*beep* *beep* *beep*
The alarm rang and Simon quickly woke up to turn it off. It was still dark outside and he didn't like getting up this early at all but what could he do, his father had told him to be up quickly so that they could go to the army can where his father had volunteered him for help. So it was either his sleep or getting punished by his father and Simon knew better.
He had a quick breakfast with his family and just sat at the table blankly until he heard the bell ring. His mother after checking the door informed them that their transport had arrived. Simon slowly got up from his chair still hoping for a miracle to happen but even after saying the longest goodbye to his mother nothing that could save him from the military occurred. Alas, he got into the jeep with his father which would take him to the camp.
The journey was awkwardly silent with his father all the time looking straight ahead, Simon fiddling with his thumbs to lessen his nervousness due to the stories he had heard of war, which didn't help him at all, and the driver who was a young man in his twenties, seeing that he didn't talk other than the military formalities was probably saware of how his father liked a soldier to be. In the end, there was nobody to break the silence and the trip continued much to Simon's dismay.
After 30 minutes of silence they finally reached their destination. As soon as they reached his father was called to the main camp where he would discuss strategies with the other high ranking officers.
Whereas Simon was asked to follow after the boy who looked an year older than Simon, who took him to the place where other volunteers were present.
Simon saw nearly 30 boys around his age and started to wait with them. After a while an officer came and gave them a speech about how they were serving their country which he got to know was a daily routine inorder to awaken the patriotic spirit in the young boys. At the end of the long speech Simon and a few other boys who arrived today were given uniforms and assigned to the tents they'll be working for.
Simon walked towards the tents he was assigned to after changing into his uniform and saluted the soldiers. They soldiers looked at him and told him to clean their uniforms while going back to playing their cards. Simon reluctantly picked up the smelly clothes and inwardly cursed his father who got him into this position in the first place. He went to the water source were other volunteers were present doing the same chore as him and Simon, completely horrified, realized that washing the clothes of the soldiers had become a daily task of his.
The next days were spent similarly waking up before the sun, making breakfast, eating it, collecting clothes and washing it, doing the military exercise assigned to volunteers, the making lunch, running around to post letter, sending messages from one soldier to another, making dinner and finally sleeping with little to no time to spend on himself.
He started to develop a sense of companionship with the other boys who were with him. They talked about various things while doing their chores like how they wanted to fight in the war, how they wanted to bring honour and how to return the porn mags they found and looked at back to the soldiers . Most of them were blissfully unaware of the horrors of war and had only come here due to talks of the society about how brave and great the soldiers were.
There were boys who knew about it like Alec a quiet boy who came here after his brother died in this very same war, a very daring and stupid thing to do as Alec was well aware that the army camp could also be attacked and they all be killed but Alec was hoping for this to happen as he said "that's even better I won't have to wait to be 16 to join the soldiers and avenge my brother" to which Simon had no answer and only shook his head. Or Luther who had been told stories of wars by his grandfather bother the good and the dark but still came because according to him it would increase his chances in getting a girl.