Edward's POV
June 24, 1916
I woke up and thought for several seconds letting everything that was going on process through my fifteen year old brain.
I lay in my bed for a little while assuming it was probably early based on the way the greyness from the sky came through my window.
After what seemed like the right amount of time I got up out of bed and went to go check the clock that we had in our hallway. It read 9:47am so with that I walked down the hallway to Hazel's room.
Hazel was sitting at her desk and writing in her journal. She turned around just as I stood in the doorway as if she knew I was standing there.
"Hello Edward" she said.
"Hello Hayz" I said coming in "what are you up to?"
"Nothing" Hazel said "do you know what today is?"
"The day chipmunks were invented?" I asked and Hazel whacked me.
"Come on Eddie!"
"Come on what?" I asked and pulled her into my lap and sat down with her on the floor.
"Today is my birthday!" she said.
"Ohhhh that" I said pretending I didn't know. "And how old are you today? Twenty Two?"
"No! I'm ten!" Hazel said and I kissed her forehead before pulling her closer to me.
"What are we doing today?" I asked her.
"I don't know" Hazel shrugged.
I looked on her desk and saw some things she had been drawing. However, it was pretty disturbing. Someone was on a field…holding a gun hiding in a trench it looked like. However there was a bullet flying towards them and on the back of the paper it showed the same person lying dead in the trench and his gun was spread out on the side with his arms.
"Hayz…what is this?" I asked.
Hazel followed my eyes to the drawings and pretended she didn't hear me.
"Hazel…tell me what this is" I asked softly.
"Nothing" Hazel muttered.
"Hazel I'm serious!" I said.
"I drew them about a week ago…I saw Uncle Christopher die." Hazel said looking at the ground.
"What do you mean you saw Uncle Christopher die?" I asked.
"I was just thinking about him and I saw him fighting in a battle and he was shot and was killed." Hazel said.
"Uncle Christopher didn't die Hayz" I said pulling her against my chest.
"How can you be so sure?" Hazel asked.
"What's going on Hayz?" I asked.
"It's…crazy" Hazel said.
"What you can do?" I asked shocking myself…how did I know what she was thinking.
"Yeah…it's like every time I think about someone I can get a vision of what they're doing and where they are. Every time I think someone is lying to me I just know…it's like I have a sixth sense or something" Hazel said looking at me.
"You're not crazy Hayz…sometimes I get that stuff too" I said.
"How so?" Hazel asked.
"Sometimes…I can just read people's body language and know what they are thinking it's like I can read them…like everyone's an open book." I said.
"Maybe we're both just freaks" Hazel said playfully and I ruffled my hair.
"Are you hungry?" I asked.
"Yes!" Hazel said.
"Come on…I am too" I said and I took her hand before walking to the kitchen.
Hazel's POV
It felt good to have someone finally know what I was feeling…my secret I guess. But it was kind of freaking me out. I couldn't tell anybody else…I didn't trust anyone. The only person I really trusted was Edward…my older brother.
I couldn't tell Marilynn…she'd think I was crazy so would everyone else and where would that leave me in an asylum?
I couldn't tell my mother…she'd think I was just hallucinating and would dismiss it as a phase or me being a child. The only person I really could go to was Edward. Well I already had.
At times like these it didn't matter what else was going on in the world it just mattered about figuring out the problem in front of you.
After breakfast Edward and I sat in my room and talked when he said "Do you want to go to the park?"
"Yeah!" I said and Edward smiled at me.
"Come on let's go tell Mama where we'll be" Edward said getting up from the floor.
After telling Mama and promising her we'd stick together and be back by five Edward and I strolled off to the park and to our spot. The bench by the lake that we often went to.
"So what's it like to be ten now Hayz?" Edward asked.
"I don't know" I shrugged and he took me in his lap.
"When I was ten you were just starting school…do you remember that?" Edward asked.
"Yes" I said and shuddered at the memory of Mrs. Baudelaire and her tormenting for four long years.
Edward chuckled and ruffled my hair before pulling out a cigarette and lit it before smoking it in front of me.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I shouted.
"Calm down Hayz" Edward said.
"Why are you smoking?" I asked.
Edward shrugged "it's addicting" he replied simply.
"It's a health hazard stick" I said.
"Hayz papa's been doing it since he was sixteen and there's nothing wrong with him except you know…" Edward said.
"Why do you think papa doesn't want to like listen to me?" I asked.
"He does that to both of us" Edward said.
"Yeah but we're his children shouldn't he pay attention to us the slightest bit" I asked.
"Papa loves us" Edward said.
"So you can love someone and not want to pay attention to them" I said.
"Yeah you got that right" Edward said taking another drag from his cigarette.
"So you want to turn out like Papa when you have kids?" I asked.
"Good point" Edward said throwing his cigarette on the floor and smashing it with his foot before smirking at me.
I rolled my eyes and smiled a little "don't get into the habit Edward…please?" I begged.
"I…I can't promise but I won't do it in front of you if that counts" Edward said still smirking.
"Eddie! Don't do it at all" I said firmly.
"Alright I can try for you" Edward said scooping me up in his arms and tickled me.
"Hey!" I shouted.
"Is not for humans" Edward finished.
"Who knows if we really are humans" I said and Edward rolled his eyes.
"Hayz…you're ten years old…start living."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.
"I don't know I guess the point is you only live once…don't spend your days worrying" and this was coming from Edward…my brother who was always a misery.
"I don't know what you're on but I am guessing that you're right" I said jumping up from the bench and he picked me up again.
