As I peer through the bushes and see the magnificent locomotive rolling down the tracks I think to myself, “If only that were me on the train.” My name is Nate and my life is in crisis. Struggle lingers in the air and I need to find a way out. Our country, as well as many others, is engulfed in war. Many of my friends have already been drafted. I have recently become the man of the house because my father left to support the cause. Therefore, I have left school to start working in order to keep dinner on the table.

To earn some money I am working in a hot and musty factory that makes clothing for the troops. Every day I walk home from work, I am petrified to enter my house to find the letter no man wants to receive. As I am walking back from the factory with a co-worker, a knot forms in my stomach. Anxious, I bid my friend farewell and decide to go a different way. When I arrive home I open the door; I’m pleasantly surprised to see that there isn’t a letter and my family is home going about its business. We have supper together but I don’t mention the fear I had today; I had a premonition that the day was still lurking around the corner.

The days drag on and my anxiety grows. I try to keep calm but it is a losing battle. My father has been away for two months now. The next day after work, I make my usual stop to observe the trains and boats as they pass. I am not at the river for very long before my nerves start to tingle, so I hurry home.
As I enter the front door, I can sense something is wrong. The house is too quiet. There on the table is my worst nightmare. This can’t be happening; why are they doing this to me? I lose my balance as my legs give out and I fall to the floor. I won’t let my family’s lives be extirpated again. I quickly devise a plan to extract us from this mess, or so I hope.

On the day I leave for training, I see the officials coming toward my house. I grab my sisters’ hands and with my mom close by, we sneak out the back door. As we are running to the train station I hear a whistling. I turn around and see the officials chasing after us. I tell my family to run faster. The station is in sight but the authorities are gaining on us. I am running as fast as humanly possible trying to keep hold of my siblings. I hear screaming but nothing is stopping me from reaching the train. I launch myself onto the train only to realize I lost my grip on what is most near and dear to me.