How America Became America

24

short af, but I don't know what I'm doing. I'm not good with WWI.
I was also starting to have an emotional breakdown as I was writing, so that sucks... this sucks... everything sucks

The scene opened up with Alfred pacing back and forth in his room, in his house. On his bed sat a suitcase, empty. He was biting his thumb as he paced. He had a decision to make.

Someone knocked lightly on Alfred's door, causing Alfred to look up and call the person to come in. Maria entered slowly, seemingly knowing that he was a bit high-strung.

"Ama," she said slowly, looking at the suitcase, "Are you going away again?"

"Y-yeah," he said softly, sitting on the bed, pushing the suitcase away. "Come sit with me."

Maria walked across the room and sat next to Alfred.

"Is Thomas asleep?" Alfred asked.

"Yeah," came the response. "He didn't want to sleep without you around, though."

Alfred chuckled softly, "Figured, thanks for dealing with him. I know he can be a handful at night."

"How long are you going to be gone?"

The question was abrupt and to the point, causing Alfred to fizzle for a minute.

"I-uh," he stammered, "I don't know, maybe months, but it could be years. I don't know how long."

Maria didn't respond with words, instead she pounced on Alfred, ending the scene. A new one started with Alfred getting out of a taxi in London. He was standing outside a cozy house, rain was pounding down on his head. He paid the driver and got his suitcase out. He then slowly walked to the door and
knocked. Almost instantly, Arthur's face was in front of Alfred's.

"I sensed you the minute you stepped foot here," Arthur said, opening the door wider for Alfred to enter. "Come on in before you catch a cold."

Alfred did just that entering his former brother's home. Arthur led them to the sitting room, then motioned for him to sit while he got some tea.

"Is it still three sugar?" he asked.

"I actually drink coffee now," Alfred responded, "but yeah, three is fine."

Arthur sighed and poured the tea into the designated cup. Then he plopped three sugar into Alfred's tea and poured some milk into his own. Alfred learned forward and took hi teacup, while his host did the same. They both sat and drank for a little while.

"So," Alfred said, after sipping his tea, "my boss is going to announce that my people and I are joining the fight."

"How are you going to fight?" Arthur asked.

"I'm going to be on foot."

"In the trenches I see."

"What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing- just nobody wants to be in those trenches, they're horrible."

"Have you been in one?"

"No, I fight in the air."

"So, you're being a coward?"

Arthur stood up abruptly.

"I think we're done here," he said quietly.

"Yeah," Alfred replied, taking one last sip of his tea before standing up, "I gotta get going anyway."

With that, Alfred, who hadn't even dried off completely yet, got up and grabbed his suitcase. He headed to the door and was about to open it when he opened his mouth.

"It really was good to see you again," he said softly. "I'm sorry for not stopping by sooner."

With that, the scene ended with Alfred leaving.

"It was nice to see you, as well," Arthur told Amelia, who just smiled in response.

The new set of snapshots. They were of Alfred training; they were very intense, he was running, climbing, and crawling. By the end of the snapshots, he was ready to go to war once more. The next scene was hell.

The nations were back in the trenches, gunfire everywhere. Alfred was on the ground, firing a sniper. Next to him was a lanky teenager, fresh in the army. Just then, the kid gets shot. Alfred stops what he's doing and stated taking care of the kid, talking to him, making sure he was alright... well, alright as one can be after getting shot in the shoulder.

The scene ended there. A new scene started, Alfred was in an army medical tent, next to the kid from earlier.

"I'm surprised they let you come see me," the kid asked with a French accent.

"André," Alfred said in a parental voice, "they couldn't keep me away if they tried. Plus, war is hell."

"That is true, but how is it you seem older than you really are? You can't be that much older than me?"

Alfred pursed his lips slightly before answering, "Living with a lot of old people makes me very wise."

"Oh, maybe that is it."

Before long, the scene continued with the two talking and joking, but then, out of nowhere, a loud boom went off, shaking the ground with immense power. Above, planes could be heard.

"I thought we were off limits?" André asked, concerned.

"Nothing is off limits," Alfred muttered. "This is war."