** Year Later **

"Emily! Alexandra! What are you doing? Get yourselves back to the main hall! A new bus full of wounded just arrived!" Lucy called from the door.

Emmy and I both looked at each other. Great I thought more bloody people to treat. Emmy didn't look much better. All day we have done nothing but patch up solider after solider, telling them endless lies just to keep their hopes up that one day they will be back home and their lives would be back to normal like nothing ever happened. Of course for some it did, but for others luck did not favor them.

"Come on loser, we better get back before Lucy comes back to box our ears" Emmy said playfully tapping my ears as she stood up.

Emmy was one of my best friends at this nurse house. She came around the same time I did last year and we were about the same age. The only difference is that she wanted to become a nurse unlike me, who would rather be on the battle field giving the enemy solders a piece of my mind.

Emmy was really pretty too. She has dark brown hair that had a few curls and eyes that were a light blue similar to mine, except hers were unmistakably blue, and mine were electric. She had big cheeks that made her always look like she was happy and smiling and whenever she did smile, it made your heart melt because she would look so adorable even though she was 16 years old. I thought all of those things the first time I saw her. Of course, I would never say it out loud to her because then she would become very sassy and start annoying me about how she is not adorable and what not. I would of course respond with the classic phrase "sure hunny keep telling yourself that."

"Yea yea, like that would scare me" I said slowly dragging myself off of the floor.

"Oh alright then, if that's what you think, then I guess she will just have to cancel your dinner for tonight instead." Emmy said with a small grin.

I immediately stood up and brushed the dirt off of my already dirty white apron saying "What! No I'm ready to go! Let's get back to work!!"And grabbing Emmys hand I half dragged half pulled Emmy out of the room and into the main hall.

When we entered the Main Hall, the feeling in the room seemed to turn from all happy to gloom. Unlike Emmy and my room whose walls were a light yellow, the main hall was painted a dull white with white curtains covering the small windows. The candles that were lite, casting off an off color yellow that was barely enough light to see with. The wounded were all seated in beds and speaking in hushed tones to the other nurses huddling around them.

When Emmy and I entered the room, Lucy came up to us with her arms crossed and an angry look on her face. She was the head nurse in the group and was the one who trained both Emmy and I when we first arrived. Before Emmy and I became friends, she didn't mind Emmy, while me on the other hand, she hated ever since that "accident" were I almost killed her pet cat, Mumu, with a needle. I personally thought I was doing that cat a favor, trying to end its life so quickly since it had such an unfortunate name but hey look who's talking, I walk around with a nickname of Pip! Anyway, after Emmy became my friend, Lucy backed away from Emmy and placed her in the "Mentally retarded nurse section" where I was King of in her head.

"Well look who finally decided to show up and do something right instead of reading the newspaper for news on the war" Lucy said coming toward us.

"I hope you guys are ready to work because there are quite a few solders on your side of the hall" she said pointing toward our corner.

"We will get right to it then" Emmy said quietly as she started dragging me toward the corner. If it hadn't been for Emmy keeping a good grasp on my hand, I would have gone over and punched Lucy right in the nose, but I also had to keep my promise with Papa, so I kept walking with Emmy until we reached our station.

Rolling up my sleeves I turned toward Emmy saying "What makes you keep your head whenever Lucy goes all Miss Bossy on us?" Emmy turned in surprise

"Oh I always imagine in my head you beating her up to a pulp" she said with I smile.

I turned around Laughing saying "You see this is why we are friends!"

Then we turned toward the beds and got to work.

A few hours later

"Ok Alex, Emmy, you guys are done for the night!" Lucy called over from her side of the hall.

Finally! I thought. My back was killing me and my hands were sore from all the work I had done, but in the aftermath of it all, I was glad that I helped out. I turned toward Emmy to find her just as exhausted.

"Want to head back to our room?" She asked as she wiped her hands on her apron.

"Gladly!" I said while taking off my apron.

