~ 8 YEARS LATER ~
Marlene sat in the warm summer grass in The Field near the forest. Lots of tiny flowers had bloomed around her, and swayed at the subtle blow of the wind.
The Field was Marlene’s escape from the world. Her escape from the tall, thick, silver 17G phone towers that loomed on almost every street corner. She loved coming here and meeting with Arrow. Times were getting worse. The A.S. had threatened to take the whole right half of Earth. The United World Army had fought them off and the war started taking place on the moon, so now if you used a telescope and pointed it at the moon, you could see tiny flashing orange lights, the sign that a mine had just went off.
Marlene heard chattering. She had come to The Field long enough to know that this chattering was from a squirrel that was nearby. She looked out into the forest grass and spotted it.
A puffy gray squirrel with shiny black eyes was staring right back at her. It had an acorn in its paws, and it squawked for a reason Marlene couldn’t quite figure out but it was always fun to guess. Was the squirrel… calling some friends over? Alerting other squirrels that a human was around?
The squirrel looked at her for a moment longer before scrambling deeper into the forest.
“Mar-Mar!”
Marlene turned towards the open field and saw Arrow walking towards her, his left hand behind his back. Marlene smiled. Arrow and her were both lefties.
“What have you got?” She asked him.
“It matters about what you’ve got to trade,” Arrow replied.
“I didn’t know you were going to want to trade today but if that’s what you want, then it’s what you’ll get! I’ve got lots in stock!! Let’s see, I’ve got.. an old Palladium coin that could be worth alot, or some good Hovercycle batteries”
“Hovercycle batteries!? You just take those with you wherever you go?” Arrow asked.
“I take something different with me everyday. A woman of trade has to be prepared, and it just so happens that lots of people are crafting their own Hovercycles to get around if they don’t have the money for the legit one-”
Marlene went on, and even though Arrow loved Marlene and could listen to her forever, he just couldn’t focus on the conversation right then. Something much bigger ate at the back of his mind, making his stomach turn, thinking about how awful this could turn out… how sad Marlene would be.
Arrow shook his head and refocused on Marlene’s smooth and always-shiny face.
“-poor guy. At least he has the battery now.” Marlene shrugged. “Anywho, do you have a nearly complete hovercycle?”
“Nope. looks like you’ve got nothing I’d like to trade with,” Arrow told her, smiling jokily.
Marlene laughed. “Your loss.” She turned to the forest. “I just saw a squirrel out there y’know. When I was little, I thought they had all gone extinct when cities were made.
“Me too.” Arrow turned his attention to the forest in front of them.
They looked out at the woodland for a while, blissfully happy to be surrounded by the tweeting of birds and light bubble of running water somewhere in the calmness of the forest. How beatific it felt, to just get away from the smoggy, phone-zombie-filled city and just sit in the lush, soft green grass in front of tall, thick, rugged brown trees with someone you love. It felt… cozy, as Marlene would say, or relieving if you asked Arrow.
“Y’know, just a little ways from here there’s a creek.” Arrow told Marlene.
“No way. Clean water?”
“Yep.”
“You’re lying. Clean water creeks are extinct. All snatched up by factories.” Marlene told Arrow.
“Well they didn’t get to this one. I’ll show you.” Arrow got up and held a hand out to Marlene.
Marlene took it and they walked out into the forest. Tall trees shaded the two from the sunlight, and their feet crunched from stepping on multi-colored dry leaves.
Marlene had ventured to The Field alone sometimes, but never this far into the forest. She was glad she had Arrow’s hand to hold.
The whooshing noise got louder and louder until finally, Arrow and Marlene had reached the creek.
The creek was about as thick as a tree trunk and had what looked like stairs made of rock which made it go lower and lower down the forest. Marlene wanted to follow the creek, all the way until she reached the lake or the pond, whatever it spilled out to.
“It’s so amazing!” The sight of the river brought the kid out of Marlene.
“I know,” was all Arrow said.
Arrow turned and pointed to a flat rock that sat by the creek.
“What’s that on that rock?” Arrow asked.
Marlene walked up the rock to see the tiny object on the middle of it up close. It was a tiny velvet blue box smaller than the palm of her hand.
Marlene’s eyes widened, and she quickly picked up the box and opened it.
It was a thin golden ring with a circle-shaped sapphire in the middle of it.
