Lonely Girl Part Five

Before reading have you read Parts ONE, TWO, THREE or FOUR ? If not click the number and then come back to read part five.

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1941-1943

Life for Grace without Jonathon was hard and she worked most of her days at the cafe and even when she was done stayed behind and did extra bits and odd jobs just so she didn’t have to go home. She knew if she returned home it would remind her to much of her love Jonathon. Then one day when Grace finally returned home late one night on the front doorstep was a letter with her name on it. It had a big red stamp on it which meant it couldn’t be from the village and she didn’t know anyone else outside the village accept for Jonathon. Grace rushes inside even forgetting to close the front door. She rips open the envelope and inside is a handwritten letter.

My darling Grace,

How I wish I had more time with you before I left. How I wish I could just spend that last night with you again and to feel your touch in mine. So much has happened that I don’t even know where to start but I'm fine and I have settled in well at the training camp. It won’t be long before we are sent off fighting. I can’t wait to make the world a better place for us to live in. I will write you a letter everyday when I can even if it just a few words. Sorry this letter is so short we don’t have much free time but remember my darling:

I love you and our love will never fade.

Jonathon

Grace must have sat at that table reading the letter over and over before she hears the front door bang. She gets up and realises it’s still open and closes and latches it up.

Grace didn’t stay late anymore after the cafe had closed and instead rushed home to see if there was a letter. Most days nothing but then on others three or four would arrive at once but she would read them in order they were stamped and put the others away so she had something to read as each day passed. Sometimes he spoke about his training and sometimes he simply wrote one sentence which was at the end of every other letter he wrote and that sentence was I Love You And Our Love Will Never Fade.

Grace hadn’t heard from Jonathon in a while and was at work and the rain was pouring so it was rather quite as people didn’t come out in the village that much and would rather stay indoors. Grace was wiping a few tables when the door of the cafe flies open and a young woman who often comes in the cafe runs inside soaking wet. “HEY” she shouts and runs in leaving wet muddy footprints where she treads. “The...” she takes a few breaths in “Some of the soldiers are back” Grace pushes past the young lady and out into the pouring rain and looks left and right but can’t see anything she turns back into the cafe to see the young girl coming to the door “They are at the church” the young lady holds onto the side of the door frame for support and sees Grace run towards the church. Grace runs as fast as she can to the church. She takes a back alley and is there in no time. Her heart is pounding in her chest and then she sees the army truck similar to the one that brought them all in. No one is in the lorry but one of the church doors is open. As Grace runs over to the steps and up into the church. She walks into the hall and is then confronted with a room full of soldiers but they are not as they left. Most have a body covered in bandages and more than a few have body parts missing and everyone one of them is sleeping. A nurse is stood over one of the patients and Grace walks up to her and asks,
“Excuse me” the nurse turns around “How do we find out if we have loved ones here” The nurse points at the wall of the church where bits of paper are on the wall. Grace walks over and scans the pages, they don’t seem to be in any order so Grace double checks each one and isn’t sure how to feel when she can’t find Jonathon’s name. Grace checks with the nurse that no one’s name has been missed off and goes to walk out of the church when a hand grabs her leg. Grace lets out a little scream and looks down and sees a solider with no legs.
“Grace” he coughs out, Grace bends down and looks at him and realises that it was one of the Fishermans boys. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a stack of letters. “John... gave me these for you... post aren’t getting out” Grace takes the letters in her hand and sees Jonathon’s handwriting all over them. Grace goes to give the young man a hug but realises he’s fallen asleep, so she takes a chair from the corner and sits with him. When he stirs he looks at Grace confused “Why... are you still here?” He coughs loudly and a few people next to him stir.
“I wanted to say thank you and wait with you until your father arrives. At that point Grace sees his father coming in and gives him a smile and stands up “Thank you so much again” Grace walks out but doesn’t look his father in the eye she can’t. Once outside luckily the rain has stopped and Grace walks slowly back to the cafe. When grace gets there it’s empty so Grace walks in and shuts the door behind her and switches the sign to closed. She sits down and opens and reads all of Jonathon’s letters.

