Children's Draft

Chapter 10 (Part Two)

    Dear Matteo,

        I just love getting letters from you. It's so relieving to know you're safe. I'm literally a bundle of worries without you. Although one major stressor is gone: School. It's finally summer break! And luckily I'm gonna be getting out of the house a lot too. I recently got a job as an assistant swim instructor for lessons. Also Pablo joined swim team. Pedro and Pepe are jealous cuz your mom said they were too young. But he's really excited to be just like you. It's adorable. And like me, all of your little brothers miss you like crazy. I can't wait to hear from you again. I love you more than anything. Stay safe!

                                        Love,

                                            Emmy

    "Oh thank God," I sighed. The job was perfect. Anything that kept her out of her house and with people she liked was for the best. Her delusions would always spike up the most when she was alone in her house. But I did wonder what prompted her to look for a job. If it was the end of the school year, that meant grades would have been posted recently. She could be facing a lot of trouble if her parents didn't approve of her scores. My stomach lurched at the thought. I needed to know if the job was an escape.

I also had light-hearted things to ask her. I wanted to know more about my brothers. I wanted to hear about what Pablo thought of swim team so far. What strokes did he like? Has he made a lot of friends?

I decided to start my letter so I wouldn't forget anything.

"Matteo!" Sgt. Blake shouted. I accidentally dropped my pencil at the sound.

What now? I wondered.

"You need to be outside! You're scheduled for guard duty!"

"Mierda," I muttered. That was tonight. I looked at the letter and then back at Sgt. Blake. "Can I just have five minutes?" I tried reasoning.

"No! Your shift starts now! Get outside," he ordered.

"But-" I protested.

His voice quieted down a ton, but his tone grew more condescending. "My job isn't to look after your love life. My job is to look after this base, so  when I give you an order, you do it. Outside! Now!"

    I could feel my fists clench. It wasn't fair. I only asked for a few minutes. Still, I grabbed my gun and went to the guarding post, after he threatened to find more cleaning jobs for me.

    The shift left me with four extra hours to worry about my girlfriend. I needed to stay awake, so I thought of more questions to ask while I watched and promised myself I would write to Emmy as soon as I got back inside.

(Landon's PoV)

    Our MRE containers were sprawled out across the plastic table. The "vegetable lasagna" we were given tonight was particularly inedible. Several of the guys only took a few bites before resorting to playing with it.

    Tristan flung a fork-full across the table. "I swear, Lt. Jason needs to make another McDonald's run soon."

    I nodded in agreement after dodging the gross clump of greenish pasta which had landed a few inches away from me.

    "Let's bail," Gavin decided. All of the other guys seemed to think that was a good decision.

    As we got up, Sgt. Blake came in to post the guard schedule for tomorrow. On his way back to his office, he eyed the table in annoyance. "Someone tell Holly to clean that up," he ordered.