The End

Chapter One

Standing beside the window transported Harper back in time, to the memories of warm kisses against her skin, lips smiling with barely concealed giggles. A time that was normally obscured with darkness and death, with only one spot of her life that glowed with happiness and made such a life worth it.

The sun's heat against her skin was uncomfortably hot, more so than it already had been in her youth, but not enough to where she couldn't pretend. Many things had changed since then. Her summer fling had developed into a steady relationship, and then into marriage. She and her husband now had two children that she mostly had to raise herself. Three years ago the world had descended further into chaos with the start of World War III, and her husband had been drafted into the fight against his will. He rarely ever came back home, which left her children and their father with fleeting relationships and scarce memories.

Her reminiscing was interrupted by the loud, pounding footsteps of her son as he ran out of his room and towards her. "Mommy! Mommy!" Orion screeched, jumping around her with the energy only a young child could possess. "Come look at the house me and 'Theia made!"

Harper smiled and held out her hand to let him drag her away from the window. She followed him eagerly, stepping into his room to see a massive misshapen house made of tiny multicolored bricks. Antheia sat next to it, grinning wide enough to expose her missing front tooth.

Harper stepped back and rested her hand on her chin, examining the house's every detail. After a minute of heavy scrutinizing, she clapped her hands and delivered the verdict. "I'd say this is a house only a master could build! Surely the entire world will be looking for you two's work after we go public with this."

Orion squealed happily and hugged her waist. Antheia scrambled to stand up to join the hug, but a loud bang echoed through the house. She froze, staring at Harper with wide eyes. Orion pulled away to look up at her in confusion. Harper's heart pounded as she detached herself from his tiny grip and knelt down in front of him.

"Promise me you two will stay in here, okay?" She murmured, searching each of her children's faces to make sure they would comply. When both Antheia and Orion nodded, she turned around and shut the door behind her, heading to the front of the house where she could look out and see what was happening. The neighborhood was normally quiet, as if there was some unspoken law to not draw attention to yourself. Loud noises were signs of trouble, and everyone avoided them at all reasonable costs. There was already enough trouble.

She peered out the window, spotting a bright shuttle car floating in front of the house. Its white sides glinted unnaturally, flickering in and out of existence. Harper knew from her husband's brief visits when he would describe all of his experiences that those shuttles were from the military, and that they could turn invisible by bending the light around them. She figured the shuttle was in pretty bad shape to be flickering like that, but she was more concerned about why the military was visiting her.

The bang sounded again, closer this time, and with a sinking feeling in her gut she realized the soldiers were knocking on her door. She moved to open the door and smiled shakily in greeting to the three soldiers. One removed her cap and bowed her head to Harper.

"I regret to inform you of this, but your husband, Aaron Davidson, has died in combat."

Harper had been expecting this, but the news still shocked her. "What? N-No... He couldn't be dead..." She stumbled over to the couch and sunk down, resting her face in her hands as she fought back tears. Despite her denial, she knew that it was extremely likely, and it only made more tears and refusals spill from her. A soldier with pastel blue hair settled next to her.

"If you need anything, I'm here for grief counselling for you and your children. I understand you do not have your internet installed, so here, take my information." They pressed a card into her hand, which she examined. Alex Sinclair, Nurse 910235, District C-0966.

With the news delivered, the soldiers quickly disappeared, leaving the way they came and flickering away to nothing as they stepped inside their shuttle. She could hear its engines start up and fade away, so she presumed they had driven away.

She knew that with her husband's death, not much would change. Harper would continue raising Antheia and Orion on her own. But her heart panged at the thought of not being able to look forward to his short visits. The most recent one was only a couple weeks ago, so she was not anticipating one in the near future, but now she would not be able to anticipate any in the far future either.

The door to Orion's bedroom creaked open, revealing only a small crack from which her children peered through. Orion stared quizzically at his mother who had her face in her hands, leaning on her knees at the edge of the couch. Her shoulders shook so quietly it was barely noticeable. "What's she doing?" He whispered too loudly. Antheia slapped a hand over his mouth.

"I think..." Antheia suddenly realized the severity of the situation. "Oh no, I hope she's okay!" She rushed out of the room and towards her mother, who had jerked up at the noise of shuffling feet.

"Mommy, mommy, what happened?" Antheia cried, grabbing Harper's hands and clutching them close to her. Harper wondered if there had ever been days when the military handled this stuff better than just dumping the news on the remaining parent and then leaving.

"Your father... died recently." She choked out, barely keeping her voice under control. Antheia blinked in shock and smiled uncertainly.

"But that's okay, right? He was never around anyway. Now you can get someone who will be."

Harper's heart froze in her chest. Antheia's smile fell as she seemed to understand that her attempts to console her mother did the opposite. She retreated, dropping Harper's hands and backing away with shaky legs. "I-I'm sorry mommy, I wanted to help, I didn't mean it-" Her bottom lip trembled too much for her to continue speaking. She turned and fled into her own bedroom, door slamming loudly.

"Mommy, what's going on?" Orion's bottom lip quivered in an expression nearly identical to his sister's. Harper sighed and motioned to him to hop onto her lap, which he did eagerly. He clung to her stomach as though he were still a baby, and not almost five years old.

"Sweetie, your daddy has been fighting in a war all this time because he had to protect our country." She swallowed the bitterness rising in her throat with much difficulty, not ready to end the protests at how unfair the world was, but unable to voice them. "He fought bravely, but another person snuck behind him and attacked him." She was lying, as far as she knew. The soldiers didn't inform her of this much. They did what they had to and left, giving her no more than required. Harper fought another wave of indignation.

Orion pounded her back with his tiny fists on either side. "That's against the law! Is that person locked up? Execution!" He dug his face into her chest, face burning as he fumed. Harper hoped he didn't know what exactly he was demanding.

Harper shook her head sadly. "No. Please do not blame that person, 'Rion. We don't know what they're going through and why they did it. They were probably forced into this war just like your father."

"Besides, who knows how many situations similar to this your father has caused?" She didn't add.

"Execution!" he didn't respond.

Harper buried her head into his fluffy hair as her shirt dampened with his tears.

In the next room over, Antheia was huddled in a corner, crying silently. Memories flashed through her mind like a horrible movie, reminding her of all the grievances she had already gathered in her eight years of life. Her most recent mistakes recurred the most.

She knew she had messed up and just made her mother more upset. Despite all of her other remorses, this one stood out the most. Antheia feared she may have gone too far this time, more so than she ever had before.

She quivered in the dark corner, stifling her cries. She felt a crawling sensation on her back, as though she were splitting apart. She supposed she deserved it. All she could do was whisper apologies to her mom and dad under her breath while she rocked back and forth.