After that bunch of letters Grace didn’t receive a letter for a year. No one received any letters in the whole village no one seemed to be able to get any contact out on how well their boys were doing. Even Jonathon’s father couldn’t pay for information. Grace did spend a few evening round theirs for dinner. This evening was 13^th June 1943 and Grace was on her way home from Jonathon’s parents she sees a gentleman stood outside her front door who appears to be wearing an officer’s uniform. As the driver pulls up he doesn’t have time to let Grace out because she has jumped out herself and is running to the front door. “Jonathon is that you?” The man stands up from the bench outside the house. “Jonathon.....Jonathon” Grace shouts as she runs across the grass. As she reaches the front door the solider greets her and it is Jonathon but not how he left her. Half his face is scared from burns, Grace puts her hand to her mouth and gasps. “Jonathon...” he forces a smile and her and she can’t hold it in anymore and grabs hold of him. At first he doesn’t hug her back and it is just Grace but then she feels his arms come round her and hold her close like he used to. Grace lifts her head and looks up into his eyes “what happened to you?” she goes to put up her hand and touch his face but he puts his hand up and shakes his head.

It turns out Jonathon was walking with his other men and a bomb went off just ahead of him and the blast was big enough to burn his skin yet didn’t kill him. He was then put into hospital where he was lucky to live and because everything was burnt off him they had no clear way of working out who he was to send word back to contact family and loved ones. Grace didn’t care that his face was scared it didn’t make much difference to Grace she still knew her Jonathon was inside and she was just happy to have him back.

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Thank you for reading Part Five of Lonely Girl and keeping with the stories. Also a massive thank you because we have now gone way over the 1,000 views on this website so thank you so much for that. Keeo your eyes peeled for the next part of the series. Also don't forget you can follow me on Twitter and Facebook.

Lonely Girl Part Four

If you haven't read Lonely Girl Parts One Two & Three click the numbers to read them before coming back to read Part Four.

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1934 - 1941

Grace gets a job in the village cafe earning her a bit of money whereas Jonathon joined his father’s business and took over as the manager of the local garage. Things were going great between Grace and Jonathon and they had even mentioned of getting a house together and they had both started looking at a small cottage that overlooked part of the river bank where they first met. Soon after Jonathon surprised Grace and bought the house for them both, Jonathon helped move the few items Grace owned out the house and when they left her mother didn’t even look up as Grace said goodbye. They made the home their own and it wasn’t long when World War Two had broken out and some men in the village left around 1939 to go fight. Jonathon had toyed with the idea of helping his country but his father would have none of it and made him stay behind. Grace was secretly pleased with this as she didn’t want Jonathon off at war. However Britain didn’t have enough soldiers to help fight the war and the war itself was getting much worse two years ago when men were first asked to volunteer and men began to be called up into the army.

Jonathon walked into the kitchen and closes the door behind him, Grace is chopping some vegetables in her apron that was tied twice around her middle as it was too small for her. Grace turns and smiles and goes back to chopping but then turns back around after seeing Jonathon’s face.
“What's wrong?” Grace asks.
“Grace sit down” He gestures his hand towards their kitchen table and chairs, Grace sits and wipes her hands dry on the apron. She looks into Jonathon’s eyes and she can tell she isn’t going to like what she hears.
“I'm going to join the army Grace” Grace says nothing and just stares at him “I know you and my father aren’t keen on what’s going on but I want to make the world right for us and our children”.
“Children?” Grace questions. Jonathon gets off of his chair and kneels down on the floor on one knee,
“Grace Elizabeth Fummel, you are the most incredible woman I have ever met and it would make me the happiest man alive if you would marry me” Jonathon pulls out a box and opens it up and inside is the biggest ring that Grace has ever seen ever. Graces mouth is wide open and she takes the ring into her hand but remains silent “Well... Grace?” Grace blinks and comes back into the room from a distant place.
“Yes... Yes, Yes I will” Jonathon stands up and kisses Grace with force and she pushes back into his mouth. Grace then feels his touch on her body and his soft fingers undoing her apron. They both stand up still kissing passionately and the apron drops to the floor. Grace begins to grab at Jonathon’s shirt and he then sweeps her off of her feet. Grace lets out a little squeal and then begins to giggle and he carries her upstairs.

