Summary: Sarah James is an aspiring actress in the Red Curtain Theatre Company. Her best friend, William Barron, is a stage-hand, trying to make his way in the world. When World War Two comes, both have their own dangers to think about. First chapter stucks.

A/N: To those who were disappointed with the way I ended, I'm sorry. I rewrote the ending just for you guys. Thanks for all the reviews!

This above all: to thine own self be true.
-- Shakespeare; Hamlet

1951

The war ended officially on the seventh of May, 1945, seven days after Hitler committed suicide on the last day of April. After reading of Hitler's sudden death, I was disgusted. This man was a coward! After causing so much suffering and pain in Europe, he suddenly took his own life because his ally, Mussolini was dead. He left all his troops and faithful followers lost, not knowing what to do next.

The war's end brought a breath of relief over Europe. Allies liberated German concentration camps, freeing the Jews that were held prisoner there. But for many soldiers, the end of the war came too late. William, for example, would never be the same again, his innocence torn away from him.

Mr Friend is thinking of retiring. He wants Tommy to take over the job. Mother says they may think of moving away from the hustle and bustle of London to the quieter countryside. In 1946, Mother was pregnant but due to her age, and to complications, she had a miscarriage. They never tried for another child.

Tommy and Miriam Freeman have had two more children over the last years: Isaac and Leif. Miriam told me Sally is thinking of becoming an actress, just like her mother. In a way, Sally resembles me: she grows up in the theatre and becomes to charmed by it, she wants to become a part of it. I give her my blessing and hope that she will not have to suffer as I did.

William married Cathy Archdale. They immigrated to Australia in 1950. Cathy's wealthy merchant father has a vineyard there. I write occasionally, but it is usually Cathy who replies my letters. I think William wants to leave his angry past in England, the old world, to move on with life in the new one. I hope he has found what he is looking for.

I have never heard from Mrs Lawrence since the day Iain and I left Bridge's End, although Mother says she has received a letter from her once. She did not tell me the contents.

Iain and I were married on the ninth of August, 1945. Like any other wedding we attended, there was dancing and singing and drinking. We have three lively boys, and one of the way. I think it's another boy, but everyone else thinks it is a girl. We still live in the theatre, where I am an actress and where Iain may take over the position of stage-manager after Mr Smith's imminent retirement.

One afternoon, we were talking about our past together. I said to him, "When I think back on my life, I realized that I have been hiding behind the curtain. I lived a romantic life. Only during the war, after all that happened, did I come back to reality."

Iain nodded. Suddenly, he said, "Why don't you write it down?"

"Write what down?"

"Your story," said Iain. "Write it down so that you will never forget it as long as you live. And also that our children may know it. "

"But where do I begin?" I asked, puzzled.

"When the war began," he said. "And end at this very moment."

I wrote it all down. It tells the tale of me, William, Iain, Mr Friend, Mrs Friend, Mother, Tommy, Miriam and everyone else at the Red Curtain Theatre. It comes from all those voices that speak to me from the past. It has taken me five weeks to set this all down, one of the hardest five weeks of my entire life.

But tomorrow, when I awaken, I will see a different light. The weight of the past that has been with me for so long is gone, and in its place, a new life.

May this story endure, as Shakespeare has put it:

For ever and a day.

The End