Yours Truly

November 21st-2010
Dear Katherine,
My country has been at war with the Niters, the United States, and Austrila for many years. They are short on amount of soilders and it is my duty to go and defend my country. I almost said no when General Gladdin asked me to come fight. All men and boys starting at age ten and up have to come fight in war but because of my familys social class and influence through the government I have a choice. Now I have completely regretted it because I will be so far away from my friends and family and our country is at war with your country. What if something went wrong? Why do we have war? We just set up camp today by Mount Coral where we have been given guns and a uniform. Tomorrow we all are going to practice if we already know how to and learn if we don't how to use a gun and correctly aim and fire. I'm so sorry I didn't tell you sooner that I went off to war I didn't know what to say or how to put this simply without being mean and automatically regretting it but I didn't have enough to contact you early and you hate texting and calling unless it's an emergency. I was asked out of the blue and then only had about two hours to pack and fly to the air port. Aboard the plane to Belgania and then looking through the window I realized it may be months or even years til I even get to see you again and I'm missing our game night. I can't wait til I get back so I can beat you at basketball and chess.
Yours Truly,
Bengalenaz


Bengalenaz was about to write to Katherine and tell her he loved her at the end of his letter but he stopped himself. They were just friends, in his mind, that's all they ever could be. Bengalenaz is from Benganza a country that is shaped a lot like florida and known for war by sea and many moutains covering the land.
He has dark chocolate colored hair and green eyes that look like emeralds. Katherine was the one who described them like emeralds shining so beautiful like stars and she said yes when he asked if girls would like them. His body was built lovely he was thin but muscalar with no fat. His chest was like iron he was starting to get a six pack you could know that when he went swimming. Katherine and Bengalenaz became friends in the middle of summer a about 12 years back at the park. Katherine and Bengalenaz were both about fifteen and a half now.
Katherine has long golden hair that goes down past her knee caps if she ever wore it down she rarely did mostly it sat in a big ponytail and was curly and thick but she only kept the hair in the pony tail and her bangs were poker straight which she pushed behind her ears. Her eyes were dead brown. The color made you not even know there was black center pupils there. They were a pretty brown but not what she liked only Bengalenaz liked them. Katherine does lots of sports not that she's on all the sports teams she just plays games with her friends and her body shows that she is super thin and is flat chested but her body is full of muscle but not like big huge biceps. She can beat every guy in her school at arm wrestling. It looks like she doesn't have any muscle like every other girl but she does.

November 25th-2010
Dear Bengalenaz,
I can't believe you have gone off to war and I just wait here all safe and alone. You lied to me and said you could never be a soilder and could never fight for something you hate. You said you going to visit a friend not telling General Gladdin that you were to become a soilder I can't believe you would do that... I'm sorry, I am being so mean and anger I just am going to miss proving to you that you could never beat me at basketball or chess. Why have you all set up camp on Mount Coral that's a very dangerous location and you are awful at climbing trees how are you going to climb a mountain. I wish you good luck and see you at our next game night.
Yours Truly,
Katherine

November 28th-2010
Dear Katherine,
We were ambushed by the Niters today the very first war all around me I heard guns firing men screaming both men I new and those I didn't died and I watched it happen. I watched bullets fly past me and nearly hit me but the scarest part was when I realized I had killed someone. I had loaded my gun aimed and shoot like I was trained to and then he was dead and I was alive. I watched and screamed then fired again I had managed to scare off the Niters with good aim I could never forgive myself for this. To kill another person I murdered someone and now I realize what an awful thing I have done. I have learned that no one here knows how to work together or how were suppose to stand and assemble and nothing's planned out. everyone here just wings it. They load and aim there gun and don't pay attention or seem to be caring that bullets are flying at us and they're suppose to watch out.
I was dropped off on the top of the Mountain by a helicopter to answer your question about the fact that you think that my tree climbing is so awful and that I couldn't possibly climb a mountain but I am very good at climbing trees for your information.
Yours Truly,
Bengalenaz


Katherine reads the letter and feels so bad. She laughs then turns her attention to music class.


December 16th-2010
Dear Katherine,
You haven't wrote to me in a while why not I was beginning to get worried how are things at school? Wish I could be there. Tell me all about it. We've had nine wars since the first one I told you about. We were ambushed six times and killed over 800 niters and now we're starting to fight americans. I'm sorry to tell you this but Benganez has a better army than America so if we do have to get into a war with them we could take over your whole country. I don't want to do that I had already told you about my country its way at looking at this situation, it doesn't want this either but if they feel like they need to there will be a war. This will all soon be over I promise you I'm on a leave after Christmas and then I only have a year and a half enlistment till I can be off this for good. Please write back.
Yours Truly,
Bengalenaz