That summer Grace and Jonathon got married in the local church but instead of having a massive party afterwards just Jonathon and Grace spent the evening down by the river bank together under the summers sky watching as each star slowly appeared and Grace had never felt happier and knew she had gone through that awful childhood for a reason.

But then a few months later it was time for Jonathon to leave and a big army truck had arrived in the village to take the men away. Grace walked down with her husband to the truck with a few belongings. Graces hands were all sweaty and she could barely walk and needed Jonathon’s support to walk into the village. Although it was Jonathon going to the real war Grace knew she was about to start her war with worry for her husband out at war. An army office crowded everyone up and stood on a box so the crowd could see. All around were different men some she had never seen before all ready to go leaving wives or just family behind. Some looked far too young to be here and Grace shook her head in shame at what was going on. All the names were slowly called as they joined the men that were clearly from the next village into the truck. Then it was called “Jonathon Vincent Barrington” the words of the army office echoed all around and Grace began to feel her legs become weak.
“Don’t go please don’t go” Grace began to beg holding onto both his arms more so for support than to stop him leaving.
“Grace please be strong I will be back in no time and I will write all the time” Jonathon’s mother a tall slender woman with dark brown hair walks over and turns her son away from Grace and hugs him tears flowing down her face. After their embrace Jonathon’s father shakes his sons hand and gives it a firm shake.
“Be Safe” is all his father says to him and then he comforts his mother. Jonathon turns back to me and he kisses me so firmly that melt into him. Jonathon then pulls away and Grace just wishes that he could stay forever. Jonathon turns and walks over to the truck saluting to the captain. The captain returns the salute and points to the truck. As Jonathon gets in he turns back one last time and catches Graces eye and mouths to her,
“I love you”. Grace can see Jonathon inside the truck talking to another villager and she just wishes he would look back. Jonathon’s father Walter touches Grace on the shoulder and says to her
“You are always welcome to come stay at ours if you get lonely” Grace looks back and touches his hand and smiles back holding back the tears.
“Thank you ever so much but I'm sure I will be okay” The office salutes to the crowd and the truck starts up. Grace spins back round and pushes her way to the front of the crowd. The captain jumps in the front and the truck begins to drive off. Grace kicks off her shoes and drops her back as she runs after the truck, she manages to get beside it and Jonathon leans out and shouts,
“GRACE I WILL BE BACK SOON TRUST ME, I LOVE YOU” Grace tries to shout it back but her words can’t come out as her face fills with tears as she runs out of steam and the truck travels out of the village and into the distance. Grace slowly walks back to where the rest of the villagers are talking amongst themselves and Grace picks up her shoes and bag. As she stands up one of the girls she went to school with is stood in front of her. She looks at Grace with a disgusted look and says
“Its not an easy life waiting for that travelling solider you know you saw how the other wives were when their husbands died. If I was you I wouldn’t of married him all that’s going to happen is you will become a widow” Grace walks past the girl and back towards the house but she calls after her “Or it won’t be long before you stop loving him and fall in love with someone else” Grace stops turns around and walks back. The young girl looks worried for a second and the rest of her group stand around her for support. Grace looks the girl in the face and says “I will never love another, Jonathon is my one and only love and I will never betray him” Grace turns as she feels her lip tremble and walks away with her head held high towards the river bank.

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All content (image and text) copyright Michael Sweeney Photography.

