Strings and Schemes

Chapter 8

The following week breezes by, I feel as if I'm walking on water. It helps that I've prepared my final gallery opening for the following week. Knowing that I'm just about to be done art school is such a relief, it's one step closer to the freedom I've been seeking for, well, forever. Land of the free isn't very free when you're a political tool stuck constantly following orders of people you don't respect or agree with. Pretending to be picture perfect, when in reality, all we all want to do is escape reality for just a moment longer.

By the time Friday night rolls around, Liam is sprawled across my couch in sweats, sipping a tea. He glances over at me. 'What's the plan for tonight?'

I shrug. Liam laughs, "it's literally Friday, Raina. Don't you have plans with Louis or something?"

I shake my head, "Nah, we had a tough week and we both have been pretty quiet." I admit.

"Is it cause you're busy talking to a certain singer?" Liam prods.

I laugh, "If anything, Louis cooked that up on his own. But no, we both often go a little radio silent after those trainings, brings up a lot of stuff."

Liam nods understanding, "you guys are lucky to have each other. Even if it's weird that you and my older brother are so close when we're literally the same age."

I smile at him, "I think it's just that Louis didn't care about following the rules, and I was left mostly unsupervised with a mostly squeaky clean image. You on the other hand, were busy trying to read my diary when we were six."

Liam laughs, "I saw a bird today, I wonder if that bird loves me like I love it," he quotes six year old Raina.

"Oh my god, shut up Liam." I roll my eyes, grabbing us two cups of tea and bringing them to my couch.

My mind drifts back to a different kind of Friday night, years ago. The desert air whipped through my hair as we climbed the sand dunes, miles away from anything that felt like home. I gasp as we get to the top and I see the view, exactly what I'd imagined Iraq to look like. God, if only we hadn't messed with a system that was never ours to being with, I think.

Liam and Louis' parents have been posted to the Iraq mission in the British attempt to undo some of the damage they did, and they've been here for six months, no rest or relief, no friends or family that can visit unless they already have clearances, and no new clearances are being given to non essential personnel. It's cruel to stick a 17 & 21 year old in the middle of the dessert where they can't explore freely, without worry of being caught within range of a british or American supplied gun; the irony isn't lost on any of us. We're afraid of our own weapons, more than we are of any of the rest of this.

Iraq is probably the biggest mistake either of our governments had made. It made a peaceful land with a corrupt government, completely uninhabitable by the innocent people who lived here for centuries before. And all of it, wrapped in the neat little lie of 'helping.' I scoff under my breath, thinking about the role we play. How we, the children of diplomats, are expected to smile and sell the illusion that meddling is noble. This mistake has been played out time and time again, and it will continue to be for the rest of our lives. Now we get to be posted to places, expending tax payer dollars on things that we should've never bothered, and worse - if we didn't maintain whatever diplomatic presence we currently have, it would all come crashing down and that "war" we've been preventing for years, would actually be at our own doorstep.

For all the smoking guns we're trying to avoid, we certainly have ensured all the firing guns remain locked and loaded.

All three of us are lost in our own thoughts, I look over at the two boys. When is it that Louis grew up so much? When did Liam become so introspective? How are my two closest friends in the whole world, a world away, when they're so close to me?