Refinement: A War of Europe

Chapter Twenty-Four: West: A Letter and an Analysis

Eloise~ West (England)

"I brought you Bagels." Lex smiled warmly as he entered my room. I was promptly studying the book that Lieutenant Polly loaned me about the proper way to manage a gun.  

"What for?" I didn't look up from my book.  

"You really don't remember." My eyes teared from the pages, and scoured Lex's face for a sign of what I wasn't remembering.  

"Uh, of course I remembered!" Lex scolded with his eyes. 

"IT IS YOUR BIRTHDAY."  

"Oh." It was the marking point of 16 years I had survived. 16 years I had not failed to have a beating heart. 16 years of pain and misery, but I was still alive. A birthday is no longer to celebrate your age, but it is to celebrate your perseverance. This generation was born into a world of nonstop terror, and I had happened to be one of the unlucky ones. I was born when Earth still had grass, and clouds, and flying birds. I knew what it was like to have a world with happiness, and when I turned five, that had been ripped away from me. Of course, the war had technically already started before I was born, but the Earth wasn't affected by it until I turned five years old.  

This generation didn't know any different.  

Lex plopped on the bed beside me, and handed me my bagel.  

"I have a birthday gift for you." I raised my eyebrow at Lex's sudden impulse to be so kind. He pulled out a packet of letters. My heart leapt with a new joy. Could they be from my family? 

"Lex, is that-?" He smiled.  

"It is." Tears of mirth filled the rims of my eyes. I grabbed the letters from his hands, and gave him a kiss of appreciation on the cheek.  

"Thank you." I ripped open the first letter I could get to. He left the room, leaving my bagel laying beside me. The cream cheese was smeared onto it in the shape of a smiley face. I bit into it.

Dear My Love,  

I cannot believe you are 16. I often dreamt of the day you would grow up and fight beside me. If I am correct, you should be almost done with Refinement. I am so proud of you. I hope I live to see the day you walk up on that stage and receive your western badge. As you might have guessed, I am writing this to you while you are still a child. The life of a soldier is an unpredictable one, and I write this to you in case I am not here to tell you this in person. If you are given this, I am dead. So I must tell you some things that need to be said.  

I love you. 

You are beautiful. 

You are strong. 

Your mere existence causes my heart to beat, and my lunges to contract.  

You are what makes my soul thrive.  

Your mother is also strong, and I have no doubt in the world that she has remarried by now. And I am okay with that. Don't shut him out. Love him as your own. It is hard to have a teenage daughter, not like I would understand that yet, after all, you are two months old at the moment, but I believe what I have heard. I am sure he loves you and Grace deeply, and takes care of you both carefully. Don't forget to treat your mother as the Queen she deserves to be. If I am not there to dote on her, you should. I have asked my dear friend Arnold Tyler to take you in if I am dead. Call him Arnie. He always loved it when I called him that. I heard that he has a daughter and a son. I hope you can be friends with them.  

Now, Eloise. This is important. I need to tell you something that you must never tell anyone. Something that will determine who wins the war.  

West and East are not really-