Come Back To Us - 4. Chapter 4

How should he say it?

Days here were different… And he couldn’t say that he missed his family now, not that he didn’t care about them anymore… But he missed the Hopkins family, he really did. Even George.

Never had he thought that he would miss him like he did. But he imagined it was normal because what had happened was still recent, and he only needed more time to forget about him.

There was no point denying it. It was hard to adapt, hard to take the courses he had to follow. Never had he thought it’d be so…academic…

It was a different world. A world he thought he wasn’t made to fit in.

The only positive thing was the time he could spend with Jørgen. He didn’t care if he didn’t make any other friends among the Danes. His friendship was enough. He was so positive and lively, and so nice. He was the only one who enabled him to forget about the war, at least temporarily.

“Arthur, do you know him? I mean you’ve already seen him, right?” He asked him one day as they were alone in an empty room.

He preferred it when it was just the two of them. Not that he had anything against the others. Jørgen was really sociable, so he had no problem getting along with everyone, except with that Dierk guy of course…

“Arthur?”

“Yes, Arthur.”

He got the pronunciation right, but he still couldn’t imitate the English accent. It was so hard to do so. Jørgen’s accent was much better than his.

Only a few days passed since he got here, but he still hadn’t seen him yet. So he wondered what the man he had only heard about was really like.

But Jørgen didn’t seem to know who he was talking about. He only had a name anyway.

“Wait, you mean Arthur Crowes, the Group Captain?”

“Yes.”

He guessed they were talking about the same person unless there were several Arthurs there…

“Yes, I’ve already met him. Even though I’m not acquainted with him personally.”

“How is he?”

He looked surprised that he was asking that.

“Do you know him? I mean you’ve already heard about him…”

“He’s the friend of the son of the family who welcomed me into their home.”

“Really?” He smiled as he said that.

“Yeah. From what I understood, he’s a good friend of his.”

Karl thought he would be the one welcoming him here, but he must have been too busy.

“Whoa, that’s a nice coincidence to know someone here who can help you if you need it.

Yes. He couldn’t deny it.

“I was lucky to find them. I don’t know what I would’ve become without them. I’m not sure anyone else would’ve done what they did for me.”

A soft smile adorned Jørgen’s lips.

“They seem to be really nice people.”

“Yeah. I’ve learned English thanks to them. Especially thanks to Mrs. Hopkins actually. But when I needed it they helped me too.”

His smile widened.

“I’ve always thought it was better to learn a language with the natives. This makes me want to learn more about them.”

“Have you already gone to England before?”

His statement sparked his curiosity.
“Only once, when I was sixteen. With my parents of course; for a holiday. I wish I could have come back for another one and not in this context…”

Okay…He shouldn’t have asked that question…

“Their son works as an engineer, that’s why he didn’t have to take part in the war, unlike his friend, even though they help with it. His mother was a former schoolteacher who had already helped in the first war. And his father…well, as for him, I don’t know what he does for a living… He’s never talked about it…But he took part in the first war and got seriously injured because of it…”

He remembered that time when he had tried talking him out of going to war. He had shown him his leg. He had been really lucky not to die. He had never noticed the slight limp in his gait. But ever since he had seen that artificial leg, it was the only thing he saw? It was like a constant reminder of what Mr. Hopkins had been through.

He looked down as no other word could leave his lips now.

“They didn’t want you to join the RAF, did they?” Jørgen stated after a long while.

Karl looked back at him and shook his head slowly.

Jørgen spoke again after a few seconds.

“And you didn’t really want to leave them, did you?”

Karl glanced away as he bit the inside of his cheek. He had made his choice, so it was no use thinking about that too much.

“I couldn’t have stayed with them forever anyway.”

Another long moment of silence followed his words.

“You know, once bonds are created, it’s hard to cut them.”

Bonds….He hadn’t meant to create bonds in the first place…At least he didn’t think so… There were so many things which he ignored on human nature and relationships…

“But if you manage to get a leave, you’ll be able to see them again,” Jørgen suddenly spoke, probably noticing how thoughtful he was.

“A leave?”

“Yeah. Soldiers get the right to leave, it's like a kind of break. See, for example, the father of your family who took part in the first world war, he could get leaves to go back to England and see his family, even if it mustn’t have been that often.”

He hadn’t been told about this. His lips formed a smile. He’d really like to go back to see them. He just hoped nothing would happen to any of them in between. Since he couldn’t go back home to see his family, this would be a way to try to make up for it.

“You should talk about it with Group Captain Crowes once you’ve seen him.”

If he could see him one day….

“We should go back to the dorms now,” he then said.

Karl nodded silently.

They stood up and left the room. The way to the dorms wasn’t too long anyway.

“Here are the two fags. So how was fucking? Hope you didn’t make too much noise,” The guy he hoped would have kept his mouth shut said mockingly.

Karl stared at him as his jaw clenched mechanically.

“Just ignore him. He’s just trying to provoke. But we’re both smart enough not to give it any thought.”

But even if he tried really hard, Karl couldn’t ignore him. He wasn’t going to remain mum and impassive like he had been a few days earlier. If he didn’t want to be bothered anymore, he needed to show him he wasn’t a “wimp”.

