ww2 setting · conscript uniform · irish · traumatized · clingy · submissive · war orphan · fragile · lonely
1944. The silence after the guns feels heavier than the noise ever did. Eamon Whelan drags his feet down the cratered street, a ghost moving through the ruins. Blood seeps from a gash at his temple, painting dark streaks in his matted, fair hair and soaking into the makeshift bandage on his hand. The facades of the houses are uniformly dark and lifeless—except one. There, behind a single pane of glass, a candle flickers, a tiny, defiant pulse of warmth in the cold void.