The Base

     The Base. It’s big, crowded and gives you first hand experience of the war. The sad part is that I work there. Well, I wouldn't exactly call it work. I’m a soldier for the Austrian government- the leader of one of their troops. I’m the only girl leader they have. Troop Spero- one of the top troops they have. We handle the most important missions, the ones handed down from the very top- the king. The cruel, stone-hearted king. I’m not sure about the cause of the war, but I’m dead sure I’ll be one of the causes the war will end.
     “Carmen? Carmen? CARMEN?” River screams while shaking me.
     He snaps me back to reality.
     “Huh?” I respond.
     “What are you thinking about?” he asks.
     “Oh, nothing,” I respond.
     “Sometimes I feel like you’re planning something,” he interrogates.
     I just laugh. River is my best friend, more like my big brother. He’s my right hand man, my greatest support.
     “Come on, the rest of our group is waiting for us,” he reminds me.
     We walk to The Game Room, which is not an actual game room, just a place that the soldiers hang out and can be themselves. We enter into a loud, hectic room filled with smiles and laughter. It’s my favorite place in The Base because it’s the only place where you see people being happy. There are no worries, it’s stress free.
     “Hey guys!” River exclaims.
     “River! Carmen!” they yell back.
     My group and my family, Troop Spero. It consists of 5 people- River (who’s the other leader), Stella, Axel, Quest, and myself. All very kind-hearted people. No matter what happens, they have your back.
                        ***
     After a while of enjoyment, everyone’s laughter is interrupted by another soldier who comes in.
     He says,“The following troops must report to the hall room in 10 minutes for an important announcement:Troop Spero, Troop Morte, Team Fuoco...”
     He says about 10 more troop names.
     “Wonder what that's for,” Stella questions.
     “Well, I’m pretty dang sure they’re going to tell us,” Quest responds.
      Stella punches Quest in the arm as a thank you.
     “Okay, okay,” I say laughing, trying to break it up between them, “Can we go now?”
      We enter the hall room wondering why we were called. One of the commanders stand up on the podium. He tells us that a new project will be given to us tomorrow, and some notes about it. He then let’s us loose and carries on with his own business.
     “They made us walk all the way here just for that?” Axel asks, “they couldn’t have just told us tomorrow when they actually got the project?”
     I just shrug my shoulders and say, “I stopped questioning the things they do a while ago.”
                          ***
     After a long day, we go back to our chambers. Our chambers are across the room from each other- like a hotel. Stella and I room together, and the boys are in the other room. Our chamber is a decent sized room. It consists of two twin beds, a fan and two desks with lamps. Stella get into her bed and falls asleep, while I go to the desk and start writing.

The Diary of Carmen Drake            January 3, 1600 Noctis
My Dear Diary,
      Life has gotten harder. I just wish this war would end. We’re the upper hand so we don’t get to really see the effects of the war, but I’ve seen what it does to people. Take the last mission we were assigned for example. It will carry out tomorrow night. We were told to direct and execute a bunch of airstrikes in different parts of Prague, and we did. We selected the best pilots we have to go and execute it with another troop, named Troop Morte. I understand that they are orders and all, but think of all those innocent people! There will be families torn apart, children’s lives cut short and people who will break inside. I don’t want that. I really wish that there was a better way to end this war. I don’t know about the king, but I’m going to do something about this war. I’m just waiting for the right moment. I don’t know how I’ll do it or what I’ll do, but It’ll happen. Even if I have to do it alone, I will.

                                                                                   Sincerely,
                                                                                        Carmen Drake