"I'm always right Hayz." He said.
We got home and saw Mama crying…she had a letter in her hands and was mumbling in French. When Edward and I walked into the apartment Mama cried "Edward…Edward is that you?" But somehow I knew she meant papa.
"Mama, it's me…Edward Junior not Papa" Edward explained softly.
"Oh my gosh" Mama continued to cry.
"What happened?" I asked.
Just then Papa got home and he was running through the door speaking in French to my mother who nodded and said something else in French.
"Papa…what's going on?" Edward asked cautiously pulling me to his side.
"Children…Uncle Christopher…he…he was killed in battle last week" Mama explained since Papa was too choked up to speak…not that I blamed him I mean Uncle Christopher was his older brother.
"WHAT!" Edward and I shouted together before sharing a quick glance.
"It's true…we just got the telegram this morning" Mama said and Edward just looked at me and I looked at him.
I don't think I had ever been more freaked out in my entire life.
September 13, 1916
8:05am
The doors to the school building opened and Edward kissed me goodbye as he went off with William and I went off with Marilynn. Our other friend Anne, who sometimes hung out with us was with us too and we all groaned once we saw that Hattie, Bessie, Nora, and Olive were in our class but as usual we would ignore them.
Or at least Anne and I would ignore them. Marilynn kept trying to be part of their clique all day and pretended she knew what they were talking about. I was pretty annoyed because why did she want to become their friends when they clearly didn't want to be hers?
However before anything major happened Mrs. Newberry started the lesson.
"OK class, settle down, today we're going to be doing more intricate studies about The Great War. Now does anyone here listen to the radio or read the morning paper?"
About half of the people in the classroom raised their hand including me since I read the paper every morning and listened to the radio at least once a week.
Mrs. Newberry then began writing stuff on the board but I was no longer paying attention. Every time the subject of The Great War in Europe came up my mind was frozen. Mostly it was because of Edward and his plans for when he turned eighteen to join the army.
Thinking of the army returned my thoughts to Uncle Christopher and how I had known that he died before we got the telegram. After Edward found my disturbing drawings of my "vision" I confided in him that sometimes I felt like I had extra senses…beyond normal humans and he admitted that he felt that way sometimes too.
I figured I would question Mrs. Newberry about extraordinary abilities before the lunch bell rang. I guess the bell read my thoughts or something because the bell rang and I didn't even realize how much time had gone by.
"Alright class, go to the lunch shed" Mrs. Newberry called as she began to write something and pulled out a lunch bag.
"Mrs. Newberry?" I asked.
"Yes Hazel…what can I do for you?" Mrs. Newberry smiled at me.
"Um well I have a question" I said.
"Go on" Mrs. Newberry said.
"See I have a friend…and my friend thinks that they can…see visions of what someone is doing and a glimpse of their surroundings just by thinking about them." I said.
"Well…you never know perhaps your friend has a sixth sense. But it's definitely possible Hazel" Mrs. Newberry said.
"OK…thank you ma'am" I said and walked off to the lunch building.
"Where were you?" Marilynn asked.
"Oh I was um…just asking Mrs. Newberry a question" I said.
"Oh…well I'm a little forlorn right now" Marilynn said.
"Big vocabulary" I said and Marilynn smiled a bit. "What's wrong?" I asked.
"I tried to go sit with Hattie, Bessie, Nora, and Olive and they told me I was a pathetic wannabee and they would never want to be my friend." Marilynn sniffled.
I thought for a second. "Well if they aren't going to be nice to you then they aren't worth chasing" I said and Marilynn sighed.
"Yeah but I want to be one of them I know it sounds stupid but I just…do" Marilynn said and I sighed again.
"Marilynn…listen to me you'll be better off without them if you just let them go…they aren't worthy of your friendship." I said and Marilynn smiled.
"Thanks Hazel…you're a great friend."
"Just doing my job" I joked and she slugged me.
Edward's POV
April 6, 1917
I was just getting back from my paper route when I walked into the house. It was after sundown and there were no lit candles anywhere except for the one in the family room.
I cautiously walked into the room and saw Mama, Papa, and Hazel all huddled by the radio.
"What's going-" but Papa shushed me and gestured for me to sit next to him. Hazel looked at me with fear in her eyes since she pretty much had no idea what was going on and I took her in my arms as we listened. The radio man was saying stuff about a telegram intercepted from Germany to Mexico and the US had made a decision.
Four days ago President Woodrow Wilson had proposed that the US declare war on Germany and 250,000 men had already signed up or had been recruited. If the numbers ran out then anyone within fighting condition age eighteen and older would be required to join the army.
"Oh no" Hazel choked and buried her face in my shirt as I stroked her hair and tried to comfort her. Mama looked at Papa and me and next thing I knew they were both speaking French.
"Edward, take Hazel to your room OK?" Mama asked.
"OK Mama" I said and picked Hazel up and took her to my room.
"Oh Edward please tell me Papa won't get drafted. Please tell me the war will be over before you turn eighteen. Please tell me hundreds of men won't get killed" Hazel sobbed.
"Shhh Hayz it's OK" I tried to calm her down.
"How can you say that Edward our country just entered war!" Hazel shouted.
I looked at my baby sister and her words kept repeating in my head. As much as I fantasized about going off to fighting for our country reality was setting in.
The United States of America had entered The Great War.
And in the United States was state called Illinois and in Illinois there was a city called Chicago where a fifteen year old boy named Edward Masen lived. I sat on the floor in my bedroom and let myself sink in the news I had just heard.