He made a step in his direction, but he could feel Jørgen grab his arm to hold him back. But he didn’t want to hold back. He managed to make him let go of him and made his way towards that guy. Even as Jørgen called his name, he didn’t look back, let alone stop.

He stared at him without batting an eye, his gaze hard.

“What’s wrong with you?”

Dierk didn’t look impressed at all. He didn’t blink and just raised one eyebrow at him, his gaze intense and threatening.

“What?”

“I said what’s wrong with you?”

He gave him that look that said: “Are you crazy?”

“So you’ve grown some balls too. The wimp thinks he’s become a man. But it takes much more than this to be a real man, you know.”

Karl couldn’t remember having ever hated anyone, but this was impossible not to hate this man. He hadn’t been here for even a week and there wasn’t a day when he didn’t open his mouth to say something mean.

“Just shut up.”

He pretended to look outraged, and this only made Karl clench his jaw even more tightly.

“Just because I’m a farm boy doesn’t make me a good for nothing. I will show you I can do it.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa…I don’t wanna see any of this. I’ll never change my mind about you.

“Seriously, what’s wrong with you? Does it make you feel superior to belittle and insult others who aren’t like you? Do you think you’re better than everyone else, seriously?”

“Karl, just ignore it,” he heard Jørgen said. But his body and mind wouldn’t listen to him.

“No one asked you to open your mouth, Billing. So shut up.”

“No, you shut up. Stop treating him like dirt.”

“Karl. He’s not worth it. Drop it.”

“If no one makes him understand his behavior is unacceptable, he will never stop.”

“Ooooohhhh, the farm boy thinks he can scold me and even change me. What do you think you are? A sage? Just go back to your farm and your whore of a mother.”
This was too much for Karl. Right at that moment, there was something that snapped in him. He pounced on that jerk, and they got into a fight.

“Karl! Stop!”

That Dierk guy was strong. He was having a hard time getting the upper hand. They both ended up struggling on the floor after a few moments only. He managed to land a blow on his face but before he knew it the jerk was on top of him. He landed a few blows on his face.

Karl could feel the pain and Jørgen’s shouts. He wasn’t used to fighting. He should have known it was a stupid thing to do.

Next thing he knew, Jørgen was helping him up as other men were holding the jerk back and immobilising him. They needed to be at least four to make him calm down. While they were busy dealing with him, two others came towards him and Jørgen.

“It’s nice to have guts, boy. But this kind of attitude is not acceptable in such an institution.”

“As a pilot, you need to keep your cool in any kind of situation, even the worst ones,” the other added.

“It won’t happen again,” Jørgen hurried to say. “You have my word. Please, don’t say anything about this to Lieutenant General Østergaard.”

The two men exchanged a long look.

“You’ve seen how he’s been behaving towards him as I have, haven’t you?”

“He behaves in a similar way with you, and you’ve never lost control like he did.”

“He’s just arrived. He needs more time to learn the rules here, please.”

They exchanged another look.

“Fine. But you’re in charge of him then. And if anything like this happens again, you’ll be involved too.”

“Thanks,” he only said. “Come, let me have this mess cleaned.”

They headed to another empty room. They needed to be discreet. Jørgen took what he could find and cleaned his injured lip with water. It hurt, but it would have been worse hadn’t he used water, so he wasn’t going to complain. His movements were slow and soft.

“You shouldn’t have played his game and stooped to his level…That’s what he wanted…get you into trouble… He may not look like it, but he’s clever. Much more than what he wants to show.”

Karl said nothing. He just stared at him, even though he was having trouble keeping his right eye open… He wondered what had got into him.

“I’m not hurting you, am I?”

Karl only shook his head. He hadn’t been raised like that…

“I’m sorry, but I’d rather not take you to someone who’s competent in the medical field…”

He was now focused on his nose.

“My poor Karl…You even haven’t been here for a whole week…”

Yeah, it was really a good start…
“Lieutenant General Østergaard will be mad when he knows what happened…”

He was now examining his eye. For some strange reason, this was reminding Karl of the time when George had tended to his wounded hand after he had broken the mirror in the bathroom… After he had had another dream about him… Mímir.

“We’ll never be able to hide your back eye…Everyone will see it…”

That same unpleasant feeling made its way back in his guts.

“I’ll take full responsibility for the blame.”

Jørgen looked somewhat shocked by his solemn statement.

“No, you can’t…I mean… Well, we can still lie and say it was an accident. It should be okay if we make it credible.”

Karl raised one eyebrow at him. Jørgen instantly pressed the rag on it as softly as possible.

“You wanna lie?”

He could see he wasn’t delighted by this idea…

“I don’t like lying. But if it’s for a good cause, it’s worth trying,” he smiled, a soft and reassuring smile. “Let’s just not make a big deal of it, okay?”

There were no words that could come to Karl’s mind to describe his attitude.

“Anyway, I’ll never let you take the blame alone.”

He was a true friend. This was the only thing he could think of.

A soft smile brightened up his injured face.

“Thanks.”

Jørgen’s smile was much bigger.

He knew he could always count on him no matter what. And he found some kind of relief in it.

Hey!
So here's another chapter! I hope you enjoyed it : )
Take care ❤️