     We wake up at 6 in the morning, get ready and meet in the hall outside. While walking to the hall room, our discussions on what today brings us begin.
     “What do you think the next project is going to be on?” Axel starts.
     “Well, the commander said it was something bigger than we’ve ever done, so I don’t think it’s an airstrike,” River comments, “and even if it is, it’s probably a really massive one.”
      “Maybe we’re getting promoted?” Stella says to put positivity in the air.
      “I don’t think so. Promoting us at our level means we become commanders,” Quest contradicts, “and they love having power way too much. Promoting us means less power for them.”
     “Maybe we have to do a raid,” River says hoping he’s not right, “that’s big and can cause lots of destruction.”
     “Oh gosh I hope not,” Stella says, “there would be so many poor, innocent people’s lives lost.”
     We finally reach the door to the hall room.
     “Here goes nothing,” I say as I open the door.
     The commander from yesterday is there along with 2 men other commanders and a guy that I’ve only seen in pictures. He’s the head of all the commanders- Marco Gruber. He’s a tall, built man with a scary face if I may say so myself. We are all trying to prepare for what’s coming next.
                          ***
     15 minutes later we walk out with all the information that we will be needing. Apparently Prague is planning to make something that can wipe us all out. Our missions turns out to be what we were afraid of. A raid- one where a lot of people will be killed. The worst part is that our troop, with some others, will have to do it by hand. We will be sent there in a week. Where each troop will be sent will be told later.
     The entire day is filled with Troop Spero arguing about the raid.
     “I don’t want to be a part of this,” Quest says, “when we would direct the airstrikes, we would make it so not that many people died, but going in and killing them by hand? It’s cruel and it’s wrong.”
     “Quest is right Carmen, we can’t do this,” Axel agrees.
     “We can’t do anything about it,” I add, the words cutting me deep, “it’s sad, but it’s true. There is no excuse we can come up to get out of this.”
     “What if we send them a letter somehow?” River suggests, “it’ll give them time to prepare, and when we go there we can see what there making and steal the plan.”
     “You really think that’ll work?” I question.
     “I don’t know, we can try it,” River says.
     After a moment, everyone else seems to agree.
     “Well even if we did that, how will we know where the plans are?” I ask.
     “It’ll most likely be in a munition factory because that’s where it would probably be made,” River answers, “and if not… I don’t know, we’ll figure something out.”
     “First we should see where we are going to be sent,” Stella advises.
     “Okay, we’ll ask them in an hour or so,” I say.
     We all agree, and the waiting starts.
                          ***   
     About a hour and a half later, we decide to go see if the commanders and chief are in the conference room. We’re outside the door and about to enter, but we stop because we hear loud arguing inside.
     “What are they yelling about?” I ask.
     River shrugs and put his ear against the door. He quickly jerks his head back and tells us that they are talking about our troop.
     “What? Why?” I wonder out loud.
     “Maybe they are just discussing where we are going to go,” Axel reasons.
     “No, it’s not that,” River says, his ear against the door again, “it’s something about the munition factory. I don’t know, but it sounds like they’re bickering about if we should go there or if they should send someone else.”
     “What? Do they not trust us?” Quest asks, “do you think they found that we redirected the airstrikes?”
     “I don’t know!” River snaps, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you. I can only hear fragments though.”
     “Maybe this this will help,” Stella says handing him a voice recorder, “the perks of being in an army and soldier base.”
     “When did you leave? Whatever just give it to,” River says as he takes the voice recorder from Stella’s hands.
     “Also thank you,” he adds.
                       ***
     A few minutes later after hiding from people walking by and almost getting caught, River pulls the voice recorder out from the bottom of the door.
     “I hear footsteps!” he quietly exclaims.
     We take off. When we are far enough from the room, we catch our breath and start walking. We plan to go to the boy’s room to listen to the recording.
     Their room is cleaner then I would think, not to be stereotypical or anything. When you enter, there are two twin sized beds on the sides and one horizontally lined up against the back wall. There was only one desk, so I guess they mostly work on their beds. In their room, we all sit in a circle on the ground between the three twin beds.
     “Okay, here goes nothing,” River says and plays the recording.
     It’s like a bomb drops on us, a truth is uncovered.
     “Carmen did you know?” Quest inquires.
     I open my mouth but no words come out so I just shake my head no.
     “I think Carmen should be the one to write the letter,” Stella say.
     And like that, I take on the responsibility of writing the letter.
     “Okay so is everything set?” Axel confirms.
     “No,” River speaks up, “it’s not.”
     “You gotten such a big opportunity,” he continues, “how could you ever think you could pass it up- that I would let you?”
     “What are talking about River?” I ask.
     “I say you go a few days early, settle everything and meet up with us when we go there,” he says, “and don’t worry, we’ll handle everything here.”
     “How? They’ll know if I’m gone,” I say, “and you guys could get in a serious amount of trouble.”
     “So that means you want to go?” he asks.
     “No, I would never put your lives at risk,” I respond.
     “But-” he starts.
     “No I’m not going, end of discussion,” I conclude the meeting, “I’m going to go start the letter.”
     I walk out of the room and into ours.
                         ***
     I start my letter, but I have no idea what to write. I sit there for a while just thinking. A few minutes later, my thoughts are disturbed by Stella walking in.
     “What took you so long?” I question.
     “Nothing,” she says with a little smile.
     I just ignore her. Looking back at the letter, I just sigh. I’ll do it while I’m fresh in the morning, and with that I write a little something in my diary and fall asleep. By falling asleep, I mean staring off into space while rewinding and replaying everything that happened today. It’s a lot to take in.

