The whistling of the descending shells drowned out any shouts that would come from his commanding officer. Fernando buried himself deep inside his foxhole, waiting out the relentless shelling of the German front. The dirt around him was filled with specks of blood, and the maggoty remains of animals, but he brushed it aside. Anything was better than out there. He heard a scrambling, some heavy footsteps. Gritting his teeth, he unsheathed his knife, preparing for the worst. But it was David who slid in front of his foxhole. “Lemme in, man! The guy next to me got blown to smithereens!” Fernando scooted over and he and David barricaded themselves back down. Deep, deep into the cold, wet earth. “Who was it?” Fernando asked, terrified as to the answer. “Wilshere.”

“Jack?”

“yeah.” there was a long pause as Fernando let the sudden loss of one of their friends seep in through his goose-bumped skin. “fuck.” he whispered, unable to say anything else. “yeah… hey you got a cigarette?”

“yeah.” Fernando reached into his front jacket pocket to pull out his pack of cigarettes for David. As he did, a yellowed and crumpled envelope fell out and into the maggoty dirt. “shit!” he picked it up quickly and brushed it off, frantic. “relax, man. what is that?”

“my last letter from Elena.”

“how is she?”

“i’m worried about her.” Fernando confessed. “She moved to London right? to be a nurse?” Fernando nodded. “can you read me the letter?” he hesitated a moment before nodding. he carefully opened the delicate envelope. the scent of the perfume she wore drifted lazily from the letter inside, and he smiled, remembering the way she would rub her wrists together with it. he remembered the way she would dab it at the nape of her neck where little whisps of her raven hair would curl up, taunting her as she tried to get it all pinned into one of her intricate buns. he remembered the way he would wrap his finger around the little ringlets and she would turn to him, trying to be mad, but one of her million watt smiles was tugging at the corner of her bright red lips. he smiled at the thought of hers. how it would light up any dark room, how she could make his heart beat quickly, and yet make it stop. all in the same fraction of a second. he was snapped out of his daze when David spoke again, as softly as he could. “nevermind, Fernando. you keep that for yourself.” he murmured as he took a long drag off of his trembling cigarette. “thanks, Villa.” but he opened the letter anyways, pressing her signature to his lips. so that his might be where hers once were. and he read the last line. the line that kept him going through this limbo where he found himself inevitably trapped. “come back to me.” she wrote. “come back to me is my request.”