A Story of Hope and Fear

         
A Story of Hope and Fear
The White Forest was a paradise for its inhabitants. The people who lived there always had plenty to eat, and plenty of everything else. They were called the People of the Light. They all had pale skin, lightly colored hair, and piercing red eyes. The children were expected to be able to fend for themselves by age ten. Life was good and easy, for everyone but Felicia Argeatti. She believed that life in the White Forest was too facile. When she was young, she could never shake the feeling that some dark oppressive force was lurking in the forest. As she got older her intelligence grew faster than many others, and she began to notice small inconsistencies in the media and news. By the age of fifteen she had made a game out of picking out every discrepancy she could find in the media. She could tell that the higher-ups were hiding something from the public. They didnât want the people to know what was happening outside of their paradise. Felicia had always been suspicious of the quality of life in the White Forest. She felt that it was too infallible to be true. When she was drafted into the military at the age of eighteen, those suspicions were confirmed.
During the six months she spent at boot camp, Felicia discovered that she was adroit with weapons, especially guns. She was more fit and muscular than most of the other trainees and was taller than all of the other recruits with a height of six feet and four inches. At the end of boot camp, Felicia was rechristened Fear. Every recruit for the White Army was given a new name using the first two letters of their first and last names. Her short hair was dyed black to mark her as a soldier. She was given black tattoos for the same purpose. Immediately after, she was assigned to a general and shipped out. The general was very young, inexperienced, and foolish. He did not fully understand that he was responsible for the lives of many people. Neither the general, nor the scouts knew anything other than the luxury of having plenty of everything. They didnât understand hardship and were remiss in their duties. Because of that, no one was prepared for the attack. Rain poured down over the company. Fear plodded through the mud on the outside of the group. It was two weeks after deployment, and the company was trekking across wide plains of grass that reached up to Fearâs chin. The feeling of paranoia hung over Fear like a thick cloud of smog. Her hand rested on the small handgun that hung at her waist. She constantly glanced around, occasionally catching glimpses of figures moving in the grass, trailing the company. She never told anyone about what she saw because nobody knew who they were supposed to be fighting. Fear was the first and only person to see the bomb, recognize it for what it was, and run. She ran and ran through the driving rain, blinded by fear and the weather. She didnât notice the pain in her left leg and the right side of her abdomen until she collapsed a few yards away from a group of tents with unfamiliar symbols on them. She tried to get up but found that she was too weak to move. Tears began to roll down her cheeks as she fell unconscious.
In stark contrast to the White Forest, there was a dearth of basic needs for all who lived in the Black City. They were called the People of the Dark. They all had dark skin, dark hair, and green eyes. Everyone who lived there helped and supported everyone else. They were a very tight-knit community. What few supplies that existed were shared as fairly as possible. Holly Pecamoria was one of the most diffident people in the Black City. Even so, she had a few friends who were like family to her. They helped the sick and injured on the streets. The Black Military recruited Holly and her few friends, when they were eighteen, as field nurses because of their altruistic natures.
After six months of training, Holly was deployed in the Plains of Iclebedich. She was rechristened Hope, it was the first two letters of her first and last names. Her hair was bleached white and she received white tattoos to mark her as a healer. When Hope arrived at the camp, the pungent stench of death and sickness overwhelmed her. She fainted soon after arriving. She came to in the late afternoon. She had been put in a tent on the edge of the medical camp. She looked outside to see rain pouring down. She heard a gasp and a thud coming from a few yards away. She ran through the rain and found Fear lying unconscious in the mud. She dragged Fear into the tent with great difficulty. Hope was only five feet and two inches tall. She took Fearâs clothes off and began to treat the bullet wounds in Fearâs left leg and abdomen. Hope was glad that she didnât need to get Fearâs assent before treating her. When she finished, Hope sat down on the opposite side of the tent to monitor Fearâs health during her repose.
Fear came to at noon on the day after Hope found her. She sat up in bed and looked around. Hope entered and saw that Fear was awake. She asked Fear about how she was feeling and the two had a small conversation. Fear thanked Hope for her clemency and, through Hope, she found out more about the war. The ruler of the White Forest was really a virulent tyrant whose heart was full of greed. He began a truculent assault aimed at the Black City. The Black City was expending what little resources it had in a chivalrous effort to overthrow the tyrant. But, because of the sparse resources, the Black Army was being driven back. Fear tried to get up and managed to get on her feet for a brief moment before collapsing. Hope scolded her for her temerity and helped her back into the bed. Hope begged Fear to stay in bed with the unfeigned honesty of a true benefactor. Fear did not want to argue with Hope and laid back down. One of Hopeâs friends walked in and told them that the White Army was not indomitable. There had been rumors of a group called the Resistance interfering with the White Tyrantâs plans. She quickly left the two alone in the tent.
In the following months, Fear became an influential presence in the camp. The more her body healed, the more she helped out. During that time Fear and Hope became closer. Whenever Hopeâs friends saw the two together they would whisper to each other about the two of them becoming a couple. As time went on, the war situation became more and more desolate, the Black Army was losing due to a lack of resources. Fear became restless, and once she was healthy enough to leave the camp, she started to get necessities together in preparation for travel. She approached Hope and asked her to embark on a quest with her to find the Resistance. Hope was surprised that Fear was asking her and was reluctant to leave. Fear then kissed Hope on the lips and told her that she couldnât go anywhere without her. Hope started to cry and finally agreed to go with Fear. They bade their last farewells in the medical camp the next day and left it behind.