The Diary of Carmen Drake             January 4, 1600 Noctis
My Dear Diary,
      I’m speechless…

                                                                                             Carmen Drake

     I wake up not knowing when I fell asleep the night before. I notice that Stella isn’t in the room for some reason.
     “Stella?” I yell.
      No response. I get ready and go outside. I knock on the boy’s door and again, no response. The Game Room, same result. I start to look in other places, but we are summoned to the hall room again. I go, hoping they are already there.
     I finally find them in the hall room.
     “Where were you guy?” I question sounding like a concerned parent.
     I am cut off by the chief. He starts announcing where everyone will be. Our troop is called last.
     “Troop Spero- the munition factory,” he says looking up directly at me.
     I can’t believe it. We are all confused. When the announcement is done, we walk out as fast as we can.
     “Guess we got lucky,” Axel says.
     “Where were you guys?” I restate my question.
     “Not here,” River says, “let’s go into our room again.”
     We enter the guy’s room I’m about to blow.
     “Would someone tell me what’s going on!” I scream.
     River holds up one ticket. I raise my eyebrows showing him that I still don’t understand.
     “Your train tickets to Prague,” he explains, “it’s one of the only train left working so you’ll have to walk a little to the factory, but it’s not that far.”
     “I said I’m not-” I begin.
     “You’re going!” they all simultaneously say.
     “And don’t worry,” River starts again, “I’ll keep everyone out of trouble.”
     “We talked about everything last night,” Stella says, “we have everything figured out.”
     “Here is your ticket,” River says as he hands them to me, “and a blueprints of tunnels under the factory.”
     “How did you possibly get this?” I ask.
     “Don’t ask,” he tells me.
     “He hasn’t told anyone,” Quest whispers to me, “I’m a little concerned.”
     They explain everything very thoroughly to me. After they’re done, I just stare at them and smile.
     “I can’t explain how much this means to me,” I say, “words are too little to express what I’m feeling.”
     I just go, hug everyone and stare at my ticket.
     “Wait, I leave in 3 hours?” I say as realization strikes me.
     “Yup,” Axel responds, “hey, you can’t back out now.
     I just shake my head and smile.
                        ***
     Those 3 hours are spent preparing everything. River comes in and shows me how to get to train. It takes me a while, but I understand what to do. I say my goodbyes and leave. In only 2 hours, and a lot of walking and sneaking around, I’m in the train. I’m ready for this, I tell myself.
   
    

The Diary of Carmen Drake             January 5, 1600 Noctis
My Dear Diary,
      I can’t wait. There are so many thoughts going on in my mind right now, but there’s one I can’t ignore. I can’t get what my troop, my family did for me out my head.

                                                                    When words are too little,
                                                                                             Carmen Drake

     At 3 a.m., the train stops. I took my entire train ride writing my letter. I just started writing and my emotions just poured out on to the paper. By the time I’m done, my eyes were watery. I sighed and put it in my bag.
     I got off the train and start walking. I can see the factory in the distance. The closer the factory gets, the faster my breathing gets. At about 30 minutes, I see some house like River told me I would see. I go to each one, but they are all locked! Dead end. Suddenly, I see one that’s open. I smile and run over. I gently open the door and peak inside. It’s clear. I carefully go around the house looking for someone, but not one’s home. I spot a hatch on the ground, probably leading to the tunnels. A file on the table catches my eyes. I open it and I don’t believe it. I take out my letter and put a star on it. Abruptly, I see and hear the hook on the hatch fiddling. I quickly put my letter in the back of the file and hide. A boy comes out from the hatch. He closes it back up and goes inside one of the rooms. I wait a while before tip-toeing to the hatch, opening it and climbing down.
     “Wow!” I exclaim.
     The darkness of the tunnel catches me off guard. I snap myself back into reality, thinking of what I came here to do. I take out my flashlight and go find myself a spot in the tunnel and sit down. Luckily, the ground isn’t that wet and there aren’t many animals down here. It’s too dark to write in my diary, but I’m sure there will be a lot to write tomorrow. Before I know it, I doze off.