Thats part four all done and I know I have been posting this series rather quick but I can't resist because I keep getting so excited and I am enjoying writing. I hope you are all enjoying them as much as I am writing and thank you again for coming back each time. I know they are getting rather long but thanks for sticking with me through all the stories. Remember post it to all your friends or re-tweet my links and spread the word for Lonely Girl.

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Lonely Girl Part Three

If you haven't read parts ONE or TWO of Lonely Girl click the links and read them before reading part three. Enjoy.

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4th August 1934

The night of the dance had arrived and Grace had managed to scramble something that didn’t look like a rag together. Her mother didn’t care much for dancing and didn’t care at all really for Grace and didn’t help her at all. But Grace didn’t mind as she was used to it and was just looking forward to the dance with Jonathon. Just as Grace was brushing her hair and adding a tiny bit it lipstick which she had secretly taken from her mother’s draw there was a knock at the door. Grace glances over to the clock but realises that it couldn’t be Jonathon because it’s too early. No one answers the door so Grace gets up and goes downstairs. She opens the door with a smile to see a young gentleman stood by the door with a small box for her.
“Grace Elizabeth Fummel?” the gentleman questions.
“Yes that’s me” Grace says looking at the large box.
“This is for you” he smiles and places a box down on the floor and walks away. Grace drags the box further into the house and shuts the front door. She rips off the tape holding the box together and opens up the box to be confronted with a massive gorgeous red gown. Grace takes the material in her hands and feels the soft silk brush a cool sensation over her skin. In the bottom were some red shoes with a small heel on. Grace has to take a deep breath in to stop herself from crying, however a few escape as she carries the gorgeous box gown upstairs.

Grace tries on the dress to find it fits her perfectly and matches the lipstick colour she has on. Grace looks at herself in the mirror and for the first time in her life feels good about herself. Then the front door knocks and she knows that he is here. Grace glides down the stairs in her dress and opens the door to a very smartly dressed Jonathon. “You look gorgeous, I hope you liked the dress” Jonathon says and takes Graces hand in his, “Ready?” he asks.
“Yes... but how did you afford the dress?” Grace cannot hold her smile in and her face is beaming.
“That doesn’t matter Grace you look beautiful tonight and I wouldn’t want to be with anyone else” He her leads her to a car which is her first ride in a car. Grace slides into the passenger seat as Jonathon gets in the back. Once they are all in the driver sets off down the road.

