While you are fighting, gun in hand you take a moment to look around. There is nothing but death and pain in all directions and it makes you regret your choice. Why had you given up your family, friends, Amelia, your whole life only to make your father proud? As you sit there you realize that this was never what you wanted, never what you intended your life to be like. You wanted to go home, to see your dad again even if he wasn’t proud, to dance with Amelia in the dance competition.
You knew there was no other choice, in order to get out you had to sabotage the IRA. Amelia was right, he wasn’t a fighter. You got up and tried to get to somewhere safe, somewhere you could think of a plan. Then it came to you, you had overheard the leader of his group earlier talking about a time and place of releasing a bomb to hold off English soldiers. With that, you knew what you had to do.
As you got up to scope out the area you ran into an abandoned shop to grab a pencil and paper. You later snuck behind some buildings and spotted an English soldier sneaking behind an archway to get a better aim. You immediately shot up and grabbed him by the collar, at the same time grabbing the gun from his hands and throwing it away from the both of you. “Give this to your commanding officer, quick” you said hastily, running away after you gave it to him. This all happened so fast that the soldier had no time to react. Only after processing what just happened did he stuff the letter in his pocket and run towards his side of the field, leaving his gun behind.
The letter had contained the information on the bomb which you had given to them so that they could attack before the IRA dropped it. This would give you some time to escape. Later that evening you heard them attack, right before the bomb was meant to drop, signaling that your plan had worked. Throughout the chaos you managed to slip away, running towards home.
By the time you arrived in your neighbourhood the sun had almost set and you were out of breath. You immediately went up to Amelia’s door in favor of your own and knocked. After a minute or two you saw the door open with Amelia’s shocked face behind it. For a little while she stood there with nothing to say, neither of you wanting to be the first to say something. Until you broke the silence by saying, “Amelia, I’m so sorry. You were right, everything you said. It was silly of me to think that fighting was what I wanted to do when it was only to make my dad proud. I understand if you don’t like what I’ve done and want to leave, but I would love to dance with you again.” You looked at her, tears in your eyes expecting an answer. After all you’ve been through, seeing people die, being away from your family and Amelia, it was all too much. All you wanted was for everything to be sorted out, for your dad to be accepting, to dance with Amelia.
She looked sad, but overall guilty when saying, “No Jon, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be so harsh with you, I just knew it wasn’t the right choice for you.” she waited a moment and continued, “I’m glad you’re home, we all are.” she said, relieved that her best friend was finally back. “I’m glad too.” you said as you both hugged.
Wiping away the tears from her eyes, her emotion turned to fear. “Jon, what about the IRA? Won’t they come for you?” she asked, after you had both sat down and you told her about what happened. “I don’t know, everything is a mess, Amelia, I don’t know what to do.” you said, in a soft, sad tone. “I wish we could just go away, somewhere where we could dance and not have to worry about any of this.” she said, sighing. “Wait, what if we did? Amelia, if we ran away we could solve everything. We could dance, the IRA won’t find me, and my dad won’t be able to find me either. It’s perfect.” you exclaimed, a smile slowly growing on your face. “I don’t know Jon, I know my family is awful and you have your problems, but leaving would be a pretty big deal.” she said, slightly concerned.” “I know it is, but it would be better for the both of us. What do you say Amelia, come with me?”
She waited for a minute. “Fine, I’ll go with you. Where would you like to go?” she said, making her decision. “Why don’t we just go and see what happens?” you said, a smile growing on both your faces as you both laugh. “I’m fine as long as we get out of this crappy town.”