This had to be staged. There was just no way a ring this clean had just been resting on this rock… Marlene’s mind and heart raced. She turned and looked back at Arrow. His face was so genuine, hands in his pockets. His smile told her everything.
She couldn’t believe it. Her true love for which her heart burned for had just asked her to marry him! Marlene ran back to Arrow, yelling YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!
She ran into Arrow and they collapsed on the forest floor, a tangle of laughter and love. They touched foreheads for a long while, their eyes closed.
While Arrow half-expected to receive a telepathic message, Marlene just loved the warmth of Arrow's forehead.
Eventually they got up and linked hands as they walked back to the field.
Marlene still couldn’t believe it. She was going to be married to the man she loved!
Arrow was unbelievably happy as well. This meant that Marlene felt just the same way about him as he felt about her. But the note in his back pocket, the news that could spoil everything, it made his stomach hurt despite him officially being engaged to the love of his life.
Marlene was already busy planning out everything. “We're going to have a red velvet cake at our wetting, with vanilla cream, since I know you can’t stand cream cheese.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“All the women will wear white fancy dresses, and all the men will wear red suits to match the cake.”
“Yeah,”
“Ah! I just can’t believe you proposed to me,” Marlene kissed Arrow on the cheek, but as she looked at his face, she could tell something was wrong.
“What’s up?”
Arrow didn’t know how to bring it up. After such striking good news, making Marlene so happy, how could he turn and make her sad. He couldn’t. But he had to.
Arrow huffed. “Marlene… the war against the Artificial Supernovas is getting worse. The moon is gaining a lot more craters than it should have, and the aliens are threatening to bring the war back to Earth.”
Marlene stared at him for a moment, confused. “What does that have to do with you?”
Arrow reached into his pocket and gave Marlene the note.
Marlene opened up a crisp white paper with black bold letters.
As her eyes swept across the page, Arrow watched Marlene’s face, searching for any signs of sadness. Of anger.
The note calmly stated that the war was getting fiercer, and that Earth’s men were being outnumbered by the Artificial Supernovas and their advanced fighter androids. The United World Army needed everybody they could get, so every family had to send out at least one man out to war. Since Arrow’s father was already in the war, the Army had sent this note out to recruit Arrow-
A teardrop splattered on the note. Marlene wasn’t aware that she was shaking, that her breathing had grown hard and fast, but Arrow noticed it all. It was unbearable.
“No! No! You won’t go!” Marlene cried. “Say you won’t! You don’t care about going!”
“I don’t, but I care about you.” Arrow told her. “I don’t want the war to come to Earth and they attack our city. If something happened to you, I couldn't live with my-” Arrow stopped that sentence short. “I need to go, Marlene.”
“But… but, no! You don’t!” Marlene yelled at him. Tears rolled down her cheeks, making the bottom half of her face shiny. “Say you won’t go!”
“I can’t, Mar-Mar, they recruited me.”
“Then go into hiding! I’ll go with you! We can… we can escape to mars!”
“We’ve never been to Mars… plus, I don’t have that type of money, and you know it.”
“But, but-” Marlene couldn’t go on. She needed Arrow. She ran to him and hugged him, squeezed him tight, and let out a mighty, sad cry.
Even as Arrow’s shirt dampened, he let her keep crying on him simply because he knew they were in a sad situation.
“Please… Arrow… stay…” Marlene cried.
Arrow hugged Marlene tight. “I’m sorry Marlene. I can’t.” it hurt Arrow to say this, but he added, “If it pains you too greatly to be engaged to me, you can call it off.”
“No, never! I still love you, you big… stupid… pumpit!” Marlene yelled at him. She couldn’t think of anything to call him, and she was very frustrated.
They ended up both laughing at her outburst.
After they recovered, Marlene said, “Arrow, when do you have to…”
“I’ll stay in town for a while to train for war-
“How long is training?”
“About three months.”
Marlene sighed and stared at the ground, thinking.
“I will miss you,” was all Marlene could say. “I will miss you very much.”
“And I will miss you too.” Arrow told Marlene, wanting to kiss her. “But I promise I won’t die. I will get through this and come back to you, as soon as I can, and I will build us a house on this very field, and we will live here, happy away from the crowded, noisy StarTech Metropolis.
“And I will help you build that house.” Marlene agreed. “One day, when we live here.”
“One day,” Arrow repeated.
“One day.”
TO BE CONTINUED
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