-George George wait where r U going to
I want to get food they r giving out some at Eddie's
U know Ur not supposed to go out on Ur own George
Of course but it's Eddie's it nothing bad can possibly happen -
I was by myself then me and George were didn't have much but we always managed to get by
We lived in an abandoned city project with about 15 other people it was really crowded there
But it allowed us friends
The world outside isn't great and the city we happened to live in was in the jurisdiction of the capital nation of the world at least that's what it's called by noblemen but we regular folk just think of it as our home after all we had no one we were talking to about where we're from
Most days it was me going out across the boundary of the capital nation and scrambling for fruits to sell in a forest nearby and my brother would remain in town trying to get people to buy the ones I got last time. He was the social one and knew everyone there was to know while I mostly kept to myself
If I filled my basket early I'd go back to the city and stay with George if I didn't and the sun was going down I'd change tactics and hunt for small animals
Our lives weren't anything grand and we were content but it was certainly boring
The routines were how we kept going so I stook to them and never complained but George was different he wanted to explore things. See the world if he could. He always said that in his dreams the world was just endless adventures waiting to be challenged
I think it's why he started. Started running out on me started breaking city curfew and coming out during routine lockdowns
He was a rebel and I knew it in my heart but what could I do. It was his time for such curiosities. I never engaged in such though. I preferred to stick to my books and stories. The few I could find or get
In our building we had a policy that we'd look out for each other no matter who or what
So when berth started behaving different we all noticed
Berth was the only person in our whole building who had a complete family
He was a real odd Ball so he and I where close friends
One day he told me he had found something on his adventure outside and that it was a massive discovery
I agreed to follow him the next day and see what it was
He had found a sword a new one at that. At least it seemed like so
I told him it could get us in trouble but he said he wanted to keep it
Around that time the central city was experiencing a rebellion so all sorts of illegal activities could warrant death I told berth this but he didn't listen he went ahead and kept it
Later a couple weeks later during a lockdown our building was searched and all of our property inspected. After the search I went looking for berth and found him at the square with George it turns out that George had helped take and hide the sword
I was furious with George for leaving the city without my consent and even more furious with berth for involving my brother in this
Afterward berth promised to never take the sword again
Not long after it was discovered that berths family was from the central city and that they had come here to observe the people of the outlands
I had asked berth what was going on but he seemed more occupied with something else in his mind
That night during curfew I went to George's room and found that he wasn't there
Before now it had already become common for him to do this so I wasn't to worried after all he was a fourteen year old boy and I barely 19. I couldn't control him.
The next day I found that George still wasn't back so I went looking for him It took me a while but eventually I found him a few miles beyond the boundaries and he was with berth.
Right then I should have done something... Anything who knows it might have saved him and he'd still be here.
I was relieved when I saw them
Berth and George seemed to have been playing knights and where at that point tired and resting. I wanted to shout at George but I didn't he was just playing and I couldn't blame him for that. Luckily I could shout at berth and I did I told him to stop coming over and that he should stay with his rich friends at central.
"Wait how those all this have to do with your brother being dead"
Grace dropped the axe and walks to the top of the rock jumps from it and delivers a really powerful slap on the guy's face
"No interrupting"
" Sorry dang" he says rubbing his face " shouldn't you be breaking the one that's holding my arm first."
"Shut up. I was just about to that"
Berth was my friend before he became friends with George so I thought I knew him better. I knew that berth was a bit over the top with his Imagination and really clumsy at times so I felt that by stopping berth I was stopping them from continuing their stupid game but because of George they continued. They'd stay out late every time and completely forget about their duties and me. Berth could last without doing work but I needed George for our job to work. I told George that he should stop and help me with the sales again but he declined he even got angry with me. I don't remember what happened next but a few weeks later George stopped coming back home. He had started staying out beyond the boundaries. It was getting concerning but I didn't want to go out there to get him I felt he should enjoy his freedom and if he eventually gets in trouble he'd have learnt his lesson. About two weeks later central started asking for people to join in their army cause of the shortage of fighters in their campaign against our neighbours. I didn't think much about it at first but the level of fear and the rumours I heard made me eventually go out to look for George.
I found him in the same place I had seen him and berth before and he was there with a sword of his own, sharpening it for some reason. I came up to him and asked him where he got the sword from he told me that berth had given it to him. I was angry and yelled at him that he was being reckless playing with that and he told me he wasn't playing that he was training. Training, I was confused I asked him what for in the end he told me that he was joining the campaign as a fighter alongside berth I tried to protest but he scoffed at me and told me " you don't really care about me. You just want me to be couped up with you and keep you company. I've been here for the past few weeks and not once did you come by to check on me. You don't have the right to dictate what I can and cannot do" it was the last thing he said to me before he left.
Three months later we had won and integrated our neighbours to ourselves. Everyone else was happy or just relieved during that period. Until the soldiers came back. It turned out that a bomb had been used to force the enemy into surrender but it had come at the cost of most of the soldiers in the frontline. I should have been lucky cause my brother hadn't died from the bomb but he had died.
George was no longer the courageous boy I once knew. He had changed he was scared of the slightest noises and always shivered at the touch of people. He was a shell.
Berth had changed to he was now looking more deranged than his normally unkept self he looked as if he tore out his hair by himself. He also became more talkative he spoke to everyone, anyone who would listen sometimes even to himself.
He later told me about the sword he uses. He said it could cut anything in the world as far as he willed it. I thought that he was mad but I didn't say it to him.
One day I woke up and George was gone I searched for him and asked berths parents by letter but they hadn't seen him or berth too.
I didn't think long before I realised where I could find them.
The boarder had been fenced during the last month but I had learnt to scale it with ease already
I searched the whole of the immediate area but nothing. I tried farther and farther until I eventually saw them. They were together as I'd expected but it seemed weird, like something was off about the whole thing. I asked where they were going and berth had told me they were searching for peace. I didn't get it till he started explaining it to me.
He had said that the world we lived in was in chaos and nothing good could come from it. He said the war was proof of that because people, soldiers were dying for no reason, people becoming enemies without cause. He said he believed till that point that the problem was the leaders but after witnessing the war, participating in it he realised what the problem truly was. It was the people themselves. He told me that the only reason why a man would kill his fellow man is and can never be simply because he was told to do so but it's because the man seeks changes, destruction, survival etc I don't really remember the whole thing but I got what he said in the end. "The man those it because it is his desire". I didn't like where this was going so I wanted to drag George back with me but berth Pushed me away he said that he was going to fix the world.
I didn't understand even after he pulled out his sword I didn't understand even after he cut a whole through space but I understood when I saw, felt what was happening. The whole, as small as a baby was dragging into it everything around us. I would have died if not for the magician who had come almost immediately. I don't remember much of what happened because I fainted eventually but I recall berth and the man fighting. When I came to berth was stuck, tied down to the ground by some sort of cloth and he was trying to hack away at it but he was having trouble doing so I looked around and found I was alone the whole had been sealed but I could still feel it's pressure on the world. I asked berth where George was but he ignored me still trying to hack away at the cloth like a madman it was then I noticed the blood around me I searched and prayed but when I eventually found George I realised I had been wasting my time. He must have died long before I came to because his body was completely cold. I begged and screamed for my brother to be returned to me but nothing happened. I asked berth when he seemed sane enough what had happened and he just shrugged and told me that he was going to destroy the whole world eventually so George didn't matter.
"Wait so how do you then see the ghost of George?"
" I don't... " She sniffled and quickly cleaned a tear from her eye " it's just me pretending he's here "