Title: "Promises in the Ruins"
Scene: A small, dimly lit café in London. The year is 1943. A couple, Ellie and Sky, sit at a corner table, speaking in hushed tones. The war rages on, and both are aware that Sky may soon be sent to the front lines. There’s an unspoken tension between them, neither knowing when if he’ll return. Ellie holds Sky's hand, her fingers tracing the lines on his palm, as if trying to memorize him.
Ellie:
(softly) I keep imagining what life could be like when the war ends.
Sky:
(half-smiling, yet distant) If the war ends.
Ellie:
(pauses, looking down at her hand in his) You’ll come back, Sky. Promise me.
Sky:
(looks away, eyes haunted by the uncertainty of the future) I can’t promise you anything, Ellie. I can only say that I’ll fight to come back to you.
(A brief silence. The distant sound of a siren fills the room, but they both ignore it.)
Ellier:
(nodding, trying to hold back tears) I want us to be different... when you come back. Not just surviving, but living.
Sky:
(squeezes her hand gently, his voice trembling slightly) I don’t know if I’ll be the same.
Ellie:
(whispering, trying to smile through the pain) Then we’ll find a new way to love.