Paradise Lost

Chapter 12

"I will remember that and thank you for it George, but I guess this is the way God wanted our lives to go and what a cruel bastard he is," I tell him. I was never one to really believe in God especially after I kept praying hoping that he would somehow send a message from the heavens to stop the madness going on at home. It never came true for me, or for my brothers and mother either. We would get beaten if we did not pray at night but after a while I saw no point to praying. I had nothing to believe in and I was sure no one was suffering like we were. There are probably at least one other family out there going through the same but just like us they will never tell.

"There is something else you are not telling me is there not?" George asks, we had been whispering the whole time, but it would not have mattered. The boys are pretty soundly asleep, and they would not be woken by us talking. "There might be one more thing bothering me," I tell him. I do not know how to articulate that I am currently feeling about the other thing that is bothering me and has been bothering me since January. George would probably understand as he has a younger brother at home himself. Only Connor is way too young to join the army himself and their Molly will probably be a nurse.

"Is this about you noting wanting your little brother in the army anymore?" George asks, and he had gotten it right first time as per usual. I know the others have both older and younger siblings, but they aren't in the same position as I am. Jorel has three younger brothers, Tyler, Michael and Even but they are all too young to be in the army. Jordon has two brothers about to join the army called Jessie and Jake. "Yeah I thought I had put it behind me once he had arrived because I knew I could spend more time with him and it was going to be fine but with this announcement of us entering the war imminent I do not know anymore," I tell him. I was being honest and doing my best to organize my thoughts in a way which would make sense.

"Makes plenty of sense to me Rigo. You want your brothers to stay safe, especially Danny. I still am not quite sure how he has managed to retain that innocence, but I want him to keep it for as long as possible," George replies. I knew talking to him was a good idea, because he can help me know that my thoughts are not over the top and that I can rationalize them in a way that makes everyone happy and I do not look like the horrible overbearing big brother I would never want to be. "Yeah, I just do not see how he could be war ready when he has experienced so little of the outside world around him. All he has ever had has been our small house and the café and that was it," I tell him. When I am saying that about Danny, I mean it in the nicest way possible.

It also does not help that father forced him to be the most sheltered one out of the boys. Lisa-Marie our sister is sheltered to but for different reasons. "You know I hate saying this, but he is safer here than he is at home. You do not know what they have planned for the next day or two and they might not even send Danny's squad out on the front," George tells me. That was what I needed I needed George to remind me of the reason why Danny decided to join the army in the first place. He is better off here than at home and I am going to respect that from now on. It is better than my father murdering him for real. I do not think I could handle my father actually murdering one of my brothers.

Afternoon - 5th April 1917 – Private First-Class Danny Murillo's point of view

I thought tensions ran high back on the 12th of March but that was nothing compared to the atmosphere of camp right now. They say that in the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours congress are going to declare war on Germany. There must have been a lot going on out there for President Woodrow Wilson to change his mind. We'll just have to wait and see what happens. All of the higher-ranking officers have been on high alert. Apparently on the 12th of March there was a letter from someone that they were going to bomb the camp. It never happened and it turned out to be a new recruit trying to prank the camp. It is safe to say it did not go down well with anyone and he got sent home and banned from being in the army for the rest of his life.