27 October 2012
Chapter 1
~Katrina~
We were young. We were stupid. And it destroyed us. It was a warm, warm summer, around seventeen years ago now. The warm weather had been muggy, like breathing in treacle. A massive storm had broken out. We all ran for shelter. I was a magazine seller, outside, in the storm. I ran, but everywhere was full, and there was no room for me. Then he drove up, in his flash car, and offered me a lift. "Were do you live?" he said "I can take you home." So I gave him my address, and he took me home. He was really kind, and funny, so we got chatting. It turned out he was a newspaper editor. I told him I'd always wanted to be a reporter. He told me he'd always wanted to travel the world. We got home, and said goodbye to me, and that was that. The storm died down, and only when I was safe and warm in bed did I realise I didn't have his number. I didn't even know his name. But a week later, someone knocked on my door. It was him. "Hi" he said "Just wondering ida you'd like to go to a play with me. I've had tickets for ages, but never had anyone to go with." So I said yes, of course I would love to, and maybe we could go out to dinner afterwards. His name was John, and we got on extremely well. We were good friends, but then he invited me round to his for the night, since my house was being re-furnished. He confessed he had fallen in love with me, and I realised I had fallen in love with him too. So we got married, and lived happily for four years, before deciding we wanted a family. We had a beautiful daughter named Ela, and she has my green eyes and her father's dark hair. But then it broke out. This war. We all thought it wouldn't last for long. But it did. It is still going to this day. All men and able women from the ages of 14 to 40 were meant to fight. But I was pregnant with another child, so couldn't go. John did though. He kissed me and two-year-old Ela goodbye. He patted my bump, and promised he would be back within the year. A year later and he still wasn't back. My baby was still-born. A wonderful baby boy, but he would never open his eyes. He never took his first breath. Then I got the news that John was 'Missing in Action, Presumed dead'. And he was only 24. My world was crumbling down around me.
Only the Good Die Young • Opuss № I