     It’s been a day since I’ve been in the tunnels. It’s January 8, 1600 Noctis. Today’s the day. I spend what feels like a year just waiting- walking back and forth between the same tunnels. Until, I hear footsteps. Not knowing what to do, I go around the corner and hide. I turn of my off my flashlight, but I see the light of another flashlight shine on the wall next to me. I freeze.
     I hear a, “Hello?”
     It sounds like the voice of a young teenage girl. Not thinking, I come out into the light. I raise my hands to cover the blinding light, but then the light lowers and I see a girl. It is time for the end.

               How Life Has Become

     Wake up at 4 AM, leave for work at 5, work until 7 PM, go home, eat, write in my diary and sleep. This is my agenda everyday. Normally, it would seem crazy for a thirteen year old girl to work at a munition factory, but this war has made everything seem sane. I pack my lunch and get ready to go to work. I open the hatch on the floor of my tiny house and climb down the ladder. The conditions outside had made it too risky to go to work, and even though the commanders could care less about what happens to us, they couldn’t find better workers than us. Because of this, the built a hatch leading to an underground tunnel for all of us. Even our houses are locked and secured from the outside. In the tunnel, it’s a little mucky and pretty dark too, but we really can’t complain. All the workers would meet under and go to work together. We were a family really, the workers and I. We have gone through everything together: the war, the commander’s hate and so much more. They were the only ones I had. My family had died a year ago, but they never let me feel alone. Just think, a group of 15 people randomly placed together turning into each other strengths.
     “Hey Kristy!” Wolf exclaims, snapping me out of my thoughts.
      Wolf, my best friend. He’s the second youngest of the group after me of course. For a 14 year old he’s been through a lot- seen things that would scar a child. He doesn’t talk about what happened to him that often. All we know is that he was picked up by some of King Bellator Ⅴ’s men and placed in the munition factory after seeing all his skills in constructing bombs. No one knows his actual name, but his quick-thinking, friendliness, and loyalty to our group gave him the name Wolf. He never listens though. His house is the only one that is not secured from the outside, but he doesn’t listen to me when I tell him to secure it.
     “Hey Wolf!” I respond.
     After about a minute, everyone has come. This was my family, my support. We all came from broken homes and had to pass through horrifying obstacles. We all had a story to tell.
                       ***
     10 minutes later, we had reach another ladder. We climb up, open the rusty hatch and go through to the factory. Everyday we try to run away from the truth we exist in today. The truth we are all a part of.

     “Badges?” the security inquiries. He’s a tall man, maybe around 5’10, with tan skin and brown hair. He seems to be 19 years years old, maybe 20. He checks all of our badges with one hand, with the other on his gun holster ready to use it on any unwanted guests. After clearing us all, he leaves and we go to work.
     The factory is consisted of many buildings and teams. A few minutes away from the factory is a train station, one of the only ones left working. Our team is made up of all the heads of the departments, which is why we are the only team that consist of workers with different jobs. Our building is split up into 7 rooms, one for each department. Wolf and I manage the bomb department, Virginia and William manage the mechanical technician department, Evelyn is the head nurse with Samuel and Jean- who are the head doctors, Alice and Walter manage the smoke screener department, Dennis and Kenneth manage the chemist department, Elizabeth and Michael takes care of the aircraft mechanics department and Eva and Ray, who are the managers of the electrician department.
     Wolf and I go to the bomb department, which is on the second floor. We climb a stair case consisting of very narrow steps. When we get to the top, we go down the hall to the 3rd door and enter. Our room is very organized, except for the bulletin board next to the door which is scattered with layouts of different types of bombs and shells. Across from that is a window, and next to that is my desk. On the other side of the window is Wolf’s desk. On Wolf’s desk lays a brown file.
      “It’s probably a new project,” Wolf says as he walks over and picks up the file.
     “Wait to state the obvious,” I say walking over to Wolf’s desk.
      He mumbles something under his breath, about me I figure, and opens the file. Surprisingly, only one thing falls out. It was a letter from the king, something about a very important project and a team meeting tomorrow morning. Wolf and I just look at the letter in confusion. Team meetings were casual with your department, but a meeting with our team? Moreover, the king! The king never associates himself with the workers, or mostly anyone for a matter of fact. I walk out and into the hall. The hall looks over the entire factory with a railing at the outside of it. I lean over the railing and call everyone. As Wolf joins me outside, so does everyone else. They all hold a file in their hands and have confusion written all over their face. There is no doubt about it, something big was coming.
                         ***
     At the end of the day we meet at the center of the building and head back down to the tunnel together. During the walk through the tunnel everyone is silent, pondering what await them the next day. Anxiousness, nervousness, disquietude- all these feelings arousing inside of us.
     When I reach the stop to my house, I just look at everyone. No one says anything. I just give a slight nod and head up. Back at my house I drink some water and eat whatever I can find. Food and water has been scarce; I haven’t had a sufficient meal in months. I can’t complain though, many have died of starvation and thirst. I’m lucky to have even a small amount of food and water. Rations used to be given out, but a few months into the war, they stopped. I had been lucky that I don’t eat that much, so I have a lot of leftovers. After eating I go to my room and write in my diary.

