ALLEGIANCE

ALLEGIANCE part 1

BEA

"Bea. Stop that." Rodan screamed at me. I took my hands off his arm and plopped down in the snow. He lowered himself down next to me, and asked, "Do you want some hot chocolate?"

I grinned and nodded yes. He stood up and skipped into our little cottage. I beamed up at the sky. It was grey, and war planes flew overhead like the old people said birds used to. I wondered to myself, "What are birds like? I know that they look like planes, but much smaller." I couldn't bear the thought of living in a world where you could walk down the street without seeing signs that say "BOMB SHELTER THIS WAY" with arrows pointing to silver roofed domes every square mile throughout the city.

Rodan returned with my hot cocoa. The steam swirled and swam in the cold winter air. I put the mug to my lips and slowly let the liquid seep closer to my mouth.

"Ow!" I screamed. The cocoa was still hot, and left an irritating sore in the tip of my tongue.

Rodan laughed at my accidental burning.

"Hey, it happens." He muttered.

Though Rodan wasn't my relative, he felt like my brother. We had raised each other. Both of us had survived to the age of 15, and we lived comforably in a cottage outside the main suburbs of Dezmon, with help from the government.

The Dezmonian government offered loads of resources and supplies to children orphaned by parents forced to fight in the war. Of course, my mother and father, having been experienced trauma surgeons, were sent to fight when I was only 5. Rodan's parents were average civilians, his father a mailman and his mother a bagger at a grocery store were considered underclass and were sent to be infantry soldiers when he was also 5. When both our parents

were sent off, Rodan and I were given one hundred thousand dollars to take care ourselves, at which point we decided to stick together.

"Rodan, do you think my parents are alive?" I asked. I asked him this question quite alot, and he always answered the same five words, like a ritual: "Bea, we can only hope."

Dropping the subject, I stated happily: "I'm going to go check our P.O. box and see if either of us got a job yet."

Rodan rolled his eyes and returned to the cottage. I skipped off to the neighborhood square where our mailbox awaited. There was the usual electricity bill, a couple food stamps from the government, and a notice that our rent would be due next week. I was closing the door to the box when I saw one more envelope. It was the same type of envelope that our food stamps and money came in from the government, and had the official National Dezmon Office seal on the front, but it felt much thinner than any of the packages we'd ever gotten from them. I decided I'd wait to open it until I was back with Rodan.

"We got a new letter!" I called out. Rodan ran to the table and sat down with me. I slit the letter with my fingernail and unfolded the paper. It read:

"RODAN BOSLEY AND BEA MARTEN:

It has come to our attention that you will both reach your sixteenth birthday on the following dates:

FEBRUARY 15TH and MARCH 9TH

We would like to invite you to participate in a live convention on JANUARY 1ST to discuss the issue of deciding which country you will align your loyalties to when your birth dates arrive. As policy of the "NEW WORLD ORDER" put in place by Dezmon and Talon in a singular agreement, citizens of either side are required to make a decision between staying in their current country of residence, or emigrate to the opposite side.

DETAILS:

convention will be held from January 1st to January 2nd. You will arrive in the city of Shai by train, and be seated in the Nima Center before 11:30 AM. Both days will finish at 6:00 PM. Should you choose to stay over night, the Shai Inn will supply you with a two person room, including meals.

The convention will have representatives from both countries.

Please return a letter by the 25th of December to reply to our invitation to this crucial convention. "

I looked up at Rodan to ensure that he was just as shocked as I was.

"I should've seen this coming. I completely forgot about the new world order's rule about 16 year olds."

"Rodan, we are so screwed."