A short story based on the song Safe and Sound - Taylor Swift ft. The Civil Wars

(A/N – Taylor Swift: Safe and Sound)

It's been seven years since you left. Seven years since you lied. Seven years of questions with no one to give me any answers. Seven years, though I still remember it as though it were yesterday.

∞

“Would you care to dance, Miss Fairwood?” I grin at his playfulness as the house band begin to play Vera Lynn's, 'We'll meet Again'. Elijah holds out his arm and I loop mine through it, hoisting the bottom of my blood red dress with the other. We walk slowly to the middle of the polished dance floor, not saying a word.

Elijah turns to face me, takes my hand in his and places his other palm on the small of my back, never taking his dark blue eyes from mine. My breath catches in my throat as he starts to move me around the dance floor, my ears not hearing the music at all. He shifts his head to the side of mine, breaking our eye contact. I sigh of relief escape my lips. How can this man still have this affect on me?

I'm just starting to get used to the feel of my hand within his when the gentle, romantic moment between us shatters in a heartbeat.

A defeaning explosion tears through the night. If feels as though the whole world moves beneath our feet. Champagne glasses smash within palms and deep cracks race down the ballroom walls. More explosions follow the first in quick succession causing the first wave of panic. The music has gone. The screaming starts.

I snap my head back, trying to pull away from Elijah's embrace. He pulls me closer, tighter, his fingertips digging into my back.

“We need to move,” he says, making me pause. “Trust me.”

People are shrieking, crying and running over themselves to get to out to the London streets. I don't take my eyes off him, which he takes as my sign of agreement.

Elijah takes me by the hand and drags me in the opposite direction, pushing our way through the crowds. Low rumbles vibrate under my feet as more bombs collide with the earth outside.

We skid through an open door way and clamber down a set of stairs, deep under the ballroom where the party was in full swing just moments before. Elijah proceeds to push me to the back of a dark, cellar room, away from any of the street level windows.

He slams the door closed and turns to face me. This is when I notice the hot, heavy tears streaming down my face as adrenaline takes over my body. I try desperately to rub them away, to appear brave and together like he is. I feel his hands on my shoulders.

“Look at me, Erin,” he breathes. I do as he asks. It seems that I can't do anything but when I am with him. “You'll be all right, no one can hurt you now.” I just nod. Trusting him is all I have. He is all I have.

A burnt, orange glow fills the room, lighting up my tear stained face. Another distant crash, shakes the walls that surround me. The war is raging on outside these very windows. I move towards them, wanting to see what is happening out there but Elijah's fingers close around my wrist.

“Don't you dare look outside,” he almost growls. I nod again and sink to the floor, my blood red dress spilling out around me.

Elijah releases me and starts to rummage through the crates that litter the floor of the cellar. I find myself smiling at his practicality. A soldier through and through. He doesn't feel himself unless he is running to rescue someone in need. One of the many reasons I fell so hopelessly in love with him.

He returns with armfuls of candles and begins to place them in a circle around us. He pulls a sleeve of matches from his inner jacket pocket and lights them one by one. The flames dance and flicker as I listen the air-raid siren singing mournfully.

“Don't leave me here alone,” I whisper into the shadows. Elijah settles down next to me, puts his jacket around my shoulders and then pulls me onto his knees. Whilst stroking my hair, his warm breath skims my cheek as he whispers back,

“Just close your eyes. Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound.” The adrenaline slows down, leaving me weak and exhausted. The steady rise and fall of Elijah's chest calms me, believing with all my heart that he'll never let me go.

A golden sprinkle of light flutters over my eyelids. I open my eyes to see dawn creeping through the tiny cellar windows. The candles have burnt out, their light extinguished, but the approaching sun feels warm and comforting...until it isn't. An icy trickle of realisation slides down the back of my neck.

The rise and fall of his breathing has gone. The cellar door open wide. A sob escapes my lips, racking my body.

My Elijah, a soldier through and through. Never himself unless he's running to rescue someone in need.

I cling to the jacket he left draped over me, inhaling his sweet scent. The last thing I have to remember him by. Pain rips through the new gaping hole in my chest when I realise what I know in my heart of hearts that I wish I didn't.

∞

It's been seven years since you left. Seven years since you lied. Seven years of questions with no one to give me any answers. Seven years, though I still remember it as though it were yesterday when you said, “Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound.”