Downfall

THE BEGINNING

I grew up in a world of constant war. The downfall of many powerful nations after the fourth world war. The great American idea ceases to exist along with international unions such as the UN and NATO.
So many people died in the war. My home, San Francisco, leveled by bombings. I was only five then, but I still remember the sight of the golden gate bridge fall into the bay, and I recall the imense heat from the fires around me.
I fled with my mother and my older brother, who was eighteen at time, to the European Republic, the only nation excepting refugees.

That was the last time I would visit America.

Year 2063
I was five when the war had begun. We fled to Oxford, England in hope for safety. The war ended when I was in fourth grade, and now I'm a sophomore at Oxford High School. The teachers informed us that the first ILN (Internation League of Nations) session is going to be held this Friday in New Zürich, and that there will be no class that day.
This session will be the start of the first major international organization since the United Nations, so the media is waiting impatiently in anticipation.
Twentey-two nations will be attending, along with another fifteen which will be observing.

My brother, Johnathan, and five others, were chosen to represent Europe.
When we drove him to the station he said a few short words to me, "Amanda, while I'm in Switzerland, Ill need you to help mom, ok?" Teary-eyed, I nodded in
agreement before returning to the car.

The next morning I got ready for school as usuall. My mother, who always wakes earlier than I do, had the televison on the news, and like almost every other station, they were covering the preperation of the summit.
The school day went smoothly as usuall, but today, my english teacher had a class discussion regarding the summit. Much of the class belived that this summit would begin a period of peace for the world.

Friday, July 12, 2063
Friday, July 12 begins as a normal day. I eat breakfast with my mother, all we discuss is the summit. On the television, every station is focused on the summit that begins at noon.

Around 11:58, the news station cuts to the chamber in New Zürich. One hundred ten seats for the representatives of the twenty-two nations.
Then, a tall, thin man walks to the podium in the front of the chamber,
"At this time, let us stand for the national anthem of the European Republic," followed by the same statememt in French, Mandarin, and Arabic.

As the anthem plays, on TV images of beautiful places and faces of people of multiple ethinities show. A sign of hopr for unity.
But right after the anthem, the screen goes black and cuts to a room of scared reporters as they announce why there was an interfearence.
"We have recived word that La Palis du Zürich, where the International League of Nations summit is being held, has been attacked. Emergency services are arriving at the scene. We will update you shortly."