Chapter 6

     In the morning, I heard eggs sizzling on a pan. My eyes snapped open with excitement. I had a plan. Quickly, I ate my breakfast and grabbed the grocery basket. My mother interjected.

     "As your birthday present, I will do the grocery shopping." she seemed so pleased with herself but I refused. My mother frowned and I saw in her eyes that I had hurt her. I said that I was thankful for her offer and quickly left to town. Once again, I was in front of the church. 

    I walked calmly to the back of the line. I noticed that I was the only woman so I kept my head down. The men smirked and made rude comments but I said nothing back. The man in front of me was the only one who complimented me out of all of them. When he first turned to face me, I looked the other way but then he talked kindly and I was inclined to face him. He was a tall man possibly in his mid-twenties.

     "You must be the bravest woman I have ever met." He said.

     "Thank you. It's almost an act of desperation, really." I admitted.

     "Do you know what it's like out there?"

     "No."

     "I don't either. I'm not sure I want to find out, to tell you the truth... I suspect it's Hell, except, on Earth."

    "You might be right... I'm ready, though. I can take whatever is thrown at me."

    The man punched me playfully in the stomach and I doubled over.

     "Did you expect that?"

     "No... What I meant was that I can handle whatever is thrown at me."

     The man smiled and once we got to the front of the line, he offered me to go in front of him. Nervously, I stood in front of a desk that had several stacks of paper and two men sitting behind it. I thought that I was going to fill out my own papers but the men began asking for for my age and other information so that they could write it down. When they asked for personal information, I quickly whispered it to them. After they received the information they needed, I shook their beefy hands and received a good luck from the man behind me. I left the church a proud woman and imagined my parents being proud of me when I got the letter. Happily, I finished the groceries and arrived at the house later than usual. There was neither lunch or dinner waiting for me. As soon as I opened the door, my mother rushed at me.

     "Where in God's name have you been?!" her long gone British accent crept through.

     "There was a long line at the store." I lied.

     "I bet she was flirting with the men volunteering for the army." My cousin teased.

     "Jerk!" I screamed at him.

     "Kristina! You go to bed right now!" my mom commanded and I reluctantly obeyed. My stomach grumbled louder than ever. I was almost positive that my mother, in the dining room, could hear it grumble ferociously. So far, I felt like I had committed a sin by joining the army. Tears welled in my eyes but they did not fall. I tried to release them because they burned my eyes but, still, they stayed put. I didn't get to sleep until hours after my parents stopped talking about me and went to bed. The nightmares came the second I closed my eyes. Bullets were flying pas my head, grenades going off rang in my ears, and, beside me, my fellow soldiers, including my brother, were falling. I could see everything so clearly that I believed every bit of it until I woke up.

Author's Note

What do you think? I know it was a bad spot to stop this chapter but I just didn't want it to get too long because I know that if some people see that something on here is long, they leave. I hope you enjoyed it!