Katherine had a huge fight with her real father when he came back on a leave. She usually lived with the people who adopted her but when her father came home on a leave she always stayed with him. He was a pilot for the marines and also did close combat. He had made Katherine learn how to play taps, what it means, and memorize MOAF by the time she was three. For two ot three weeks each summer she went to a military camp. They never had fights like big ones only sometimes they had little arguements that were always forgotten and made up for by the next morning but never a fight.
''You can't fight the Benganezians they don't want a war." shouted Katherine after he told her about who they were fighting and what they planned to do.
"Yes we can! If they don't want a war then why did they attack us. I lost a lot of good men back in that ambush. " he replied getting anger.
"That wasn't there fault the niters were attacking them and you were fighting the niters on there land they had the right to defend themselves. Anyways the niters are the ones who killed off most of your men not the Benganezians."
"We already planned to declare war and how would you know anyway.''
"They are at battle with the Niters not Americans they know they can arrange for a peace treaty between them and America but they are fighting the Niters and America got caught in the middle because the Southern Niters are trying to take over America and they started the battle but you guys started the fight on there land which involved them and now because America started fighting the Benganezians they are planning to declare war and take over America if you guys can't somehow arrange peace. So stop fighting them already if you stop they will and then the Niters will not stand a chance."
" You don't tell me what to do."
The fight continued it got physical they continued and finally her father yelled "You can't tell me what I can and can't do your only a child and you don't belong in all of this. Now get out and never come back.''
She ran and ran till she couldn't no more. She had left her fathers house ninety miles away. Now all she could think was I hate him and I wish Bengalenaz was here. he was usually the one she went to in the middle of the night or late in the day to cry to but he wasn't she was all alone now.


December 24th-2010
Dear Bengalenaz,
I have decided to shorten your name like I did in 2nd grade again to Bengal. So now since you asked what's been happening at school I wrote it for you. Here's what's going on at school. So almost every girl has been dumped or dumped there boyfriend and lots of kids are dating there best friends ex-boyfriend so now jealousy is rising but slowly a couple of girls have gotten back together with there old boyfriends. The food chain of popularity has drastically changed the drama queens are tring to take over but the cheerleaders are fighting back so there are rumors about everything everywhere. The jocks are giving up on the cheerleaders and are only going after the so called hottest girls in school and ones with the shortest skirts and lowest cut tops. So now Life can't be more complicated but the fact that I got into a huge fight with my real dad and my fake one hates me still it's still the same old same old.
Jermey asked me out yesturday and I told him I would answer him after we get back from winter breack but I have no idea what to say i used to have a crush on him in like 3rd grade but I got over that liked someone else and we went out and I had a horrible tim. So I don't know what to say. Any suggestions? Well anyway I can't wait til you get back so I can beat you at chess and basketball. This time you can help me shovel the basketball court and I'll make hot chocolate. I wish you were here for Chritmas it just won't be the same without you but we'll celebrate Chritmas when you get back. So have a very Merry Christmas.
Yours Truly,
Katherine


Bengal surprised Katherine by coming home a few weeks earlier he was home for Christmas and they went outside beat all the kids from school who came to the park at a snowball and then shoveled the basketball court to play. They had a game they called a draw on then freezingly they made snow angels and then ran back to Bengal's house. There Katherine made hot chocolate and they watched a movie with some popcorn while they played chess.
"You remember when we were six and you asked me to marry you and so we had Jenny and her brother put together a wedding and everyone from choir class came." He said out of the blue.
"Yes I do Kevin recited the words his dad says when he preachs the marrage and Jenny told us things married people do and we tried everyone of them. We even called her pet storck for a kid and decided only grown-ups could speck storck untill you learned what really happens and we gave up on the whole marrige thing. Boy did our music teacher tease us and she always reffered to us as that married couple." She said after remembering what he was talking about. They both started to laugh then they talked about the letter she sent to him which ended like this:
" What do you think of Jeremy asking me out should I say yes or no?" she asked quietly.
He thought about this for a minute and wanted to tell her to say no but instead said "You should follow your heart if you like the guy then say yes if you don't say no." The last part was demanding forceful and mean but Katherine overlooked that.
"I don't think I'm really into guys that much but I'd like to just go on a date with him to find what it's like to." she said but secretly she wished that Bengal had been the one here being her friend for all this time. While she had no one to comfort her while he was gone whenever she was sad or needed him here. He could never know how much she had missed him while he was gone. She had been comforted by Jeremy and had comforted him when his girlfriend broke up with him and then out of the blue while they were walking home he asked her to go on a date with him and she said that she would tell him after winter breck. She knew then she was going to tell him yes but secretly she wished it was Bengal who had asked her out and him she was saying yes to. She had relived all her memorys with him as she sat terrified under the apple orchards tallest tree terrified that he would never come back that he would be dead. She had thought about the time they where six and how they realized that they couldn't really be married they were to young so she had made him promise to marry her when she was all growed up and now she thought he had forgotten and that they could never be together. When she saw him walking up to the apple orchard earlier and surpried her with news of his early leave she felt something she hadn't since she was six. She knew now that she was in love with him but it was more than her six year old self had loved him this was true love.
For the next few days they had so much fun doing all there old things and then he knew on there second to last day he had to do what he was planning on but putting off til now. He knew it was now or never but he just didn't know how to do this then suddenly she interrupted his thoughts and said "Bengal I want to come with you. I'm going to enlist and probaly become a nurse or soilder but I can't stay here while your off fighting a battle and I'm back here all safe while your in danger and I just want to help." His head was screaming to tell her no but he had to put this in a nicer way. He noticed how beautiful she was standing in front of him and then knew she wouldn't listen if she told him not to she would do it any ways so he decided to stop this. They walked to her fake parents and he informed them that she was planning on go to battle so she couldn't because they would stop her. As they were walking back to the park she realized what he had done and he could tell she was going to cry so he put his arm around her shoulder but he never heard it only felt it. She had never cryed silently he always could hear her when she was crying and could automatically fix all her problems but she wasn't making a sound. He quiclky glanced at her and saw her crying but didn't comment on it. So instead he apologized and slowly changed the subject.
It was the end of Febuary when he went back to Benganez to be a soilder and was soon promoted to a General. Soon it was spring of the next year Bengal only had a month left heres what his most recent letter read.


