Chapter One: Holding Out For A Hero

Chapter One: Holding Out For A Hero

I shut and locked the door behind me. I knew sooner or later someone would come and see me for something or other but I didn’t want to be seen like this. I just wanted to know one thing. If my country is so great then why am I disappearing? I just don’t understand.

Then it hit me. It’s the people that make the country. It’s not the country itself that is important. So they don’t need me anymore. Everyone just wants to live their own lives now and not worry about the flag they live under.

I guess in all honesty as long as their happy and with the people they care about flags don’t matter but I couldn’t help but feel unimportant. Was I really that useless? Have I been fighting all this time so people could forget about me? Was I really going to disappear? 

Thinking about it just made me even sadder. I’ve never felt so distant before. It was like I didn’t have a purpose anymore. Everything about me would soon be gone. Would anyone even weep for me?

The sad thoughts I now carried disappeared as soon as I heard gunshots out my door. I peered out the big window but I couldn’t see anything but a group of people running away. I heard yelling and screaming and the feared looks on the people’s faces was unmistakable. They needed someone to save them even if they didn’t need me before they need me now.

I unlocked the door and jolted outside, running as fast as I could toward the place where the gunshots were coming from. Many people were passing me by trying to get away from what I was running to. Regardless I just kept running. I couldn’t stop when these people needed me.

“Idiot! You’re going the wrong way!” someone yelled.

I got similar responses from everyone else but I didn’t care. I had to do something before someone got hurt. As those thoughts crossed my mind I saw horses galloping away, their riders holding guns. They had to be the shooters but why were they here? What were they after?

I would found out sooner of later, I figured. Something like that just doesn’t go away without the country knowing. I gritted my teeth as I watched them ride away. This time I wasn’t gonna fail.

I looked around to see the buildings around me destroyed. Windows were broken, doors were shot through and the buildings themselves were crumbling down. How could they cause so much destruction without me even hearing it? I was too lost in my own self pity that I couldn’t even hear the people who needed me.

I wouldn’t let that happen again. I had to be there for them next time. I don’t have time to just sit around and feel sorry for myself. I had to help the people of this country, even if they don’t want me anymore. That’s what a hero does.

I heard a moaning sound come from the ground as my eyes drifted to the dirt. I looked down to see a man dressed in green with a bullet wound in his side. Blood was dripping out his mouth and he seemed to be having trouble breathing. I immediately crouched down on my knees and put a hand on his wound.

“I’m sorry… This is all because of me. You’re gonna be fine! Just hang in there ok?” I told him as I began to undo his jacket buttons so I could get to the wound.

Then as I looked at his jacket I recognized it. It was someone I knew very well. Someone that I’ve known for a very long time. Someone that I’ve shared a long history. One that I met earlier that day and pushed away.

“Oh my god Britain!” I yelled.

I lifted up the shirt he was wearing underneath the uniform to reveal the spot where the bullet had punctured his skin. I calmly began to remove the bullet and I knew I had to wrap it to stop the bleeding. I dropped the bullet on the ground and looked for something to wrap the wound with. I realized the quickest thing to tie the wound up would be his shirt so I carefully pulled it over his head, revealing the skin underneath to the wind. I tore it to little strips and wrapped it around the wound.

I sighed as I tightened the bandages. I wrapped my coat around his shoulders and easily lifted his body upward to a sitting position. I gently lifted his arms over my shoulders and held his legs in place by my thighs with my hands. Last time it was him giving me a piggy back ride so I guess it’s time to return the favor.

I began to walk down the road to my house. If I could get him there he would be ok. The bullet wound wasn’t too deep and luckily it only nicked the edge of his side. He would survive as long as he rested. I just had to keep an eye on him for awhile.

I smiled as I thought about the last time this happened. I was trying to climb a tree to get to a bird’s nest to get a closer look at the birds but as soon as I reached the top I fell. Luckily I didn’t climb too high but during the fall I hurt my ankle. Since I was so young my body was frail and I couldn’t walk on it. 

When I thought I was gonna be stuck there forever Britain came rushing to my aid. He was so concerned and his smile erased all my tears. He picked me up and carried me all the way back home. So much has changed since then. 

Now there was no way he could lift me. I have to be the one lifting him in his time of need. I’m just glad I have the ability to do something to help right now. Step by step I will make it somehow. 

When I arrived at my house I opened up the door and closed it behind me. I went to the closest room which was my room and laid him down on my bed. I never realized how frail he really was. With his big voice he seemed so tough but his body was so light. Even with a little blood loss he faints. 

I smiled as I looked at his sleeping face. He tried to act like he knew everything and could take on the world but in reality he was too weak. He was always sick but tried to push himself anyways. All those times he protected me, half of them he was about to pass out. He has had his share of troubles and I can’t blame him for being sick when all this war and destruction is going on around him.

I used my first two fingers to move the hair out of his eyes and  covered him in blankets. I sat in the chair beside my bed and began to think about what to write in my diary next. So much had happened today that it would be hard to write it all down and describe it in words. I began to write all the while keeping an eye on Britain while he slept. When I wrote down the last word I took off my glasses and my eyes closed to drift off into the world of night.