Soldier Boy

Chapter 1- New Recruit

Germany, October 1958

You look at yourself in your round bathroom mirror, you hate the person looking back. You smooth out your pale pink dress to try and make it a bit more flattering on your tan olive skin. You hated how long the length of your dresses were, they went just below your knees and made you look like you had no shape. You had just finished high school a year prior and you're freshly eighteen. Your dad was posted to the army base in Germany a year ago, it was hard for you to adjust to a whole different country! You've been depressed ever since you moved. You haven't made many friends and you feel so lonesome.

"Y/N!" You hear your mother scream from the otherside of the bathroom door while she knocks furiously "you've been in there for 45 minutes, open this door right now."

You sit on the toilet seat frustrated and think to yourself, why do my parents continue to treat me like a child, I'm 18 years old. You stand up and open the olive green door, you look at your mother with your big brown eyes and say harshly "I was about to leave anyway."

Your mother sighs and looks at you with her beady eyes, "where do you think you're going?"

She says, raising an eyebrow.

"Out." You say rolling your eyes as you try to walk past.

She grabs your wrist and stares at you fiercely "where?"

"Let go!" You try to pull away, why does she always have to be like this. At least it's not your father, he would be even worse.

Your mother's firm grip relaxes as she says slowly, "your dad has invited over a new troop, he's been here for three weeks and is very lonely. Please be back from wherever it is you're going by four so you can get ready."

You sigh and force a smile, "okay, I'll do my best." She finally lets go of your wrist, you walk past your mother and walk out the front door. You don't really know where you want to go, you figured you'd go to the library or go browse some clothing stores.

You end up in the army base library sitting on a big red couch reading Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger. You are already five chapters in, you feel like you've been sitting there reading for twenty minutes, in reality you've been there for three hours! You look down at your watch, it's 3:57!

Crap! You think to yourself, I have three minutes to get home and get ready. You roll your eyes and wonder why your dad always insists on inviting over these lonely soldiers, all of them are so boring and lack any form of depth. You stand up from the couch and take the book to the librarian to get it checked out. You make sure to tuck it away in your salmon coloured bag so your parents don't see that you've gotten a book, they disapprove of you reading.

You rush back to your house as quickly as possible, you're lucky that the neighborhood is so close to the center of the army bases' township. When you got to your house you rushed inside and ran through the kitchen and up the stairs to your room. You look down at your golden watch, it's 4:10! You call down to your mother, "when is the soldier coming exactly?!"

"He's coming at 6:00, but you need to be ready by 5:30 so you can help set the table and help make salad!" She calls back.

 "Dress nice, make yourself look presentable please!" She adds cheekily. You look through your little closet and pick out a blue dress with a cute collar and a nice bow around your waist. You lay the dress neatly on your double bed and pick out some nice baby blue heels. You go into the bathroom closest to your bedroom and tie your hair up while you apply light blue eyeshadow onto your eyelids. You look at your curly honey brown hair, it looks matted and desperately needs to be brushed and taken care of. After you finish doing your makeup you run some water through your hair and brush your hair slowly, you apply coconut oil to your curls so they are held firmly and so that your hair smells nice and fresh.