When they arrive most people are stood outside waiting to go in and the whole village turns and stares as they pull up. “Everyone is staring at us” Grace says.
“Let them stare, let’s show them how beautiful you are” He slides out of the other side and walks around and opens the door for her. He takes her hand and helps her out of the car. As they get out the whole village are staring in silence at her. Grace just stares at Jonathon as he leads them easily through the crowd and into the hall. The hall has been decorated with a few balloons with nice table decoration around the dance floor for people to sit at. Jonathon leads her to a table and they sit down together and he smiles at her. “I'm so happy that I met you Grace” Grace stares back at him unable to speak but her smiles says it all and Jonathon stands up “I shall get us some drinks” The rest of the dancers join the hall and a few young girls take to the dance floor and begin to dance with each other as others go straight to the tables shying away from the dance floor. Jonathon arrives back with some drinks for them and they sit together talking and staring into each other’s eyes. The record player is changed and a slow song comes on. Grace watches and Jonathon stands up extends his arm and says “May I have this dance?” Grace blushes and says,
“But I don’t know how to dance”
“Just follow my lead” Graces accepts his hand and stands up. He leads them to the centre of the dance floor where he takes her hand and raises it and places the other on his hip and he does the same to her. His touch on her feels so right and Grace feels herself being taken along with him and the music as they dance together in formation in the centre of the room. After dancing for some time the song is starting to come to an end and Jonathon stops dancing and looks deep into her eyes and he begins to lean in. Graces hand becomes sweaty and she feels a sense of panic spread over her. Jonathon closes his eyes and Grace does the same waiting for her first kiss. Then she feels it him on her lips and she begins to melt into him. Her whole body tingles with excitement and joy. She feels as if it is just them in the room and it could be for all she cared. Her whole life she had never been accepted a loner and now she had Jonathon and she knew it was all worth it. Grace feels Jonathon pull away and he smiles at her and leads her again through the staring crowd of open mouthed villagers not that Grace took any notice she was just smiling at Jonathon in a world of her own. Grace feels the cool of the night air brush her face as Jonathon and Grace reach the car. The driver opens the door for Grace to get in and Jonathon gets into the back again from the driver’s side. Jonathon whispers something into her ear and the driver starts the engine off. They approach the bridge where they met and cross over it but once on the other side the driver pulls over to the side of the road and gets out. Grace watches him open her door and offer his hand. Grace glances back but Jonathon has already got out of the car and she accepts his hand and slides out. Jonathon has walks over to Grace. He kneels down and lifts her dress slightly, she looks down at him and she feels him slide her shoe off of her foot and then the other. He gives the shoes to the driver who places them into the car. “Close your eyes and don’t look” Grace giggles
“Why?” Jonathon puts his hand to her face and lightly closes her eyelids. Grace feels his soft touch in her hand and he leads her onto the grass. She feels herself being led down the familiar steps that she always takes to get down to the river bank. As they reach the bottom he lets go of her hand. Grace opens her eyes to see the bank with a rug under the tree with some candles spread around. Grace puts her hand to her mouth and walks over to the rug where there is a small box on the rug. Grace gets down onto her knees and holds the small box in her hand. As she opens it inside are two diamond stud earrings. She spins round and looks at him opened mouthed,
“I know it’s not your birthday for a few days but I thought this would be a nice present for you” Grace stands back up and walks over to him and they both embrace in another kiss.
“Thank you so much” Grace says with tears running down her face.
“Why are you crying?” Jonathon says wiping her face clear of tears.
“Its just no one has ever been this kind to me”.

The driver leaves Grace and Jonathon behind on the grass and they sit watching the stars together. Grace looks over at Jonathon and sits up. He smiles back at her and she asks “Fancy a swim?”
“Now?” Jonathon asks. Grace stands up and takes off his suit jacket and places it on the rug and then carefully slides the dress down her body to leave her in her underwear. She gives him and wink and slowly walks over to the bank. Jonathon stands up and unbuttons his top to reveal a toned body. He then takes his shoes and trousers off and Grace blushes and turns her head at the sight of Jonathon’s naked body however this does not stop her from having another look. He comes up behind her and kisses her neck which sends a tingling sensation all over her body from her head down her spine and to her feet. Jonathon then stands on the edge of the bank and dives in. Grace also jumps in after him and they both arrive back at the surface and tread water looking into each other’s eyes. Just as the candles wax and wick come to an end and go out Jonathon smiles at her and says to her “I love you Grace”.

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All Content (Text & Image) Copyright Michael Sweeney Photography.

Thank you for still coming back and reading this series. Im finding it very odd writing for a period of time that I know nothing about and so its very exciting doing lots more research before writing. Also some of you may have seen the website has had nearly 1000 veiws so thank you for all the support again. Also Lonely Girl is nearly the most read series however "Bad Love" is still ahead. So I hope you are still enjoying how the story is unfolding and you will come back for part four.

Lonely Girl Part Two

If you haven't read Lonely Girl Part One Click Here before you read this.

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7^th November 1991

The air rushes past Grace as she falls towards the water. As she hits the freezing water she lets out a gasp and water rushes inside her mouth making her choke. The current begins to force Grace downstream towards the sea.

