the very beam that had killed my friend. I tried to fill my head with thoughts of working instead of my friend, but I caught a glance of Elizabeth walking into the bakery. I threw down my tools, ran out of the building to Elizabeth. She turned and when she saw it was me, she started crying and said that she had heard about my friend. She pulled me into her arms and held me. And in that brief moment, everything was alright. I thanked Elizabeth for her sympathy asked if we could meet in the park later and went back to work. Before I could make it up to the 5th floor, my boss stopped me and told me I was fired for leaving the premises without any authorization. I nodded my head, grabbed my tools, and went home. 

 

I had no family. No friend. And no job.  

 

I had no choice but to pack up my meager belongings and leave my apartment as I had no money to afford the rent or food. As I reached for the doorknob to leave, someone knocked. I put down my box and opened the door to see Elizabeth. She started to ask why I hadn't shown up to the park, but when she saw the box, she looked into my eyes and asked where I was going. I had tried to stay strong, but the moment her perfect blue eyes gazed into mine, filled with concern, I broke down and told her my situation. I looked at the floor for a moment before quickly grabbing my box and telling her that I had to leave before I was kicked out of the building. As I started to leave Elizabeth put her hand out to stop me. I looked up at her, she was terribly upset about the situation. She quietly asked if I wanted to stay with her until I landed on my feet. In that single moment, I fell in love with Elizabeth. The woman of my dreams. 

Time passed, and my bitterness healed. I found a new job as a mechanic and worked as a maintenance worker at Elizabeth's apartment complex. One night, I took a chance and asked Elizabeth to marry me. She agreed, and I felt as if my heart would burst for love of her. The next year our joy was intensified by the birth of our son. Soon after, however, World War II started. Changing lives all around us. When the Americans joined in the fight, I signed up and was immediately shipped to Germany as an Infantryman in the US Army. I was a good soldier and fought hard, but many young soldiers and I were bunking with some of the local German resistance fighters who we thought hated the Nazi's as much as we did. We were betrayed by them and one night we were bombarded by German mortars. As I stared at the pain all around me, I saw Elizabeth's beautiful face in my mind. And then darkness came. 

When I came too I found out that most of the young soldiers had died. I had barely survived, with a major concussion and a body and face covered with massive and ugly scars. I was sent to a military hospital until I recovered. Once I had regained my strength I was sent home with honor. I walked home through the park, thinking back to the first time I saw Elizabeth and how beautiful she was. I arrived at the apartment and opened the door, but my wife and little son had vanished with all their belongings. 

After several months of anger and despair, I managed to find a job and make a living as a butcher. But there was no joy in my life and most people looked at my face and winced. One day after work I found a mysterious letter outside my door. The anonymous letter said that my wife had moved out West with her previous husband and taken my son with her. The war had scared her husband out of France, and he had come back to Manhattan looking for her. I stared at the letter and felt all the air rush out of my lungs. All the pain came rushing back into my mind and heart. 

I stumbled to a chair and sat down letting the letter fall from my hand. I buried my face in my hands and waited for a knock I knew would never arrive. 

Author's Note

Any comments are welcome. This is my first stab at writing.