"Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right
paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hand."

After hours of bullying and name calling, I was finally home. The day was going as usual. There was nothing significant about it.

I took my bag from the front seat and opened my door. I raised my hand to give the sign of "you can go now" to Adam. But he just frowned. Nothing new!

When I entered the house, Mary was nowhere to be seen. I didn't even hear her voice. All I heard was, oddly, the sound of the television playing loudly. I could've went to the living room and asked my mother to turn down the sound a bit. However, the fact that it's been over ten days and I can now talk to Rachel consumed me.

As I sprung on the stairs to take my laptop, I recognized that the television was on the news channel. I never knew much about news or politics - which niggled my father. He always wanted me to be like him. But I was the opposite: sensitive, kind and transparent. I can still recall how much he wanted a boy when my mother was pregnant with Mary. He wanted a boy to finally inherent from him a bit and be like him: tough and strong and cold-hearted. All his hopes were smashed when the nurse came out and told us that it was a girl.

I took my white laptop and went to my room. I locked the door- it's a habit most introverts have- and placed the laptop on my bed. My eyes scanned the screen seeking for a new message from Rachel. There weren't any new messages. Maybe she's busy?

The national anthem started playing. This was moderately intriguing since I, usually, didn't hear a sound when I was in my bedroom- not even birds humming. I looked from my window to try and guess which house it was coming from. There was something different about the neighborhood when I looked. A frisson of enthusiasm seemed to crackle into it. The neighborhood always felt deserted but not this time. I peered to try and spot what was the difference.

The house facing ours had a woman, sitting on a wheel chair, in her living room watching the news channel with a febrile attitude. A couple of girls stepped into the balcony and spread the flag of our country downwind for it to flutter. The anthem grew louder. All of the houses that caught my glance had their televisions on the news channel. What happened did we just cure cancer or something?

I heard my mother congratulating relatives on the "victory" while I went down to try and guess what was happening. I knew that my father wasn't home, he took off a week ago.
My mother's eyes were filled with happy tears as she stood in front of the television.

'Mom, what's happening?' I asked in utter confusion.

She had hung up. 'Trivina, look!' she whispered referring to the television.

I looked at the news channel. It showed forces from our military shooting with their shotguns. They worked in harmony and cooperation, making it pretty obvious that they had a machination. At the bottom there was a line that read: "After months of preparation, our soldiers have achieved conquest over Ekyaj."

My face went blanch, my mouth felt dry and my jaw dropped at the sight. Paroxysm of shock hit me.

'We have done it!' my mother said with a proud face.

I looked at the television, anew, to make sure I wasn't being delusional. This time it showed my father. He was waiting behind a bastion and when he felt that time was right, he swiftly got up and off went the bullets. I saw it hitting the man straight into the forehead and tearing through his skin.

As by now, we've seen people die a thousand times in movies. But, it's nothing like seeing someone actually die. It makes every Hollywood actor seem talentless. This is an actual person dying.

The opponent's forces kept throwing grenades in return. But somehow it didn't do efficacious ravage. Helicopters, that carried our flags, flew over them throwing bombs. Bodies were scattered everywhere, like bits of sand on a windy day, because of the explosions.

'We have been planning this for months, your father told me. I was so worried, but, thank god there aren't any casualties from our side ' she said.

'But,...why did we do that? Did Ekyaj like do something or did it trigger the war..?'

I couldn't really gather the words. These words on that blue line didn't sink in, yet. I didn't comprehend why this was a good thing.

'Trivina, you should be happy!' she exclaimed. Mary finally appeared. She was gazing at the television with an unreadable face.

'Mother, we just started a war!' I started to get defensive. 

'Trivina, you don't understand politics.' she said with the same look that my father always gave me.

I looked at the television one last time. Was she right? Maybe this country did something to hurt us and we're just protecting ourselves. My mind recalled that Rachel lives in Ekyaj. I, immediately, went upstairs to mail her. She didn't know where I was from. It's not that I was hiding it, but she plainly never asked. I figured that now was the worst possible time to tell her.

After mailing her asking if she and her family were okay, I tried to find the reason that triggered this war. I knew that my mother won't tell me and that the news will only keep reporting on what's currently happening. Starting to search on the internet, I tried to appease my consciousness. Little did I know that the whole world was talking about it.

Superficially, this was a fight over natural resources. Ekyaj had abundant sources that we were lacking. I also discovered that there were no innuendos that this was going to happen and that Ekyaj wasn't alerted at all.

Everyone had a point of view to say about this. The internet was flooded with opinions and the incidence had, barely, just occurred.

''They should be ashamed of themselves for what they did to Ekyaj."

"Why would they start a war without even warning Ekyaj?! They are cowards."

"Don't forget Ekyaj in your prayers"

"So how long is this conquest going to last?"

I read every single comment. All of them were on Ekyaj's side. Most of them were hating on my country. I empathized with the people of Ekyaj. What would I feel if I knew that a country attacked us and killed hundreds of our soldiers? Would I feel safe? Of course not, I would feel terrible and terrified and that's probably what they're feeling right now. It was a triumph for us but a defeat for them.

Rachel, finally, replied to me. It was the first time that I sensed devastation in her messages. She was always so strong and held together. She said in the message that her cousin was one of the soldiers who passed away.

"I have no idea what is waiting for us from now on but I do know that it's not pleasant. What scares me the most is losing another member of my family. I would sacrifice my life for the sake of theirs, but that's not how it works. I'm so scared, Trivina. This all feels like a nightmare, and I am kneeling and begging God to wake me up from it."

I didn't realize that I was crying, until I felt the tears watering my pale face. Rachel doesn't deserve this. Nobody does! The national anthem was still playing. Why were they so happy? Yes this will help us. On the other hand, it will harm others. Why was I the only one thinking like that?

Time elapsed. I didn't sleep. I spent the whole night reading about Ekyaj and mailing Rachel back and forth, hoping to bring her solace.

Note: hiii beautiful people reading this :) hope you're having a wonderful day ♥sorry it took me time to update because the WiFi is terrible!

Ps: Trivina's country will never be said/mentioned in the story because I'm afraid it would offend anyone. And this is the last I want to do ❤