13^th July 1934

Grace was sixteen now but however didn’t have any real friends still. There were a few people she would smile at but she kept herself to herself and people didn’t take much notice of her. The summer had begun and the heat of the July sun was making Grace sweat a bit even in the shade. She stared at the cool water running by her and thought how nice its cool touch would be. Grace knew that she shouldn’t go swimming in the pool but as she looked around she could see that there weren’t any easy ways of spotting her. If people looked over the bridge but nobody hardly did at this time of day. After considering this Grace slowly takes off her shoes and places her socks neatly inside them. As she stands up she can feel the prickly dead grass between her toes. Grace slips off her dress and is left in her underwear. She places her clothes on top of her shoes and places them behind the tree. She walks over to the water and sits on the bank and from there dips her toes in. As she dips her toes in the cold water is so soothing that Grace stands up and jumps in feet first. As Grace hits the water the deeper part was colder than she imagines and she comes up for air gasping at the coldness of the water. She begins to giggle to herself at how she thought that it would be hot. Grace swims around for a good few minutes until she sees someone on the bridge behind her. Grace spins round treading in the water looking towards the bridge yet no one is there. Grace shrugs her shoulders and swims back to the bank to get herself out. Grace tries a few times but keeps slipping off of the bank back into the water. She tries a few more places and is nearly up one of the sides until she slides back into the water. As she slides back down she lets herself go under the water and when she comes back up a handsome young boy is stood looking down on her. Grace lets out a squeal and the young man laughs at her and then extends his hand out to Grace for her to take. Grace stares at the hand a while and then the boy retract it. “No please, I'm stuck” Grace says.
“It will cost you” the young boy says back.
Grace smiles at him and says “How much?”
“I haven’t decided yet” He puts his hand back out and as Grace goes to grab it he pulls it back.
“Hey” Grace shouts out.
“You do know when you take this hand you are in my debt” he smirks down at Grace swimming in the river.
“Okay” Grace sighs, the young man puts his hand out and as Grace grabs hold his warm touch in her hand feels welcoming and Grace looks up and smiles at him. Grace holds on tight as the boy tries to pull her up the bank but he slips on some wet mud and slips into the water. Grace begins to laugh and so does the young boy when he surfaces.
“You did that on purpose” He says laughing all the same. He swims over to where grace is stood and says.
“Hi, I'm Jonathon”.

26^th July 1934

Ever since the day in the river Jonathon and Grace have been inseparable. It turned out that Jonathon was new to the village and had moved down here with his mother and father. Jonathon was from a very large family and his parents were rather wealthy and had brought the large house at the top of the hill that over looked the village. Grace had always liked the look of the house and had wanted to go up there all the time but no one had lived in it for a few years now and the fence was too high to climb. Jonathon was also a year older than Grace but neither he nor Grace seemed to mind. He was happy for someone to be friends with in the village and Grace was over the moon to have a friend at all. Grace and Jonathon were walking into town on another hot summer’s day when they saw a poster on the door of the village hall. Jonathon walked over to the door and turned around and smiled. “We should go” he calls over to her.
“Go where?” Grace walks over to Jonathon to see him looking at the poster which says village dance. Grace had never been dancing before and her stomach gave her a nervous twitch. “I'm not sure, I haven’t really...”
“It will be fun” Jonathon persists. He gets down on one year and Grace looks at him with a confused face.
“What are you doing” Grace begins to giggle and for a second she thinks he is about to propose. Jonathon takes Graces hand in both of his and says.
“Will you Grace Elizabeth Fummel accompany me to the dance” Grace can’t hold in the emotion she feels and tears begin to fall from her eyes. Jonathon looks up at her worried and says to her. “What's wrong” He stands up still holding onto her hands.
“Ye..... Yes” Grace manages to get out.
“What's wrong?”
“Nothing, just no one has ever asked me to go anywhere before” Grace wipes her eyes and lets out a small laugh. Jonathon looks at Grace smiles and wipes some of the tears from her face and takes one of her hands and puts his soft fingers through hers.
“Lets get some ice cream” He says and he leads her into town.

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Thank you for reading part two, I hope you are enjoying the way the story is unfolding and I also hope that you come back for part three. Thank you again for coming back each time and reading my creations.

All content (image and text) copyright Michael Sweeney Photography