April 4th, 2012
Dear Katherine,
The war has been thrilling but we've been beaten many times by the Niters and with the American attacks I wish someone would tell them to stop fighting us and ask the king to make peace with your country because trust me he will agree. I want this war to be over already so I can come home and have fun. So how is your boyfriend Jeremy anyway. Still dating him or did he breck your heart already. I'm sorry to cut this letter short so soon but I have to go we planned an ambush on the Niters and we found out that the Americans are going to attack tonight.
Yours Truly,
Bengal


Katherine did wright back and asked him lots of questions. She had missed him so much. One day when she was in choir class, which usually was the class that she recieved her letters from Bengal in, a soilder looking guy wearing the same uniform that she had seen Bengal in walked in.
He said "Katherine Martentee are you a relative or friend of Prince Bengalenaz the first?"
She responded quietly and quickly, "Yes."
He pulled a government letter out of his pocket handed it to her then said "I'm sorry!"
"Wait what are you sorry for...." but he was gone before answering her. She opened the letter and laid it on top of her music and while she sang "Johnny has gone for a soilder" she read and wanted to cry she knew she was going to.
Her expression had changed and after they finished their choir teacher said"Did you all notice how Katherine changed her expression perfectly for this song...." She continued but Katherine signed out on the bathroom pass and walked to the nurses office she told the nurse she didn't feel well so the nurse checked her up and wrote her a note to be allowed to leave.
She did leave and instead of going home she ran to the apple orchard and sank to her knees and with her hands on her knees and her head on her hands she began to cry. Back at her choir class the teacher asked "What's taking Katherine so long?"
"She's probaly crying her eyes out right now." said a student who sat behind her in the class room.
"Why do you think that?" asked the teacher.
"Because the letter she just got from that soilder dude says that his jet was shot down and there is no possible chance that he is alive. So duh her boyfriends dead why else?" the student responded.


A few weeks later the general came back to her and said "We found this letter addressed to you in his tent her." he handed her the letter.
She decided she wasn't going to open it because she believed he was still alive and wanted him to tell her what the letter said when he came back. Even though she believed he was still alive she hadn't written to him since she had found out but now she did.
Time passed and soon it was Christmas and she decided to read his letter because she was going to die anyway may as well know what he wrote before she did in case she doesn't see him before then. the letter read:


May 13th,2012
Dear Katherine,
I realize this war has destroyed us and yet it has brought us even closer together because I know every day when I go to sleep this is one less day I have to wait to see you again. There is something I have been trying to tell you for such a long time. Remember when we were six and we got married I said I do love you your like my little sister your my best friend but we are far too young to get married. We did love each other then and now that we are older this has become true love that I hope you feel too because I have been in love with you for as long as I remember but were not really brother and sister and I hope when I come back that we can plan a future together. I know I'm not there in front of you and I can't get on my knee or give you a ring right now but I want to ask you "Katherine will you marry me?" My love reaches farther than the oceans that hug the earth and even farther than the galaxy stretchs, from earth to heaven. I love you more than the earth needs the sun more than I need air to breath so I wish for you to say yes. You can right it to me but when I get back I want to here your beautiful voice say this to me if you feel the same to me in return. "I Love you Bengal with all my heart I will marry you!" This is why at the end of every I write to you I end with:
Yours Truly,
Bengal


Her first thought was before she even finished the first paragraph was that he wrote this letter to her and died three days later but then she read more and realized he told her the thing she could never bring herself to telling him. She cried she was lying in the grass by the tree there was no snow this Christmas and even if there was no one to enjoy it with. She sat there then when she stopped crying it started to rain. She knew no one but Bengal would hear her if she screamed so she yelled "I Love you Bengal!" the clouds grew darker and she saw lightening but did not run into the house. She layed back down on the grass and soon fell asleep. She thought I could never die beacuse Bengal is watching over me and protecting me like he always does. Now we both know that we love each other.
She ran home soaking wet the only thing she had on her not wet was her letter from Bengal. She asked her soon to be step brother to drive her to her music room her grandmother had bought for her. She wote some lyrics down that she dreamed up last night and then on her piano she started to come up with music to go along with the lyrics and by the next mroning she had a song written. The song she wrote wasn't completely finished yet because she didn't know the end of the story yet.

To be continued...