~~~Four Years Earlier~~~
Together, me, Harmony, and Mr. Maxwell sit around the tv. The tv is blaring out reports about the war: we need more soldiers on the battlefield, we will not lose these reserves, use less oil, stay STRONG America.
"Toby, who's winning so far?" Mr. Maxwell asks me.
"Um, I think it's Russia. Then us." I sigh. I can almost hear all of our hearts sink.
"It's getting worse by the day." Mr. Maxwell says, shaking his head in disproval. "Stupid government." He points at the screen of the tv and it shuts down.
"What are we going to do?" Harmony asks. "We''ll be okay, right Dad? Without oil I mean." She doesn't look up when she says it; she just clutches the couch a little harder.
Mr. Maxwell hesitates, bites his lip, and stretches out on the couch. "Well, I'm guessing we'll win. I don't think there's anything to worry about. But if we do lose, we'll probably just go back to they way it was before oil, we'll use other substances in place of it. I know we're crazy about winning this war, even with all these new cars, claiming they're no-fuel and all electric and good for the economy and taking oil out of everything we use. I'm glad they took it out of our food though. We will be okay." Mr. Maxwell shoots Harmony a crooked smile. But then he grabs his wedding ring and starts to twist it like he doesn't really believe what he's just said.
"Oh," Harmony nods with droopy eyes that are full of sadness. She looks up to take a deep breath and her lips barely move as she whispers, "I'm going to go take a walk." Harmony stands up and pulls down her shirt.
Mr. Maxwell starts to protest against letting her go out in the city alone, but I add quickly, "I'll go with her. Don't worry, I have my phone with me just in case."
Harmony hasn't bothered to listen any more, she's already out the door- it slams violently behind her.
"Be home before dark," Mr. Maxwell says, despite Harmony having already left.
Quickly I chase her out the door and follow her down to the lobby. She plops onto a chair. She looks up at me, almost painfully.
"Toby, what's really going to happen?" Harmony asks. She fidgets nervously with her chair.
I don't have an answer. I can't open my mouth to say anything, it clenches shut. I don't know. This is a question I don't think about. I try not to notice there's a war. I try
not to notice Harmony's depression, I try not to notice everything is falling apart.
Harmony takes notice of this. "What if we win? What happens to all the other countries, what will they do? What if we end up killing them?"
"I don't know, love." I say under my breath. "I'm sorry. I really am."
"I know you are." She retorts. Harmony breathes in deeply. "Let's go to the park, okay? We can get an ice cream and see what's going on at the band shell, maybe they'll have some kind of band there."
I smile at her. "Okay."
Needless to say, I worry about her. A lot. Her dad says it's not my job, but since her dad is always so out of it, nobody bothers with her but me. Harmony is a sweet girl, but she doesn't have many friends.
We've been best friends since she was and I was seven. I'm one year older than her, but she could care less. I was in the hospital with a fever so high it almost killed me, and she had just been diagnosed with epilepsy. Harmony saw me in the room next to hers, and her curious nature set in and we became friends. She also lived in the same apartment complex as us so we hung out ever since.