We left the hall and were heading to our dorm room when the post man walked in. I grabbed Emmys arm and made her stop. I hadn't gotten a letter from any of my family for over 2 months now, and it was starting to worry me now. Of course it was normally James who always wrote to me, but every once and awhile Papa would write to me also explaining to me how the war was going and that he hoped I was being good to the nurses and all that. Dan wrote to me all the time in the beginning of the war but then he just stopped writing. At first I was worried that something went wrong for him but I never got a telegram telling me he was dead so I choose to ignore it and just wait until the war was over when I could go over to him and hit him in the head for not writing to me.

"Uh.. Is there a Miss Pickett here?" The mailman asked standing in the hall way.

I walked over and he pulled out a yellow telegram. I froze. Yellow? Isn't that the color envelope from the military office? I thought. Emmy was standing right beside me and pushed me forward. I quickly shook myself out of my head and took the yellow telegram.

"Thank you" I said to the mail man and then I turned around and walked to my room at full speed. I didn't open the letter until I was safely in my room and then I tore open the telegram.

Dear Miss Pickett,

We are sorry to inform you that James Pickett has been found to be killed in action today this June 8th 1906 from a chemical bomb of sorts that we are still not able to completely identify. We cannot tell you were his whereabouts have been for the last few days but we can say that he has been found as a brave solider and we are glad to have had him as one of our solders. We are sorry for your loss.

Sincerely

General Leonard Devain

Chief Enforcer of the Second Presanct

I froze. No No No, this isn't right I thought. James isn't dead, no he is just missing or maybe they miss calculated. He is fine. He couldn't have died, he's to strong. He has had to much training to possibly be dead. I thought. I was shaking like crazy and I was angry. This made no sense. None what so ever.

"Alex?" Emmy said quietly as she slipped through the door and closed it behind her.

"Alex what's wrong?" She asked

I shoved the letter to her face and she took it and started to read it.

"Killed in Action.." She said quietly "Oh Alex I'm so sorry" she said sadly I turned toward her and grabbed the telegram from her hand and started ripping it to shreds.

"It's fake" I said as I ripped the telegram into 1/8ths

"No Alex, they wouldn't send that telegram to you unless they were sure that he was dead" she said staring at me now ripping the telegram into 1/16ths.

I threw the remaining pieces of the telegram into the fire place and watched it burn away quickly. I then walked over to my bed and opened up my chest that I put the few possessions I had brought with me in.

"What are you doing Alex?" Emmy asked watching me search through my chest

"Looking for good memories" I said quietly as I grabbed the brown leather cover of a book that had gotten dusty with age as it sat at the bottom of my chest for so many months.

I walked over to the window that over looked New York and sat down facing the window. I propped the book on the wall and opened the book. I completely ignored Emmy who decided that it was a lost cause to try to talk to me anymore and instead I focused my gaze on the old yellow pages of the book.

I didn't pay much attention to what I read for my mind was wondering somewhere else. I kept thinking of James. It didn't seem right that he was dead. And if that was true, why hadn't Papa or Dan talked to me yet explaining what was going on? Maybe they were dead too. I thought. No no they aren't dead. Otherwise I would have gotten a letter about both of their deaths already. I tried to shake my thoughts away and tried to pay attention to the book.

Had a giant squid whose ink could paralyze anyone who touched it...

well that wasn't very helpful when it comes to cheering me up. Like I need another way to kill someone. I turned the page and started scanning the page.

..Thinking tree, where he supposedly goes to think..

Boring I thought.

..A place where you would only know where you are going if you purposely want to get lost...

I was starting to get tired.

..A dangerous looking plant called Dreamshade that is type of poison used to coat their arrows..

*YAWN*

...Only good one is Fairy called Tinkerbelle who had magic...

my eyes started to get heavy.

...a place where you are forever young..

stay awake! stay awake! I thought

...Just think happy thoughts and they lift you into the air..

Maybe taking a nap isn't so bad after all

...it's all a game...

My eyes became too heavy and my head fell onto the book and I slept.

Well.. That's what I thought I did..

---

Hello There!

Well here is the next chapter for you guys. Sorry I havnt been updating for awhile. School has been a little busy but hey at least I got this out to you guys before the week ended! I will try to upload again tomorrow or on saterday. Oh and Emmy is a nickname that Alex came up with. The girls real name is Emily.

Lots of Love

Wintergirl08