Buzzkill [Winter Soldier]

Chapter 1

The chaos that sprung from the day's morning news spread quickly throughout each major city in Sweden. The city of Malmö was one of the first to receive, and was the most affected. A seemingly small war throughout this country and the next had ended just a couple of weeks ago, and with the end of the war, people thought life would be better. Instead, the economic disaster immediately began to devastate lives as soon as the markets plummeted, making the normal dollar worth thousands. Many business owners ended their lives, others wondered how they would be able to continue on with theirs. Even if they tried to escape to the surrounding countries, it was only a matter of time before the economic strike would hit them too.

As David Rogers drove home, his thoughts were enveloped in the madness that had happened to his successful business that day, and how in the world would he try and explain this to his wife Alice.

David and Alice Rogers' two young daughters played in the yard while their parents argued. Evelyn, the eldest at ten years of age, watched the news when it came on that morning. And even though she didn't know what any of it meant, she saw her mother's reaction of despair and knew that it wasn't good. Ruth, the youngest at six years of age, hardly knew of anything that was going on. She didn't even realize her parents were inside arguing. Instead, Ruth focused on the pretty flowers that grew in the backyard and the fairytales she made up in her head to go along with them.

Growing up, the daughters were taught to speak both English and Swedish in their home. David, their father, was an American who came over to Sweden on a business trip where he met Alice, married her, and the two have been together ever since. The gap between the two languages would come out the strongest during arguments, where it was a loud war of words spoken in different languages at different times.

"If the business is ruined and the money is gone, how the hell do you expect to make money? We'll lose everything! We have a reputation to keep! We have children to feed!"

"I don't know, Alice," David snapped with a strain in his voice, "I'm working on getting all the money I can out of the business now, so we can start from there. We can sell the house-"

"No. We are not selling this house," Alice interrupted.

"What do you think is more important? Food, or four thousand square feet of living space?"

"We can do something else. Selling this house is the last resort."

"Well I'm going to have to be at the office well over after-hours if I have any chance in saving this business, and you will have to get a job."

"What?" Alice took a step back as if she had just been insulted. "I can't do that. Where do you expect me to work?"

"After today, I would take whatever you can get."

"And what do you think I'm supposed to tell my friends? That we're broke and I've resorted to scrubbing toilets for a couple dollars for a loaf of bread? Am I supposed to lie my way through it and pretend that your business is fine?"

"Oh, you won't have to lie. All they have to do is turn on the TV to watch our money being burned." David turned sharply and anxiously ran his hands through his hair as he went upstairs to his home office. Soon, he would go back to his office downtown to salvage what he could.

After she saw her father run up the stairs, Evelyn went to the back sliding door and opened it slightly, asking her mother if everything was alright.

"Yes. Yes, sweetie, everything will be alright," Alice told Evelyn, taking her daughter's hand and leading her in. "Ruth! Come inside."

In the few days that followed, the bigger cities all around the country declined rapidly. No business had been able to keep anything afloat, and money just kept disappearing. David was hardly ever home, and that was the only thing that made Ruth feel concerned about what was going on. 

Alice still hadn't gotten a job. With only a handful of phone calls she was able to find a few jobs that would work, but she just couldn't accept once she thought about what others would think about her doing such jobs. A couple of women Alice once knew well took jobs where they would live full time and make money to send for their families at home. They even told her about opportunities that arose to have their children go and get part-time or even full-time jobs. Alice knew she wouldn't take a job like that for herself, and to give up one of her children for part-time work would only let her reputation fall and questions rise. She was full of anxiety that only continued to cripple her as the week went on. In the back of her mind, she thought about the what ifs.

What if...