String of Fate

Chapter Eighty Eight

My mother was calling my brother from downstairs, as if it was an emergency that she got into contact with him. I got up and looked, but he wasn't in his bed. It wasn't really unusual that he didn't come home last night – he'd just turned eighteen, so, he liked to enjoy himself while he could and go out with his friends drinking. He had been drinking underage for a little bit, so, we had become used to him coming home.

It would still make my mother worry since we were in the middle of a war.

My mother wasn't going to find out that he wasn't home if I didn't go down to see my mother to tell her. She was going to hate that he didn't come home again, and she was going to worry until he did actually come home. She was really going to worry because a large number of bars were hit last night.

This morning was going to be tough with just me and my mother home until Albert decided to show his stupid hungover face.

I got out of bed and headed downstairs, rubbing a hand through my hair out of habit. My mother was waiting at the bottom of the stairs and I stopped in front of her. "Mum, Albert didn't actually come home last night. His bed is empty. I bed he stayed over his friend's house again, so, there's probably nothing to worry about. What did you want him for, anyway?"

"He's been called into the army." My mother explained, looking extremely worried. I noticed that she was squeezing a piece of paper. "He's due to leave in the morning from the train station. They're taking some of the boys from the area that have recently turned eighteen. I thought we would get to keep him a lot longer. I mean, he only turned eighteen last week."

That was a surprise. I had hoped that no-one else in our family would need to be called into the war. Taking my father had been enough a few months after the war had started. My mother was always worried about him and was constantly checking her hand for her string, just to make sure that it was still there. I honestly didn't blame her. I would be worried too if the love of my life was fighting on the front line of the war.

"I'm sure it would all be fine. We've been lucky so far. I mean, there have been reports that the war will end soon, so, Albert might not even get to the front line before the war is over. It's already been going for over five years. There cannot be much time left before the war is over." I told her, hugging her a little. "Is the string still there?"

"Yes, it is." She replied, knowing that I was trying to change the subject to keep her mind off of my brother. It probably wasn't the best idea to change it from my brother to my father but it was difficult to try and change it completely. "Right, I better make you some breakfast. I'll see what we have that I can throw together."

She quickly bustled off to the kitchen and I followed her slowly. It looked like she was even trying to occupy herself by cooking. I noticed that she did that a lot. Even with the ration system in place, she had somehow managed to find the ingredients to bake a batch of cookies the other day. A lot of people had enjoyed those cookies that day.

For the rest of the day, there was no sign of Albert. It was like he knew that he had been called into the army. I didn't know if his friends had told him that they had been called in so he had seen it coming and ran, and I couldn't say that I blamed him. I didn't know why anyone would actually agree to go to war other than the fact that it was a legal requirement. I heard that it would be a bad thing to not go because they could limit the rations that your family got. That would not be a good idea.

Just before we were due to go to bed that evening, there was still no sign of Albert and I decided that I should probably go in his place. We looked a lot alike and our only real difference would be the height since I was a little shorter than him. If the army already had a photo for him, it wouldn't really matter.