Chapter 2: The Reality of the War
It had only been a day after the tragic incident in his country; people were still talking about the horrible incident all the time. This was talked about all over the country in every newspaper, media outlet, and TV outlet.
He could feel the tension in the atmosphere around the city, and through TV, media, and radios, he could say with confidence this was not the case for only his hometown, Virginia, but instead all over the United States.
Our country was out for the blood of the one responsible for this massive tragedy.
Today he was skipping the classes, as this was the day he had to take the test mentioned by the recruitment officer he had talked to yesterday.
He was excited about it and wanted to see how he would perform there, and the worry of failing the test didn't even enter his mind due to the training he had been doing with his father from a young age.
In the letter he had sent to his father, he didn't mention joining the military at all, as at that time he only wanted to let him know that he was safe and sound and had forgotten about it at that time due to contrasting thoughts of horrible things he had seen at the site of the once-proud Pentagon, which had lost its former glory.
His sleep last night wasn't nice, as he would wake up from time to time due to the image of the Pentagon with all the chaos of fire and death around flashing in his mind.
Every time he would wake up, he would feel anger toward the horrible people who would intentionally do such a thing.
There were still a couple of hours before he had to depart for the boot camp, where he had to do the basic physical test, which would let them assess him and others; after being selected, they had to join the boot camp for the training.
He had taken a book about military rules from the library this morning to read, which he was currently reading inside his room, sitting on the table while sipping his coffee from time to time.
Classes resumed like usual after the day of the incident, so his roommate, who shared the rented apartment, had gone to the university, so he was alone right now inside his room, reading carefully the book in his hand.
But suddenly he heard his doorbell ringing, which disrupted his concentration; he was confused as he didn't have any friends close enough to him who would come to his apartment at such an early hour, especially when it hadn't been long since he had been living here.
He had few friends in university, but they were not very close, so Alexander's confusion was justifiable.
He stood up from his seat, ready to go check who was at the front door after a few seconds of thinking about the unexpected guest; in his mind, the only logical conclusion was that there must be some neighbor in the building who needed some help from him, as he had noticed a few old people living inside the building.
He had helped them a few times with carrying some heavy stuff or some other small things.
He had only walked a few steps, but now his steps were full of annoyance as that doorbell had rung 5 times in these short 30 seconds, which annoyed him quite a lot.
Now whoever was ringing his doorbell on such a morning, if they didn't have a valid reason, he would give them his piece of mind.
His annoyance had now turned into anger as this was the 10th bell that sounded in his ear by the time he reached the doorbell.
Reaching the front gate, Alexander opened the gate quickly and was about to give a little piece of mind to the person ringing the bell on manners first before anything.
However, just as he opened the door, he saw the person in front of him, who was still handsome at his age, aged like a fine wine, with clear green eyes looking at him with some scrutiny.
Not a single word left Alexander's mouth seeing his father, William, in front of him without any prior notice, and out of natural response for not seeing his father for a few months, he hugged him tightly first.
His father was about to scold him a little to tease him for keeping him waiting for a whole minute at the door, as his reactions during the scolding were something enjoyable to watch for William; however, the hug had made him forget about that all completely, just like Alexander had forgotten about his previous anger altogether after seeing his father's face.
After their hug ended, Alexander respectfully invited his father inside his house and led him to his room. Right after entering his room, William, seeing how organized the room was, felt proud of his son; he also noticed the book on the table with a hot coffee there. Reading only a few lines of the book from a distance, William's face became more stoic.
However, there was no surprise written on his face at all; he had already come here expecting this much after seeing the things in the news from the previous day. he knew his proud son wouldn't just sit back and relax.
He even felt proud of him for knowing he was ready to fight for his people, as he knew him too well and didn't have any to tell what his son's reaction would be in this situation, but even after knowing that, he still wouldn't like his son to join the military, especially at a time like this, and knowing his personality, he would definitely be at the forefront of all the chaos just like he was at first during World War II.
But the more fights he had and the more lives were lost in front of his eyes, and the more he started to question everything and just wanted all the chaos to end, he didn't even tell his son about the inhumane things that would happen during the war, fearing how it would affect him.
But even after knowing there was no war right now, he still feared letting his son join the military as of now because of how deeply the war had affected him; however, deep down, he knew he couldn't stop him, which is why he was only going to ask him once.
William asked his son after the delicious meal they had, prepared by both of them together.
He asked if he was ready to give up on joining the military for his sake and if he would fully support his absurd dream of becoming the President of the United States, which he had been skeptical about before.
He believed in his son, but the thought of him becoming the president of the country and becoming responsible for the fate of his nation felt absurd even to him, who had taught his son never to give up.
The atmosphere had become tense suddenly due to his father's sudden serious question, and his body language told Alexander he was very serious right now, but he still didn't fully understand why his father was asking him to not join the military. He hesitated a little before answering, as in his heart, becoming the president was still foremost.
But he answered in a resolute tone after a few deep breaths with a "No, he can't," as it didn't sit right with him to just stay here knowing what had happened to his people.
He had witnessed it firsthand, and he couldn't let this go, as his conscience wouldn't allow him to.
Alexander expected to explain something about the reason for his asking to him; however, after getting his answer, his father only answered with, "I understand, son."
Right after that, he made him promise that he would return alive from his military duty and jokingly said he was still expecting the day he would see him as the president of his country.
Alexander, without knowing this would be the last time he would see his father, promised him to return safely and even promised to become the president, which felt closer to him now just by getting his father to hear him say that he was waiting for the day, even as a joke, as this was the first time he had joked about him being the actual president.