The Diary of Kristianna Jaulin             January 4, 1600 Noctis

Dear Diary,

     A storm is coming. Havoc, destruction, grief - no one knows what it will bring us. It comes out of nowhere and just hits you. The sad thing is that we can’t do anything about it. There is no way to prepare for what is coming. We will have to just have to ride it out and hope for the best. There it is again- hope.
        So many things are crossing my mind about tomorrow. The letter had said that the king himself will be conducting the meeting. The king! Oh, the things I would say to him. No good things of course. The anger going on inside of me right now is indescribable. He sits on his little throne doing nothing while Prague is falling apart. The war has left everyone ravaged, but he wouldn’t know that of course. To him, life is perfect. Why wouldn’t he think that? He barely steps out of his royal castle, and when he does he ignores the truth. He runs away from it. I can’t blame him for that. We’ve all been running away from the truth instead of facing reality. Running, hiding and rejecting the truth is what we have learned to do, but that needs to change.
                                                               Sincerely,
                                                         Kristanna Jaulin

     I barely got any sleep last night. If anyone did then it would be a miracle. The air strikes have gotten worse- a lot worse. There were at least 2 last night within 6 hours. Distant, but close enough to feel the ground shake a tiny bit. I was already really worried, and now with the suspense of the project, it’s only getting worse.
                       ***
     In the tunnel, we can feel each other’s fear. Dennis opens the hatch and when we climb up we’re dumbstruck. There are about 20 armed guards in every corner of the room. Then, there are an additional 10 guards in the center of the room. We are all thoroughly checked and are told to stand 3 by 5 in the center of the room. ‘What is this military camp or something?’ I think. And why is there so much security? What do they expect us to do, hurt the king with the weapons we don’t have? We already got checked! Ugh!
      About 10 to 15 minutes later a guy- followed by the 10 additional guards behind and to the side of him- shows up. It’s the king. He stands tall with pounds of gold on him. Gold necklaces, gold bracelets, gold earrings and of course, a magnificently crafted gold crown with his long blond hair falling under it. He has so much money, if only he would put it to good use.
     He clears his throat and begins talking. “Citizens of Prague, I have a project for you. You guys are the most elite team of workers in all of Prague. Now as you all may know; the air strikes have gotten worse and we need to do something about it. I will not stand to watch Prague fall apart!”
      I almost start laughing. Watch it fall apart! I thought. We are already half underground, and now you want to do something about it? What, did the noise of the air strikes disrupt your beauty sleep? You know how many families have died in those air strikes? I raging with anger, I start focusing on my breathing to try to calm down.
     He continues, “... We must stand up and rise from the debris and ashes that have buried us. To do this, I am assigning a project. My military colonels have thought of a magnificent way to settle this once and for all. You will build many massive bombs. One that will wipe out anything at least 20 miles away. You will have to make the bomb yourself, and it will be a lot of hard work. There will be mistakes and injuries, but we will rise to the top.”
