SHEPERD

Welcome Home Little Sister

Here's the edit version of story. Me and my new friend BrynnaGillen wrote. She is helping me with ideas and of course with English, because English is not my native language.

It had been five years since Hope AmeliaLansdowne had been back at her quaint suburban home Hope County.

She and her brother had taken it upon themselves to honor their family militant history. Both of their grandfathers had fought in the World Wars. Their Great Grandfather served in World War I, while their Grandfather had fought in World War II and now their father served as a soldier.

And because of this line of service, they felt this family honor now fell upon them to carry out. To make their ancestors proud.

Hope was never just an 'ordinary girl'. She never played with dolls or other 'girl' toys. She and her brother were often dragged out to the aircraft - that was owned by their grandfather - where she and her brother were taught how to shoot guns. She preferred this, it suited her much better – she felt – rather than following the societal norms of how a proper lady should behave or act. She didn't care, her mother on the other hand was indifferent to this idea. As she continuously expressed her thoughts and feelings on the matter with a statement along the lines of, "Guns were not for girls", or "Hope, that is not very lady like".

Hope slowly learned to begrudgingly ignore her mother's statements and continued on. And to her mother's dismay she was taught how to properly use a gun.

She, of course, didn't jump directly into shooting off rifles. No, she started off slowly – slingshots and a bow – then finally was taught how to shoot a proper gun.

Hope, of course loved it!

All of her fondest childhood memories revolved around heading up to the Whitetail Mountains and setting up shop with her older brother and father to shoot targets and then eventually hunting.

Years went on continuing this father, daughter and son tradition, under her mother's watchful eye. The amount of times she and her brother stayed up late at night, looking down, hiding in the shadows of the stairs bannister at the sight of their mother and father fighting over letting the two of them – mostly Hope – shoot off guns was, inappropriate for their age – and for Hope – her gender. The fights typically ended with a hug and kiss and the triumphant smirk of their father looking down upon the annoyed face of their mother. He always won the arguments, whether or not she was right.

As she reached the age of fifteen, her father had begun to teach her how to fly the old plane that was passed down from her father's father and so on. From what she remembers, those were some of the best and most memorable days of her childhood. Of course, it took some time for her to truly get the hang of it, but eventually she became very good and finally felt she was a true pilot like her father and ancestors before.

As time went on, she got to prime age of eighteen, where she could finally enlist into the army like she had planned. Her brother had just gotten home from his line of duty, with some visible and invisible scars, but that didn't scare young Hope. It lit the fire in her heart. It only made her want to go more. She craved adventure.

And so, she went on three tours of duty in the span of five years.

Hope of course - in that five-year span - had visited her best friend Mary May a handful of times, who resided in Falls End. However, when Hope finished her five-year service in the army, she felt she had seen enough.