Virus: 3028

2

I am sorry because this is so short and I hope you still like it. Spoiler alert: She meets Harry in the next chapter, so get this chapter to 30 lectures for me to post chapter 3! ;)

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I love you all :)

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They gave us a last day for saying goodbye, because, unlike other jobs, we can’t live in the city anymore. Us, soldiers, are moving to a building out of the city where we are going to do… stuff soldiers do, we have no clue what. They haven’t even told us why they need soldiers, even though they said they were telling us when we got there. The location of our new home is unknown, and I don’t know why I called it home. Home is where the family is… and my family won’t be there with me.

I phoned up Carrie and Isabelle after my Exam because I wanted to know what they were going to do, and I wanted to make sure if Isabelle was really going to be a soldier, because I was only assuming it. She said yes and her voice cracked, and Carrie said she was going to be a fashion designer. That totally made Isabelle break down. She started screaming angrily so we had to leave her alone. I wonder if the president did that by purpose…

I didn’t even cry.

When I got home, the least thing I wanted to do was talking to my parents about it. And yes, they already knew it. When your interview ends, the president calls your parents or tutors and tells them what you are going to do. I can imagine their faces when she told them I was a soldier. I bet they went like: “A soldier? Well, I can accept that with a condition: if she goes away and doesn’t live with us anymore. Yes, yes. Okay. That is totally fine. Yes, perfectly fine. Yes! I’m so happy she won’t have to bother us anymore! Thank you so much! Bye-bye!” I bet the president told them about the soldiers, but she didn’t tell them about how they didn’t mind my opinion.

So the first thing I did was lock myself in my room and tried to cry. I was, literally, trying to force the tears, but they wouldn’t come out. I decided I would leave it like that, so I turned the lights off and laid on bed in foetus position. I started thinking and thinking and I got to the point where I felt like my head was going to explode. I was devastated. I still am.

Like about half past 3pm I got a call from my best cousin, Ashley, saying she heard the news and she was so sorry about it and that she was going to miss me a big lot and that… I wasn’t even paying attention. The tears finally went out, so I was just listening to her apologises with the tears streaming down my face and cheeks. They tasted like salt. Lucky me, she wouldn’t hear my crying from the other side of the line and my voice wasn’t shaking at all, so when she finished apologising for life I could say some words.

“Hey, Ashley, it’s okay, really. I’m okay. Yes. Yes! I’m alright, I pro…” and then my voice failed. I couldn’t take it anymore so I started crying hysterically. My mum even ran to my room to see if something was happening, but I had to cut her off: “No, mum. Everything’s fine. It’s just… ugh… please, leave us alone.” And with us I’d meant Ashley and I.

“Oh, Barbara” Ashley said, “I’m sorry. I really am.”

“Stop apologising. It isn’t your fault, isn’t it?”

“…no?”

Later that day, Uncle Si, Ashley’s father, (who is also my godfather) phoned me too.  I didn’t talk a lot with him because he isn’t my age and stuff… but we had a sentimental goodbye. Then both my parents came into my room and we talked a bit. Not about soldiers, but about memories. Memories I’d take with me forever.

“But, hey! Remember when you were just a little girl… and you used to say you were escaping the kindergarten to go and live with… what? I can’t even remember!” My dad laughed.

“With elves and dwarfs” I said with a smile on my face. “Yeah, I remember that!” For the first time in the whole day I felt happy. Even though I knew I couldn’t talk to my parents about how I felt, I tried my best. I wished for having an older brother. Then, just maybe, I could tell him about it and he’d understand, because he would be seventeen too. Maybe he wouldn’t be a soldier, but something else he wouldn’t like either.

I never imagined that would happen, but Uncle Si drove Amanda to my house and told my parents we could have a sleepover, the last one, if that was ok with them. They said yes, so she stayed. Uncle Si stayed too, and then I got to talk to him a bit while Ashley took a shower.

“So, a soldier, huh?” Uncle Simon asks, taking out his pipe. Yes, he does know pipes are old-fashioned because that is all Ashley seems to talk about. Fashion, fashion and fashion. Dudes our age or older. Clothing and makeup. That’s why I thought Ashley and Isabelle would get along really well.

“Yes. Not the most brilliant job ever.” I say, tired. “To be honest, I hate it. I totally do.”

“Well, you don’t win anything saying you hate it. It will just make you feel worse. Let’s make a deal” He stares at my light-blue eyes with his dark ones. His colour looks like coffee. “You’ll try to think it will be great. Even if you don’t like it, you’ll pretend you do and do everything with a smile on your face. You know, fake it till it’s real. I promise it will take time, but after a while, you’ll get used to it and maybe actually like it.” He smiles a bit.

“That sounds good, Uncle Si. Thank you. I’ll try.” I lie.

Not even.

When I go to sleep, even though Ashley is right beside me, I have nightmares. I dream about war, even if I know that is not the kind of soldier I’ll be. Maybe soldier is just the word they used to describe our new job, (Isabelle’s and mine and many others’) but I still worry.

When I wake up, it’s 3am and I can’t go back to sleep. Tomorrow I will arrive to my new house, so I better do. I close my eyes and do a big effort. At the end, I make it.

I’m still dreaming about wars when I wake up screaming.