they used to shout my name (now they whisper it)

chapter one: matt's introduction

When Matthew Klein, Jr. had heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor, he knew that he had to sign up as soon as he could. It was the good and honorable thing to do.

The next day after the bombing on Pearl Harbor, Matthew went to go sign up with a few of his buddies. Matthew signed up to be a part of the Marines, who were said to be the toughest of them all. Matthew wanted to be with them. He wanted to fight.

Matthew was only nineteen when he signed up to be a part of World War II.

After he told his family about what he had done, Matthew received three different reactions: silence, sobbing, and anger. The silence came from his father and his youngest sister. His mother and youngest brother began to cry (however their mother reacted, the youngest Klein would act the same way). The anger came from his other sister.

When Madison Klein heard what her brother had said, she stomped upstairs. Matthew heard the door to her bedroom slammed closed. This took their father and Morgan—who was Madison's twin—out of their trances.

"Where did Madison go?" Morgan asked, looking around.

Matthew sighed. "She went upstairs. She's mad at me."

Without saying anything else, Matthew went upstairs to his sisters' room. He knocked on the door once, twice. She didn't answer. He waited for a moment, wondering if he should just walk in. He decided to test the waters and he slowly opened the door. He could see her silhouette curled up on the bed. He gulped.

"Madison?"

No answer.

"Madison?"

"Go away, Matthew. I don't want to talk with anyone right now," Madison croaked. Matthew didn't say anything as he slowly walked to her bed, sitting on the edge of it so he could talk to her. He studied her features. Her bright, blue eyes were trimmed red and he could tell that she was crying.

"Madison, please understand that I have to do this," Matthew started to speak. "I have to do this for our country. I have to do it for our family. If I sign up, I get money. If I get money, I can send it back here." The Kleins weren't the poorest, but they were definitely not the richest either.

Matthew watched as Madison slowly sat up against her bed frame. "Matthew, I do understand. I just don't like that you're leaving us. I don't like it one bit," Madison took a deep breath. "You're being shipped out into a foreign land. You could get hurt. I'm scared that you're going to die and if you did, what would happen to us? Mother's heart would absolutely shatter. We would all break. I couldn't bear it." Madison started to hyperventilate at this point and Matthew wrapped his arms around his younger sister.

So that's what she was afraid of, Matthew thought to himself. She's afraid that I am going to die.

Matthew knew that there was a good chance of him getting killed out there. But he wouldn't voice his fears to his little sister. He had already hurt her with his decision.

After a long moment of silence, Matthew pulled back to look down at his sister. He stared into the blue eyes that were identical to his own. All the Klein children had the same blue eyes, but it seemed to appear that Madison and Morgan had the brightest pair out of all four of them.

"Madison, I will not die out there, okay? I promise. I am going to survive this war and return home to everyone here." Matthew held out his pinky finger. "Pinky promise."

Madison gave a small giggle. This made Matthew smile. She wrapped her small pinky finger around his, sealing their deal. "Okay."

It was silent between the two before Madison asked him what he signed up for.