Across the River

Jonah, is born an only child, to impoverished parents. His best friend, later turned enemy, is named Kade. Kade is the oldest of five siblings and, in stark contrast to Jonah, brought up in a very wealthy family, which only serves to further the divide between them.

They live in a toiling country, which is divided, almost down the middle, by a grand river. On either sides of the river are two feuding nations, which have venomous hatred for each other, and that forbid their citizens from associating with anyone on the other side. War is expected to break out literally at anytime because the people of both nations have that much animosity towards each other.

The two boys grow up in villages on opposite sides of the river. As children, they often ventured out, as boys do, and played on the shore of the river; which is how they got to know each other. Even though their parents warned them of associating with anyone from the other side, the boys, in their childish innocents, eventually end up bending the rules and become very close friends over the duration of their childhood. That all changes when their parents discover that their children have been sneaking around behind their backs and playing with one another by the riverside.

Both sets of parents forbid their child from ever going down to the river again, and, for the main character, Jonah, it seems as though he has been forced to lose his best friend. That is until war finally breaks out between the two nations and the two boys, now adolescents , meet each other for the first time in a long time, on the battlefield. From there, the story follows how both former friends deal with the ideological divide that separates them. Are they still friends, or do they allow the hatred from generations past dictate their actions now?

How much longer will bones shatter and blood gush?