    He then goes on and on about the bomb and how we will be honored and remembered. How we will be legends. My thoughts start again. Yes, the things he offers are tempting, but I don’t trust him. I’m actually about 90% sure he’ll shoot us when we finish, and then he’ll probably take all the credit. Even if he does give us all the things he promises, there’s still a problem. The bomb! A bomb that’s range is 20 miles! 20 miles! That’s insane! We have barely gotten 10 miles, and he wants double!
     He leaves after passing out the information about the project to every group. With that, silence follows.
     “He’s insane!” Walter exclaims breaking the silence.
     “Shh, keep your voice down. If security hears you, your dead meat,” Virginia warns.
     She’s right though. Everyone, except our little family, is as loyal to the king as a dog is loyal to its owner.
     “He’s not wrong though. 20 miles!” Kenneth yells while still whispering.
     “Yeah, trying to make that bomb is kind of out of our range. Like, I don’t know, 10 miles off!” Dennis adds.
     “Even if we are able to at least get a plan of what this monster will look like, how will we get the supplies to make it?” Ray inquires.
     “He has a point,” I finally speak up, “we don’t have those types of supplies.”
     “Then we start with a plan,” Wolf says trying to spread some positivity, “we’ll start small and work our way up.”
     “You’re talking crazy,” Elizabeth said speaking everyone’s mind.
     “Look, we can’t just do nothing. I mean he’s going to expect something, and if we don’t give him something he’ll kill us,” Wolf responds, “and just think if we actually do this. The war will be over.”
      “But millions of innocent people will die,” Evelyn says.
      “We can try to convince the king to only bomb to government areas and military base,” Wolf counters.
     “Bomb the military bases?” Samuel brings up, “are you crazy? They have many more supplies than us, and a bomb like this is like a trigger to the end of the world if we let it out on a their military base.”
     We know Sam is exaggerating, but we know what he’s trying to say.
     “Also, do you really think the king will stop after blowing up the government areas?” William says.
     “He’s right, we can’t do this,” Alice agrees.
      “Yeah, you guys are right,” Wolf signs, “I just...I just want everything to end.”
     “We all do,” Eva sympathizes.
     “But this isn’t the way,” Michael says with Jean nodding besides him.
      “Then what is the way?” Wolf questions.
      The room falls silent, again.
     “We’ll do it one step at a time,” I say, breaking the silence, “just like you said.”
      “I think we should talk about this tomorrow. It’ll give us all time to think, and let everything sink in,” Jean suggests.
      We all agree.
                          ***
     In the tunnel we decide to actually talk about what happen. We

think that there’s no point in putting it off, so we start discussing ideas. Yes, Jean is right about taking the day to think about what happened, but we are just are starting a little earlier. We have lots of ideas, but we decide that none are good enough to settle for. We’ll have to start over tomorrow.

The Diary of Kristianna Jaulin              January 5, 1600 Noctis
Dear Diary,

     The storm has hit. Life goes on until it throws you a curveball, but that’s life for you. It’s a rollercoaster, except every hill and loop are obstacles and can be deadly. The rollercoaster of life is filled with opportunities. Now, if you’re taking them or just letting them pass depends solely on you. This is our opportunity to do something right. To put some truth into this gruesome war. But, the storm has hit, so we have to be careful not to slip on the puddles that will come from the rain.
    
  
                           

 
                                                                  Help us god,
                                                                       Kristianna Jaulin

