Mad World

Chapter 6

We grab all of our stuff and head towards the area where our planes will take off. I'm on a separate plane from the rest of my friends besides Andrew. Well at least I'll have someone to talk to and laugh at stuff with.
We start boarding our plane and the general comes in. "Attention!" He screams and we stop what we're doing and look at him. We stand up straight and he begins speaking, "Alright soldiers you and your friends on the other plane are going to be stationed in England. Some forest or something... I don't know for sure since I'm not taking you, nor am I going along. All I know is that the place you'll be stationed at is rundown and off the radar."
Some of us nodded and he cleared his throat, "Anyways... That'll be all. Um... Have a good trip I suppose, and don't die... Okay?" We all nodded this time and some even added a "yes sir". He nodded his head in respect and said, "At ease... Now you can continue with getting your stuff together."
We all started putting our bags away and Andrew came up behind me, "Did he just say "have a good trip"?" I shrugged without turning around, "I guess so. I'm thinking it's because we're not going to be his problems to deal with anymore he's relieved and can act a bit calmer." Andrew said, "I suppose you're right... Still... It seems weird to hear nice things come out of his mouth." I chuckled slightly and kept trying to keep my stuff together.
"Need any help with that?" Andrew asked and I shook my head, "Nah I think I'm good, but thank you for the offer." He replied, "You're welcome." There was a silence and then he began to speak again, "So when we get to England what do you want to do?" I shrugged, "Oh I don't know... Well... I do know, but I don't think the upper ranks would be too thrilled about me doing what I want there."
Andrew spoke again, "Well yeah, but what if we could do what we wanted there?" I said in a hushed tone, "Well I'd want to visit London and see Big Ben, maybe Buckingham Palace, and possibly ride the Eye of London." He laughed a bit and started saying, "Yeah that sounds nice... Maybe we could even try to find a man stepping out of a big blue police call box and a flat with the address of 221b."
I laughed and turned around to take a seat, "Yeah that'd be nice." I sighed, "But if only we could do that... We can't really do what we want anymore. We're soldiers. We got to follow orders." Andrew rolled his eyes and sat down next to me, "Orders are boring, Ash." I nodded, "I know, but we have to follow them. Again... We're soldiers, Andrew."
There was another silence and then Andrew whispered, "Can I be honest about something?" I looked at him and whispered back, "Yeah sure. What do you want to be honest about?" He sighed and looked down. A grin spread across his lips, but you could tell it wasn't the happy type. He kept whispering to me, "Ash, I wish things were normal like they used to be. Where we could do what we want to do and chose who we want to be. I don't want to be this. This sucks. They're expecting us to kill people. I know it's for the sake of our "beloved" country, but I don't want to be a murderer. I just don't... You get what I'm saying?"
My eyes were slightly wide and my mouth was a little bit agape. I nodded though because I did understand, but at the same time I'm scared to get in trouble. I started to say, "Look Andrew I get it, but-" he interrupts me and stands up and his tone becomes more stern and more violent, "But nothing. Ash this is messed up. The government and crap is sending people to their deaths! They're brainwashing us to be their damn attack dogs! I will not let them do that to me. I wanted to be a photographer, you wanted to get your band back together and do shows, that dude in front of us told me he wanted to be an actor. You see that girl back there? She wanted to be an English teacher when she graduated. That girl right there? She was planning to become a professional soccer player. We don't want to be this."
I looked up and looked into his eyes and saw pain. God, it was like looking at a dying baby animal... I felt so terrible... He looked down and muttered, "You don't get it... Do you? Have you turned into one of them?" I stood up this time, "Of course I get it, and no... No, I won't become a mindless attack dog. Don't worry."
Somehow I ended up doing something I don't do to most... I hugged him. All of a sudden I felt his arms around me squeezing tight and he whispered, "Good... I'm glad..." At this point I could've sworn I heard his voice waver. He's trying to hold back tears... I can tell. I've never seen him break down like this. He's usually been a really funny and happy guy, and now he's trying to fight back tears.
We were both told to sit down and strap up for the long flight ahead of us. He broke up the hug and sat down. I sat down next to him and I gave him a slight smile, "Hey... Don't worry... We can make it, and when we do it will be back to normal. Just like the good ol' days." He gave me a sad smile back and gave me a tiny nod, "Okay..."