A new beginning...

Dear Lovely Readers,

I have written about my story a few times and shared little blurbs of it on this blog but now I have set aside a blog for it all on its own. The Secret of Our Days Past is the story of Mattie Harrington and her family, she comes to age in the era before WWI and lives her life very idealistically. She cannot imagine what destruction will come when an assiation of an Arch Duke rocks all of Europe and soon England is at war. Her brother who has always wanted to be an explorer and his best friend enlist and are called to the front to fight in the worst battle Somme. Her life is shaken when her beloved brother is injured and he is so shell shock, he is barely the man she once knew. But other obstacles come into her path when her love interest decides to enlist after his older brother dies in the War. These challenges push her to become a stronger woman, who can no longer depend on ideals. She takes up war work, much to the horror of her mother and she learns the strength of her own heart. In the wake of war her family is practically penniless and now she must decide to follow her own heart, or do as her family desires and marry a title man she does not love.

What would you do?

~~~~~~~~~~

"All aboard!"

            "Kelby where could you be? Why did you not come? I cannot leave not knowing where you are."

            "You must," another voice inside my head said. "You have to go for you and for him."

            "Miss  are you getting on this train?" the older man asked me.

            "He didn't come," I mumbled. "He promised he would be here. It was his idea."

            "I am sorry, but if you are going to Liverpool you need to get on this train." He said trying to push my suitcase into my hands.

            "He didn't come," I said more violently in my head  than out loud.

            "Miss I need you to get on this train."

            I looked back at the ticket counter and the doors beyond that to see if I caught a glimpse of him, but he was not there. Nothing but pure nerves were telling me to go back. My heart and mind were telling me to run far away.

            "Last call to South Hampton!"

            The train engine blew and the ground beneath my feet started to tremble with the wheels beginning to turn. Something inside me snapped. I grabbed my bag and ran down the platform to my car. I threw my bag on the train and the conductor took my hand to hoist me up.

            "Glad you made it my lady," he said through his walrus like my mustache.

            "Me too," I said slightly relieved slightly sick.

            "Have a safe journey," he said when he had shown me to my seat and placed my luggage in storage above my head.

            This wasn't a journey this was a new beginning. 

Mattie Harrington could not believe what she had done that fateful day, of course it would be many years before she talked about it. Parts of this narrative Mattie could still remember as if they were yesterday even though they happened years ago. Some parts of this Mattie had to conjure up out of her imagination to make sense of the outcomes. Therefore, it is a hard to call true account of the Harrington family but it is the truest account you will ever hear.

            No matter how many time Mattie Harrington told the story she always started the same way...

            There was a time when we were all happy and innocent to the ever changing world. Before the war and destruction on that followed in its wake. The war had changed our family in so many ways as it had for countless others. Before the war it didn't matter that Parker was heir to Cranston Court and was best friends to Shane Dolan, whom was the eldest son of Cranston's head cook. Daphne would be happy to wear daisy chain necklaces and Marcus dreamt of exploring the deep jungles of Africa. Back when were children we would spend our summers in the back woods, wade in the creek that divided Cranston from Southerton Greens. I remember here we could be a thousand miles away from everything and everyone with only our dreams to play out. Though, that was before the Great War. The Great War that killed Shane, wrecked Marcus, and made our poverty known. It was all due to the war. It was the reason our lives would be forever altered.

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