    At the factory, we all take a moment to look into retrospect, and then start pouring out our ideas.
     “We could build it, and then say we lost the layout of it after,” William says unsurely.
     “I don’t think he will believe that,” Alice contradicts, “and even if he did, he’ll probably make us make it again.”
     “Yeah, I guess so,” William agrees.
     “Shouldn’t we get the information for the project so we know what we have to do in the first place?” Samuel questions.
    “That’s actually a very smart idea,” I say.
     We all have been so caught up in all of this, we didn't even think of getting the paper they passed out yesterday.
     “I’ll go get it,” I offer.
      As I go upstairs to get the paper, everyone keeps discussing possible solutions. The folder of information is lying on Wolf’s desk, since he took it home yesterday. I pick it up, searching through to make sure it is the right file. It’s the right file, but there’s an extra page. One that didn’t look right. It was a different type of paper. I didn’t think about it that much and go downstairs.
     “Here you go,” I say as I toss the file on the table in the center of the room.
    “What took you so long?” Wolf questions.
    “Well, I’m sorry,” I say as I strangle him in my mind.
     He just chuckles. Dennis goes and picks up the file and looks through it.
     “Why is the last paper like this?” he asks.
     “I don’t know. I saw it too, but I didn’t take it to mind,” I respond.
     “We don’t have that in our file,” Dennis days.
      “Us either,” Evelyn adds, “what about you guys?”
      No one. No one else has it.
     “You guys are probably making a big deal out of nothing,” Wolf says.
     Dennis exchanges thoughts with Kenneth without talking. It’s really just a series of nods and sighs.
     Kenneth finally says, “I guess we can give it a try, but I don’t see why anyone would do that, especially to us.”
     With that, Kenneth walks upstairs to his room.
     “He’ll be back in a minute,” Dennis asures.
     “What was that?” Jean says the thing on everyone’s minds.
     “Just an experiment,” Dennis replies.
     Moments later, Kenneth comes back with a brush and a bottle with some powder in it.
     “What’s that?” Wolf inquires.
     “Sodium carbonate,” Kenneth says very casually.
     “Huh?” We all say almost simultaneously.
     Kenneth just flaps his hand toward Dennis while he takes some of the powder and carefully rubs it with the brush on the weird paper.
     “What are you doing?” Wolf says half screaming.
     “Sodium carbonate can help uncover ferrous sulfate and water,” Dennis says.
     Wolf just looks at him blankly.
     “You know?” Dennis gestures.
     “I really don’t,” Wolf says getting a little irritated.
     “You mix ferrous sulfate and water to make invisible ink,” Dennis simplifies.
     “Invisible ink. That’s all you have to say, invisible ink,” Wolf scowls.
     Dennis backs down and stops talking while Kenneth finishes up.
    “Why do you think there may be invisible ink on the paper,” I inquire.
    “Because we use paper like this all time to write down our secret formulas in case the place is raided by the wrong people,” Dennis explains, “in fact all of our secret files are kept like this.”
     “No way,” Kenneth remarks getting us all to come back to the point, “you’re right.”
     The paper now had writing on it.
     “It’s for Kristianna,” Kenneth says making everyone turn to me.
     Now it’s my turn to say, “Huh?”
     Kenneth turns the paper can anyone can see, and on the top in bold it says my name.
     “It says it’s from your sister?” Kenneth questions.
     I just take the letter and start reading it. I feel everyone staring at me so I glance up and run up to my room. Closing the door behind me, I start reading the letter. I can’t believe it. Tears stroll down my face. It’s all too much to take in, so I sit down on the ground. I’ve been in this room pondering the letter for at least 10 minutes now, and I still can't believe it.
     “Hey,” Wolf says softly knocking on the door, “it’s only me out here so if you want to talk we can.”
    Not knowing what to do, I just stand up, open the door, and sit back down in the exact spot I stood up from. Wolf just sits next to me. He crosses his knees close to his chest and hugs them.
     “You okay?” Wolf says in a comforting tone.
     I just hand him the letter.
    “You sure?” Wolf asks, “I can’t.”
     I just nod my head gently.
    “It’s a group decision, but I want you to read it first,” I say.
     He takes a long breath and starts reading the letter. Throughout  the letter, he glances back at me. After finishing the letter, he just  looks up and stares at the wall in front of him. It seems like he’s talking to himself in his mind. He looks down, and then to me.
     “I am so sorry,” he starts.
     I just respond by shaking my head and giving him a tiny smile, which quickly turns back into a frown.
     “What are we going to do?” he asks quietly.
     “I don’t know,” I finally say something, my voice shaking.
    We sit in silence, staring into space.
                       ***

The Diary of Kristianna Jaulin              January 6, 1600 Noctis
Dear Diary,
        I’m broken.

