Young Writers Society

The two siblings sat at the table. Logan fidgeted with the strings on his hoodie, and Payton, his older sister, smoothed out her pleated skirt.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean the Ophelia Empire’s declared war on the Reynolds Organization and you’ve been drafted!”

“You mean- you mean, like, something’s actually happening?”

There had been tension building up the past few months. It started off as small protests, and the protests turned into riots. Factories exploded, orchards were burned to the ground, and people began going after the rich. They were sick and tired of being worked to the bone all their life for barely enough money to survive.

Things began getting increasingly more violent, and prices on food and gas started skyrocketing. It was one of the ways Ophelia was deciding to punish them, and now it seemed she intended on teaching them an even bigger lesson.

“There’s no way we’re gonna win, she’s literally- Payton, she’s literally got a whole military!”

“And obviously the Reynolds Organization has one too!”

He thought for a moment. “...Will there be cake on the battlefield?”

She glared at him. “Of course you’re thinking about cake.. no, there probably won’t be!”

“Listen, I was just checking!”

Logan was trying his best not to laugh at the situation. It wasn’t funny - in fact, it was the complete opposite - but the fact that he was actually going to war hadn’t processed yet, and so all he could do was attempt to wrap his mind around it.

She rolled her eyes and her voice turned into a small whisper. “Right, anyways.. Camryn got drafted too.”

Well, that did it.

His slight smile from before instantly dropped. “Camryn? Isn’t she- she’s too young, isn’t she-?”

“Apparently not. That one ten year old down the street got drafted too.”

He blinked a couple times. A ten year old? Surely that couldn’t have been allowed. War was dangerous, and people were going to die.

“Isn’t there something we can do? She’s gonna die, Payton!” he said, desperation creeping into his voice. Camryn was his little sister, and while he couldn’t stand her at times, he didn’t know what he’d do if anything happened to her.

“She’ll probably be fine, she’d scare everyone away with her knives,” Payton replied with a giggle. She’d always been better at handling situations, but he still had no idea how she managed to remain so calm.

“Well-” he was interrupted by a giggle of his own before composing himself again. “I’m still worried, Payton! She’s like, as small as an ant and-”

“Not you making fun of my height,” a young girl came down the stairs before heading for the kitchen. “I’m not that small!”

“You’re 5’1, Camryn.”

“I’m not done growing!”

“Has Payton told you what’s happening?”

“Nope,” she said before beginning to search through the fridge. “What’s happening?”

“You and Logan got drafted into war.”

She whipped her body around, almost dropping the can of peaches in her hand, and stared at her for a moment. “WAR?”

Logan flinched a little from the abrupt change in volume. “Mhm, war.”

“NO WAY, I CAN SHOOT PEOPLE!”

“Are you- you’re not at all worried about this?” his eyes widened. He should’ve been more surprised by her lack of concern.

“Nope, because I get an excuse to shoot people I hate with a gun!” she said the last bit in a sing-song kind of tone before dancing her way back up the stairs.

He opened his mouth to respond before getting interrupted by the sound of gunshots from outside. Someone probably tried to escape past curfew.

“Well anyways, ignoring her weird way of handling things..”

Sirens began going off.

The two glanced between each other for a moment before immediately scrambling up the stairs. They were air raid sirens, and while they had had drills before, it was especially unclear if it was a drill now. Payton grabbed Camryn’s arm and began tugging her down the stairs whilst Logan burst into the room he and Alex, his younger brother, shared.

“One second, I need to-”

“Alex, come on!” he held onto the back of his shirt, dragging him towards the door as he was shoving books into his arms. “Do you really need all those?”

“Yes, I do, Logan!”

He continued to drag him downstairs and the four siblings made their way to the bunker outside. They shut the door behind them as Logan took a second to breathe.

“This is probably a drill, right?” he glanced over at Payton for some kind of reassurance.

She remained silent.

“Right..-?”