Summary: After the war ended and the government collapsed, Rosalyn finds herself at the top of her apartment building worrying about her future and about one man in particular. The love of her life, whom she waited years to hear from, finally comes home. With both being ready to rekindle their love for one another, they took that time to get re-acquainted and properly make love.
Rosalyn
12/31/2014
I wish I could say that after the war everything went back to normal, that I was married and living my happily ever after. But that's for fairy tales, and those don't exist here. No one knew the war would be the least of our problems in the United States, families were torn apart, famine and disease swept through the country. Cities were destroyed, homes were gone, lives were lost. You would think the outcome of our lives happened because of other countries but no. This happened because of the greed of our own nation. There was never enough funds to participate in this war, our government knew this. Instead of staying out it, the nation itself took from us, it took from businesses, and it took money until there was none left.
My people were the first to be affected by this outcome. My uncle was one of the first to be laid off. One by one, I watched as our neighborhood slowly emptied out and onto the streets. Until it was my turn, my family pleaded with the landlords. They begged and begged until there wasn't much the landlord could do for us. I grew up in this neighborhood, I knew the ends and outs of these streets. This place was my life, and I was forced to watch it get taken from me. Then a curse fell upon us, the government reached its nasty hands into our community. They promised homes, food, and other resources, but there was a catch. The only way we could gain access to these things is if the men of our families joined the military. My father was the first of many to go, we moved into a small one bedroom apartment.
It wasn't much, but it was enough for my family, that was until The Great Famine. To punish the government for bleeding us, farmers began boycotting. They no longer sold their crops to the bigger corporations. Instead, they gave their food to their communities. When the government tried to control how they should send out their crops, they burned their fields. When the government tried to make their own fields, anonymous farmers burned those fields to the ground. All of America suffered, we watched as the grocery store dwindled down to bare scraps. Our community was lucky, my people knew that by surviving we would need to know how to grow our own crops. My mother and some others came together and started their own garden. That is how we managed to survive.
When I was 17, I was forced to attend "school" and I say school lightly. Instead of a building, we had one singular class in our apartment building. There were only a few of my people and we were forced to sit in the back of the class. Everyone else looked at us with disdain and would avoid us. There as even a time when the teacher had to threaten to stop teaching if the parent's couldn't get their acts together.
But then I met him, Charlie Riego, he had the prettiest smile and brown eyes. When I was with him, I could care less about anyone who glared and stared our way. Every night we would sneak out of our homes and meet on the rooftop. We would mostly talk, sometimes, about life or our futures. Sometimes we'd just stare up at the sky and watch the stars. I knew from the moment I met him that I was in love with him. For a moment, I believed that he and I would get married, we'd have a family, maybe even kids. That was until we had received the worst news that left me feeling devastated.
When we had just turned 18, Charlie had gotten the news that his father had passed from the war. The military had threatened to kick him and his family out if there wasn't an immediate member who signed up. Charlie signed the papers, no further questions asked. The last night I saw him, we sat together in silence. My heart was broken, and the future I had saw with this man had been shattered. He looked me in the eyes, like he always does, flashes his big bright smile that I love. Then he told me, "I want to tell you something before I leave."
"Don't." I respond, knowing what he was going to say. He looked at me, his sad eyes revealed his true feelings. I walked closer to him and took his hands, "Tell me when you come back... alive." I whispered, "and well."
He swallowed his nerves and nodded,
"Promise me." I stared him in the eyes, he looked scared, probably worried to reassure me. "Please... promise me Charlie." I whispered, his eyes suddenly filled with determination as he nodded.
"I promise." He responded with firmness, we hugged each other for the last time in a long time.
Now here I am at the age of 25, the war was over, but our nation's problems weren't. Because the government had been taking from everyone, they managed to anger a group of people. These people were rich beyond means, they managed to cement themselves around the world. There wasn't much that could piss off a rich person, but when you mess with their money, their power, and their influence it leads to loads of problems. Many others, including myself, watched these groups of people overthrow the government, which didn't take much since it was on the brink of collapse. They focused their power in building the economy again.
They claimed their plans were not to become cruel as long as we didn't mess with them. They wouldn't mess with us, the rules were simple. They enacted the same constitutions, the same rules as before and gave us freedom. With the promise of a better life that doesn't bank on greed. The new military allowed us to stay in our apartments and rebuild the new communities. Things seemed to finally be looking up, yet I still thought about him. My Charlie... a man I hadn't heard from in almost 6 years now. I wondered if he had died around the time the war ended and with the mixing of governments went unnoticed. Yet that thought was dark and I didn't like it. The second idea was that he found someone else, fell in love, and wasn't coming back. That idea stung but... it was better than the ladder.
I stood on top of my building, looking over the edge as I silently drank this bitter wine. My mind lingering on the man I had once loved being gone. The never ending questions swarmed my brain as I looked down. All I needed was a sign... or a small symbol that he was okay. That he was alive and well, just moving on from this old nation.
"I'm hoping you aren't planning to go over." A familiar deep voice spoke causing my heart to race. "Would kind of defeat the purpose of us meeting here and break my promise." He was chuckling! I know that chuckle, I loved that chuckle. I turned around slowly turned to face the man, my heart leaping for joy and relief. There he stood, Charlie, still in his military uniform. His soft beautiful smile that made my heart swoon. He walked towards me, I realized he had gotten a lot buffer during the war. My legs began to waver as he got closer while tears of joy filled my eyes. "Hello." He spoke calmly. I didn't know what to say, I didn't know what to do. Was he real?
