Echoes of War: A soldier's beginning

1999

"I want to join the army." John says proudly to Ayla. "Why? It's dangerous." Ayla says as she is putting away her science book. "Well, you're going to the moon, what's safe about that? What if the rocket explodes. What if you're out of oxygen? What if the rocket gets in a black hole?" Ayla sighs as she crosses her arms. "Well... at least my ass ain't fighting for my life and that for months now do I?" John crosses his arms as he puffs. "I'm doing it to protect the country, you're doing it for science." "I do not!" Ayla says as she puts her hand on her hip.

"Well it's too late, I joined the army school!" John says as he looks away. Ayla sighs as she looks up. "Okay, fine! Just stay safe, okay?" John nods as he smiles again. "Of course I will Ayla, don't you worry about me." John says as he gives her a smile. Ayla nods as she looks at him. "Before you leave tho, I do want to tell you something. It's a secret." John raises an eyebrow as he looks back at Ayla. "Tell me."
"Well, I just got my diagnosis back and the psychologist gave me the ASD diagnosis, or, for stupid people, Autism diagnosis." "Oh aren't you a little ray of sunshine?" John says with a gasp. "No but seriously, Aaliyah, I don't care if you are, I still like you, you're nice." Ayla nods happily as she chuckles. "Yeah you get me! I'm too scared to tell my friends this, what if they think I'm weird?" John shrugs as he scoffs a bit. "Then they're not your real friends." Ayla nods as she looks at him. "Yeah, yeah that's true." John nods as well, looking at the letter he was holding this whole time.

"What is that?" Ayla asks curiously. "My acceptance letter, I got in the school." Ayla nods as she looks up to him. "You can go, I can handle myself. I'm smart I can skip a few years anyway." John raises an eyebrow now. "Why didn't you do that earlier?" "I didn't want to graduate without you. I got offered to skip classes for a while now, but I declined, because I don't want to graduate alone. Now that you're leaving, it doesn't matter anyway." John nods as he sighs. "Look, I really want to get in the army and I will call you every day, I will even try to text you on msn." Ayla nods excitedly as she looks at him. "Sure then!"
"Good, I leave next Monday, I will visit you first before I leave tho. Maybe your mom can make those good pancakes." Ayla thinks about his offer. "The Dutch pancakes?" John nods as he smiles happily. "Yeah, the Dutch ones Fleur always makes." Ayla agrees as she writes it down. "I'll call my mama then, maybe mom can convince her to make some cheese pancakes as well." "Oh I love Fleur's pancakes!" John says happily. "Even tho Madelyn makes some great English breakfast tho. Can we have both?" Ayla gives him a poker face as she writes it down. "I will try, but mom is mostly busy on Monday." John nods as he gets his stuff. "Okay, I see you Monday! Bye Ayla!" "Bye John!"

As it turns Monday, John, as promised, goes to Ayla's house and knocks on it. Ayla opens the door for him and he walks in. Fleur, Ayla's mama, is making the pancakes as promised. Madelyn on the other hand is making the English breakfast as he asks her to. They're doing anything to make John have a good last day there for now. John starts to devour the food he's getting, making Ayla seem worried. "Are you okay?" John nods at Ayla's question as he keeps eating. "Aaliyah, waarom vraag je John niet om wat drinken?" Fleur asks her now. Ayla nods and looks at John. "You want something to drink?" John nods as he looks at her. "Water would be nice." Ayla nods as she grabs him a glass of water. John chugs the water down as he goes on with eating. The rest just looks at him in pure disbelief. The moms start talking to each other while Ayla keeps looking at him in shock. She takes a bite of her own pancake as she watches him. As John finishes his food, he cleans up his plate and does the dishes for them as well.
"Thank you so much for the food Fleur and Madelyn." John says as he grabs his backpack. "It's no problem dear." Madelyn says as she cleans up the dishes in the cabinets. Ayla follows John to the door as they walk out together.

"So, how long will you be in the school? And when can you be back?" Ayla asks curiously. "Well, I am free in the weekends and vacation, I can visit you in the vacation." "Okay." Ayla says with a sigh. They walk to the train station as she watches John get his ticket. "So, London huh? It's a big city, I hope you'll make it there alone I guess." John nods as he hears Ayla being worried for him. He looks at her as he rests a hand on her shoulder. "I will be fine Ayla, I promised you that I will call you everyday didn't I?" Ayla nods as she sighs. "But it will be so boring, I'm going to miss you John." John nods as he looks at the floor, holding his backpack. "Me too, I am going to miss you too. I hope I will graduate early, so that I can see you again faster before joining the war." Ayla nods as she looks at the floor as well. The sound of an upcoming train can be heard. "Well, that's my train. I got to go Ayla." Ayla sighs as she looks up. "Goodbye Johnny." They give each other one last hug before he gets in the train. He waves at her before the train rides off...