Hi. It's still just Ann, sorry. But! Get through this story, and you get a sneak peak into what's been going on in Amanda's life! Enjoy!
Half the names on the list had been crossed off. The latest, a Madame-Something-In-A-Foreign-Language, had had no idea where Dad had been for the past twenty years, and had trouble remembering the golden-eyed alchemist at all. Some had already been crossed off by the time they'd started making phone calls and writing letters, but the amount of black pencil now on the pages was incredibly disquieting.
A round of coughs sounded from the other room and Ed's heart skipped a beat. Even when the five-year-old heard Mom soothing his little brother, saying it wasn't all that bad, he knew it was. It had been for weeks. He and Al might've gotten off easy when the plague swept through Resembool, but their mom was still sick. And judging by Granny's quiet talks with the doctor, it was bad. It was really bad.
But Mom just couldn't die. Ed wasn't stupid, he knew death was something that happened to everyone eventually, it had already happened to a bunch of people in the East because of the Ishvalan War, but she was their mom! She wasn't suppose to die until Dad had come back and taught them more about alchemy and he and Al grew up and one of them married Winry and became famous alchemists! She just couldn't. Ed wouldn't let it happen.
But, again, Ed wasn't stupid. He was only five, but he knew that when people were sick, really sick, they needed a really good doctor and medicine, but that they also needed the people who loved them so that they'd keep living. Even if Auntie Sarah and Uncle Urey were gone, Dr. Simmons was an okay doctor, but she didn't just need him and Ed and Alphonse. She needed Dad.
Ed bit his lip. His only memory of Dad was the silhouette of his turned back as he stepped out the door, the sunlight throwing him into sharp relief. Mom kept saying he'd be home once he finished his work, but why did he have to leave for his work anyway? He left them, and he made Mom cry!
He didn't hate him, though. No matter what, Dad was family, and Mom loved him. So, if he could just come home, walk through the door and kiss Mom then maybe…just maybe…
Mom coughed again. This one was wet and splotchy sounding, too, not the dry, normal sounding coughs that let Ed pretend that she only had a cold or the flu or something. Al started crying.
Ed bit down extra hard on his lip, then released it from his teeth. He tore the page he had just crossed the last name off of and threw the paper on the floor, letting it float to meet the others. There were more names, more phone numbers, addresses, there was Colonel Grumman and Mister Clint Patrick and Adela Valery and Elizabeth Harnet and Marcus Tennyson; someone on the list would know where Dad was. And they would be able to tell him to come home and he would and Mom would be happy again. They had to. They had to. Because if they didn't, then Dad wouldn't come home, and Mom would be too sad to get better and she would…
They just had to. Because Mom couldn't die. She just couldn't.
Well, that was depressing. Now, for you perfect people who waited this long (drum roll please): Amanda is still serving in New England, currently in the state of Connecticut. She loves being able to meet and serve the people there and has met many people that she absolutely adores. Of her 18 month mission, Amanda currently has 4 months before she returns home. She sends her love to all of her readers and thanks them for all the support they have shown her.