All's Fair in Love and War

one

Pain. A four letter word with a single syllable. It was all I felt. Agonizing pain that wouldn't end. The real question is where am I and why am I in so much pain? Where's my mother, my father, my baby brother? I tried to open my eyes and look around for any source of light. A hole in the rubbish I was buried in that would lead me to the surface. To freedom. To my family. If they were alive and fine that is. I began to scream and shout pleading for someone to save me to free me from the hell I was buried in.

"Help! Please someone save me!" My screams seemed to bounce off of the walls surrounding me. I then realized no one could hear me and I would die alone. With that fleeting thought I succumbed to the darkness.

When I awoke there was a bright light blinding me from examining my surroundings. I silently prayed that it was the light I was searching for and not the light that would be the one to take me from my family to a better place. But said place was not where I wanted to be. There were tubes attached to my veins pumping some sort of clear substance into my body. Shortly after I began to hear a ringing in both of my ears. The ringing was causing me pain and I was having visions of people being brutally slaughtered in front of me. By the dozens they were being shot, hung, and decapitated in front of their family and friends. Blood. There was so much of it. It practically flowed down the streets and filled the sewers. The images continued to come and go, the ringing never stopped but I couldn't scream. No matter how hard I tried I felt as though someone, something was holding me back. Keeping me from not seeing this massacre in front of me.

"Make it stop. Please make it stop." I couldn't watch any longer. Sobbing I cried out one final plea,"Please."

"You must watch until the end. You must see what they took away from you. How they took no consideration the ages of those they slaughtered." A voice replied. It was rough but sounded as though it held tons of knowledge.

"Please. I don't want to see anymore. I just want to go home. I want my mom." I tried to sit up but I couldn't move. There were straps on my wrists and ankles.

"I'm showing you what happened to your mother. What happened to your entire family. If it wasn't for me and my friends you wouldn't be alive at this very moment." He sounded offended that I had wanted to leave. To get as far away from this place that I could.

He stood true to his words. I saw my family being drug against their will to the center of the crowd. They took my brother and placed him in front of my parents. I could see my mom yelling something but I couldn't make out what she was saying because of the noise of the people around them. My brother was mutilated while my parents were forced to watch. My parents deaths were quick. They were shot execution style. Causing it to be quick and painless.

"Why are you showing me this?" I felt broken. Like I lost everything that I had. I did lose everything.

"You needed to know what happened. What they did and how they did it." His voice was thick and filled with pity.

"Why am I strapped onto the bed? Why does my body feel as though it's been through hell and back?" The pain had begun to come back full force. Slowly but surely consuming my body.

"After they executed who they were looking for they bombed the entire area. They were aiming to send a message to those who stood against them. But they didn't know it was only going to fuel the fire within us." His voice resonated off of the walls.

"Who are they and what do they want?" I wanted to know who these people were and what they wanted with my family.

"They are a group of people who want the Monarchy system to be in place once again. They believe that the right way to live life is to separate those within the nation. And to publicly humiliate those against them." The disgust in his voice was hard to miss.

"What did my family do to them? Why would they want to hurt them." The questions kept rolling off the tip of my tongue. My mind wanted to digest this new information and take in the knowledge that he had.

" Your father was the head of the resistance. Your mother was his second in command. He tried to keep you and Henry out of it, but as you can see he failed." My father? Resistance? How? Why? The more I know the more I want to know.

"What does this have to do with me?" I just want to cry in the safety and confinement of my room.

"It is your duty to take over as of right now Jeremiah is in charge. Your father left instruction for you to receive the title of Commanding Officer when you are of age and responsibility to do so." What! I know nothing of this "resistance" and I do not know what this man even looks like, his name and why I'm strapped onto this goddamn table.

"Can I please released from the table and put into a room? I need some time to myself to process everything." I could feel it coming. The shortness of breath, the nausea, the chills. An anxiety attack. This is the first one in years and I was not looking forward to it.

Breathe. Breathe. In and out. In and out.

I can't go through these anymore. Not again. I need my medicine. Closing my eyes I try to think about my happy place.

"I was never informed that you had anxiety attacks. I will go and get you some medicine." I barely heard him before he was scurrying towards me with a needle filled with the medicine I needed. After he gave me the medicine I began to fall asleep again. This time the light was fading as my eyes closed slowly.

For the second or third time I woke up in a different room. Except this time my arms and feet were not shackled to a table and my arms were free of wires and tubes. While enjoying this new found silence and the beauty of the room I was now staying in I paced the floor thinking about what I learned today. Now that I had the time to think about it my mother and father had an office that was off limits to everyone. The doors were sealed shut with a lock and key and now I would be the one to hold the key in my hands, open the door and find out who my parents really were, and not the facade they showed those around them.

After what seemed like hours of drowning in my own thoughts. I made my decision. I was going to join the resistance and fill my father and mother's shoes. And the only way to do that was to prove that I was worthy enough for the title.

"ALL HANDS ON DECK!" The newfound authority in my voice caused the group of men and women to stop what they were doing and come to where I was standing.

" I need you guys to help me bomb the old pentagon. We need to make a statement like they are. Show them that not everyone is going to keep their silence. Only difference is that I do not want any innocent civilians harmed. Now members of the Monarchy are the only exception. Even if you have the slightest doubt that they are not innocent they are not to be harmed." I knew they would follow my orders due to the family that was formed out of me and my group. 10 people including myself and Jeremiah. These people were family. My new family.

When we arrived at the old pentagon we had scattered bombs inside and surrounding the area. Before we left I made sure to leave something that showed the Monarchy that we were the cause of the destruction of their precious pentagon.

On the way home my friends and I, or should I say my rebels and I, laughed and joked about the new found memories we had made with each other. My laughter had been cut short when I began to realize I was one of the members who went home every night without a family to share the days events with. I lost everyone and everything. No one I knew had survived, but the people standing to my left and to my right are becoming my family. And this time I would do anything to keep them safe. Even risking my own life.

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A.N.

Thank you so much for clicking that little add to library button and giving my story a chance. It would be much appreciated if you could also like and share. Positive and negative feedback is welcomed also, but if I feel as thought it is something petty or a comment meant to lower my self-esteem on this book you will be muted.

~Maj (@hotchic404)