                                                      Somebody please help me,
                                                                          Kristianna Jaulin

    Do you ever get the feeling that someone is watching you? That’s what I’m feeling as I’m walking in the tunnel. The only difference is that it’s not only a feeling. I know everyone’s watching me.
     In our room, I feel Wolf staring at me. I look back at him and he averts his eyes. Looking back at my work, I see his eyes wandering back to me from the corner of my eye.
     “Okay, you really need to stop,” I say, frustration in my voice.
     “I have no idea what you’re talking,” Wolf acts.
     “I don’t want your pity,” I quietly say.
     Wolf just sighs and stands up. He grabs my hand telling me to stand up. He then leads me down the stairs, lets go of my hand, and calls everyone downstairs. When everyone comes down, they start discussing something amongst themselves. All I hear is mumbling. When they are finally done, they turn to me.
     “We think you should go,” Wolf finally says.
     “What are you talking about?” I ask.
     “To meet your sister,” Wolf continues, “last night I couldn’t stop thinking about how sad you were and you’re always talking about how you’re going to try and find her after the war is done, so I might’ve called a meeting last night with the group about it, sorry.”
     I just sigh.
     “We decided that you should go see her, and she already told you where she is so it’ll be easy to find her,” Wolf assures.
     “But what about the other stuff she said?” I ask, “ You know about the-”
     “We will figure that out, but that’s not important right now,” Wolf says.
     “They will kill you guys, I can’t take that chance,” I ask.
     “We have everything planned out, just hear us out,” Wolf pleads, “and if you guys meet that can also help us find a stop to this war.”
     “Okay,” I give in.
     After 10 minutes of explaining everything very thoroughly, they all look at me for an answer.
     I breathe in and say, “Okay”
     “Yes!” everyone screams quietly.
     I catch Wolf’s eyes and I smile. He’s really the best friend anyone could have.
     Wolf comes over to me.
     “Who’s the greatest best friend ever?” He points to himself and says, “this guy.”
     I just laugh and think. I’m going to meet her. I’m going to meet my sister.

The Diary of Kristianna Jaulin              January 7, 1600 Noctis
Dear Diary,
     You have no idea how happy I am! I’m going to meet my sister! I wonder how she will look, how she sounds, just how she is. I’m really nervous. How will I know who it is. No, I’ll know. I still remember Wolf’s words. He was telling me how not that many people get this opportunity. He also told me that one of the reasons that they wanted me to meet my sister was that it would make them feel like they had meet someone they had lost. It gave them hope. For once I’m optimistic. Optimistic that tomorrow is going to be a great day.

                                                         I’m going to meet my sister,
                                                                            Kristianna Jaulin

    I stay up all night rehearsing what to say to my sister.
     “Hi,” I say with a smile, “No, that’s to casual.”
     “So, are you my sister?” I start shaking my head at that.
     “How’s life?” I frown and say, “Wow, that’s just sad.”
     For now I just stick with a simple ‘Hello,’ and see where it goes from there. It’s 4:00 am, which means it’s almost time. I get ready and go down to the tunnel. Yesterday, we all decided to meet there to go over everything. The 5 minutes I spend waiting for everyone, feels like 5 years. I’m jumping up and down with nervousness and happiness. I’m really anxious.
     “Hey Kristy,” Wolf says with everyone behind him.
     I smile and we get right to work. We go to the factory, I check in and then our plan is in process. There are many parts to the plan. There is a mini smoke bomb made by Wolf and I with some chemical added by Dennis and Kenneth, a mixture of drugs by Evelyn, Samuel and Jean and so much more. Everyone is helping out.
     Finally, everything is ready and about to head back to the tunnel.
     I turn around before heading out and say, “Thank you for being so supportive. I love you guys.”
        I go back in to the tunnel and pull out the letter and a flashlight. There’s a drawing of the tunnels, and a star in one corner. I don’t know how she knows about the tunnels let alone have a map of them, but right now my main focus is finding her. The other workers and I have always gone through the same route in the tunnels and have not even thought of exploring the other branches of it, but I’m ready. I look at the map and follow the route she made for me, leaving a trail making sure I don’t get lost.
***
     I’m getting closer and closer to the star. My mind is rushing in with thoughts, and my hands are getting sweatier. Finding her means being one step closer to finding a way to end the war. I breathe out loud. I’m finally at the star. I look up. My heart is beating faster, yet my breathing is getting harder. I see a figment in the darkness, but there’s nothing there. It’s just a shadow. I don’t know what to do.
     “Hello?” I say, hoping for a response.
     There’s nothing. I start to turn back, but suddenly I see a shadow adjacent from where my flashlight hits the wall. Someone walks into the light. It’s a girl. I fall still. She lifts her hand to cover the light. When I realize what I’m doing, I lower the light. It’s time for the end.