The War Between Two Cities

Elizabeth curled up on a couch in the warm living room of her house, her legs glad for a break and her brown eyes shining with tears from the wind. She had just finished her chores outside, and it was windy enough to blow someone’s hat off. But despite the fact that the war was raging louder and louder far away, her home remained warm, cozy, and loving.

The war was certainly not easy. Elizabeth’s brother had to go off to fight, and bombings happened so often that she and her parents had set up cots and books in a bomb shelter, and would always go down there at seven o’ clock in the evening and stay there until morning. Rations were only getting stricter and stricter.

Yet, in spite of it all, Elizabeth had everyday moments of pleasantness. And one of those was curling up on the couch in the living room and reading a book. Which was exactly what she was doing now. Soon, her parents would be home, and they would all go down to the bomb shelter together and spend the night there.

Half an hour later, her parents came back from work, both very tired. Her father kissed her, and her mother stroked her brown hair, as usual, but the seemed worried. They walked down to the bomb shelter with their daughter, but instantly sat down on their cots.

“What’s wrong?” Elizabeth asked.

“Well- it’s not going well out there.” Her father said. “Aramville isn’t giving up on fighting us. In fact, it’s only getting worse. Soon, they’ll be forcing older men, like me, to join in the war.”

“And we still haven’t heard a word from George.” Her mother said, “We don’t know if he’s still alive. Many have fallen, after all. And your father and I aren’t as young as we used to be. And since he has to go off to war, and I would have to work harder-” her voice trailed off.

“But I could work!” Elizabeth said, “I’m fourteen, I can work hard and help our family!”

Her mother shook her head. “I’m sorry, but it’s illegal for a fourteen-year-old girl to work for the war. We’ll just have to send you off somewhere. We really don’t want to, but we have to. I can’t take care of you if I’m already working double shifts with your father and we can barely put together enough money to feed you a piece of bread. So we’re sending you to your Aunt Jane. She’ll be able to take care of you better. She’s young, and she’ll be able to take care of you better.”

Elizabeth said nothing, then she burst out, “Why do we have to have this stupid war?!”

“It’s Aramville’s fault.” Her father said, “If they hadn’t declared war on us, we’d be perfectly fine, perfectly happy. But since they decided to be selfish, we’ll have to suffer. Be careful, some may have snuck in here. None of them are good. They declared war on us, they’re awful.”

Elizabeth deboarded the train. It seemed as if the past few days had been a blur. Her father heading off to war, herself and her mother hastily packing a small suitcase with a few necessities, and then she was saying goodbye to her mother, boarding the train, and riding off, feeling as if she had lost her entire family.

Things only got worse when she heard that due to recent bombings, the next train won’t leave until the next morning. Elizabeth’s stomach growled. She hadn’t eaten anything in at least twenty- four hours. She looked around the crowded station. Everybody was moving around in confusion and haste. The only person she saw who wasn’t panicking was a young boy with strawberry- blonde hair and a handsome face standing in the corner of the station.

She walked up to him and said, “Excuse me, young sir?” The boy looked up. “I haven’t had anything to eat in so long, and I have no food on me. Do you have anything which you could share with me please?”

“Well, I don’t have any food, but I do have some money. We could get some dried meat from the peddler, don’t you think?” He replied. His voice had some kind of unfamiliar accent, but Elizabeth was too hungry to notice or care.

“Yes, that would be lovely, thank you.” She replied.

The two children walked over to the almost- empty dried meat cart, where a tired- looking man sold them an absurdly small amount of meat. The children walked over to a bench and sat down. The boy didn’t eat anything, he told Elizabeth to eat it all. By the time she had finished, she felt better.

“By the way, I don’t think we’ve met.” She said, holding out her hand, “I’m Elizabeth.”

He shook her hand. “I’m Alexander. What are you doing around here?”

“Going to stay with family.” Elizabeth replied, “Wartime stuff, you know.”

“Oh yeah. You’re lucky. I had to sneak in here, and I don’t have anywhere to go. What’s your relative like?”

“She’s nice. She’s young and pretty. But I’d much rather be with my parents. But I’m sure you’ll find somewhere to stay. There’s lots of people around here, and an orphanage for children who’ve lost their parents.”

“Well yeah, but I don’t think I’ll be accepted.”

“What? Why?”

“Well- I don’t really know if I should tell you…”

“It’s okay, you can tell me, I won’t tell anyone.”

“Well- I’m from Aramville.”

Elizabeth stared at him for a moment, then burst out laughing. “Don’t be ridiculous!” She laughed, “All people from Aramville are evil and cruel! But you’re nice! You literally got food for a stranger! That’s certainly something an Aramvillean would do!”

Alexander said nothing. Elizabeth calmed down, then realized that he wasn’t even smiling.

“Wait- you’re being serious?”

“Yeah. But you’re joking, aren’t you? You’re from Aramville too, aren’t you?”

“No! I’m from these parts.”

“Don’t be silly. Everyone from Scabtown are jerks! But you’re nice!”

Now it was Elizabeth’s turn to be quiet and simply look at him.

“Oh. You’re- you’re being for real?” He asked.

“Yeah.”

There was a stretch of silence. Elizabeth’s mind told her to walk away. After all, Aramvilleians weren’t nice people. But Alexander seemed okay. But he was from Aramville! So how could he be nice? Finally, she asked,

“But if I think your people are jerks, but you’re nice, and you think the same thing, then which one’s which?”

“Well- did you start the war?”

“No, of course not! I’m just a kid!”

“Yeah, I didn’t either. I didn’t wage the war, our leader did- at least, I think so. So he’s the reason we have war,” Alexander reasoned.

“Well- yeah, I suppose so. But then how come everyone thinks everybody in Aramville are jerks when it was only one person who declared war? And what makes you think my people are jerks?” Elizabeth asked.

“Well, come to think of it, I think we’re all mad because we know there must be a reason for the war.”

“So we’re just focusing on one person and saying everyone else is bad?” Elizabeth asked in disbelief.

“Yup.”

“That sounds awfully rude of us, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah. Does- does everyone think people from Aramville are bad?” Alexander asked.

“Yup. Does everyone think all Scabtownians are jerks?”

“Yeah. They say none of them are kind.”

“But that’s not true!”

“Yeah, and it’s not true for the Aramvillens either!”

“But- but if they keep thinking one of them’s in the wrong it could lead to something worse- like a bigger war and- and more people could get hurt!”

“Yeah! We need to show them that they’re wrong before it only gets worse,” Alexander insisted.

“But how? We’re just children, we can’t even get jobs! Wait- how old are you?”

“Twelve.”

“Yeah, you certainly can’t even get a job. So how are we supposed to show it to the people?” Elizabeth inquired.

“I guess we just need to get an army of our own. Have any ideas?”

“Well- maybe we need children warriors.”

“Yeah, but where would we get them?” Alexander asked.

“Um- the orphanage?”

“Oh wow. That definitly has a lot of children- especially with the war. But do we have to go there?”

“Why, would you feel- wait. You said you have nowhere to go? Were you supposed to go to the orphanage?”

“Yeah. My parents have died in the war. Their bodies were just- left. I was supposed to go to an orphanage in Aramville, but I didn't want to, so I ran away.”

“How awful.” Elizabeth whispered.

Alexander nodded. Then he said, “But if we’re going to the orphanage so that nobody else loses their parents, then let’s go there.”