Her Gift to The World

Age 16- 2065

The last day of sophomore year was on May the 18th of 2065. Over the summer, I would spend lots of time with Savannah, work out, and spend time to myself. I tried to hang out with Brandon, but he was always busy for some reason. I got to hang out a few times, but he was different then. During the school year, and shortly after I stopped sitting with my friends, it wasn't long before Brandon did the same. I noticed that Brandon started to hang out with one of the cooler guys in a different crowd named "Trent" I believe. So, Brandon sat with some of the "cool guys" even in classes and seemed to drift away from Kevin and Roger. I was glad that Brandon found acceptance with others, despite his own social quirks. All that was left at our old group was Kevin, his sidekick Roger, and "New Dave." Since Lewis was regularly hanging out with Kevin and Roger, I wondered how long it would take for them to find a, "New Brandon."

So that was what was going on in my petty non-important life, but as for the world:

In May of 2065, the US was in a small panic because the mid-west wasn't producing enough food for the entire country. Similar events happened from time to time since the Midwest struggled constantly to keep the soil fertile, but it wasn't too big a deal in 2065. This meant that the US had to expand agriculture throughout the Western Commonwealth.

With the fighting in the Middle East, the oil wasn't being exported. So, in 2052 when the UN disbanded, the US stepped up drilling in Alaska. The massive increase of drilling in Alaska and the gradual transfer to nuclear power managed to produce enough to support the whole US Energy Grid.

Then there was China. China had experienced a massive military buildup in the years after the UN broke apart. The China-American trade agreement was cancelled when most of our debts were paid off, and other agreements were made, but we were never able to trust that country across the Pacific. Sometime last year, the army started even sending men to Anchorage Alaska to fortify the oil industry. By 2065, there were 20,000 soldiers there and growing. But still, the resources on the planet were slowly fading away.

When the end of summer came again, I was a junior in high school. Savannah and I were all that each other had. Nobody else normally was with us in class or elsewhere, except her occasional friend who didn't like me. I signed up for the MTP once again. The school year went bye fast.

In December, Savannah and I went to the Washington Monument for a date after school let out since the Washington Monument was my favorite, and always held a strange spot in my heart for whatever reason. Up top, the view was amazing, and one could see out over all of DC. On the far side of the Potomac I could see the Pentagon. In the mall there was the Lincoln Memorial on one side and the Capitol building on the other. I loved the top of the monument. I loved being able to see the city I grew up in, and it was only made better by my beautiful girlfriend.

Scott Hansen joined the MTP that year. He was one of the new guys so I out skilled him by a full year. During my time as a sophomore I hardly ever saw him, I think he avoided me. After kicking his ass, he was too ashamed to look at me for a full year. SFC Mares kept an eye on Scott right off the bat, but throughout the year, Scott showed remarkable skill in intermediate sparring. Scott also had a different attitude toward me; he never picked on me or really anyone for that matter. He left me alone and hardly spoke to anyone. Scott was the biggest bully in middle school and freshman year, but after my incident with him, he walked around like a recently neutered dog. Scott avoided me, and when we'd stumble across each other, we'd exchange brief nods. It seemed that there was an unspoken truce. Things between us were not hostile, or friendly, just simply neutral. I was fine with that, and very happy with Savannah.

January- Age 16- 2066

I know I could have led up to this better, but in the end, none of the politics, global relations, or other bullshit mattered. I was so blinded by my own petty issues and love for Savannah that I didn't even notice the world until one day when it decked my country in the face.

On January 13th, 2066, the tension with China snapped. Without any warning, despite all our spies across the pacific, radar, and fleets patrolling the ocean, the Chinese launched an all-out attack on Anchorage Alaska. Chinese naval vessels launched missiles and sent in troops all across the Bering Strait. Nobody saw the attack coming. The 25,000 soldiers, marines, and even coast guardsmen fought nearly to the death, and the entire Chinese Navy anchored in Anchorage bay under concealment of a manufactured fog cloud that was dismissed as a storm by our weather satellites. In less than 4 hours, the Chinese military took the entire city and reversed the oil pipeline to mainland USA. Only 1,347 soldiers managed to evacuate the city according to every headline in every paper. The rest were either dead or missing.

The next day, there was no school. It was a national day of prayer to the brave men and women who perished in the cold of Anchorage. The military didn't have a day off though. All over the US, people were signing up for service. People in the cities panicked, but those with their heads straight were enlisting. The seniors at my school were mostly finishing out there last week at school before they would drop out and enlist. The highways were full of military trucks and soldiers. National Guard units were called up and put on standby, and Americans were paranoid. Nobody knew what China would do next during the immediate silence after the shock. All we knew was that not one day after that felt the same; the US hadn't been in an actual war since 2025 when we lead a 3-year occupation of the Middle East. The looting of Mexico in 2052 wasn't a war, so much as part of a militant insurance policy requirement to American oil companies operating south of the border.

Two days after the Chinese invaded, Chairman Cheng of the People's Republic of China visited DC. His visit was a brief one as he consulted with the President and the National Security Council. Brandon's father was front row for that, and would describe it the same ways the headlines did on the few times I got to see Brandon again. Basically, the talks got nowhere whatsoever. A lot had changed though in the days, weeks, and even months following the invasion. The Army experienced an increase of enlistment of up to 600% within the first weeks and civilian factories rapidly made transitions to support the military.

School was different too in those initial days of panic. Half the seniors were gone, and there was a paranoia going around. The two Chinese exchange students at school were beaten nearly to death immediately following the first headline. I later heard that the exchange students were considered spies, not just by their classmates. However, because of their age, they were only deported back to China. Those Chinese nationals not considered spies were shipped back home through the excellent work of our diplomats despite the protest from frenzied lynch mobs across the US. The attack on Anchorage was more unexpected and deadlier than anything our country had experienced since World War II. So, for a long while after, if you weren't white, black, or brown, but had narrower eyes than your neighbor, it was a good idea to stay away from people. Didn't matter if you were Chinese or not, if you looked the part, you were in danger.

So, I was a junior in high school during the initial invasion, but I still inquired about the army. I talked to the recruiters at school and they paid close attention to me because of my involvement in the MTP. The MTP would be noted on my forms if I enlisted so they could see my history and make an informed determination on what MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) I should have. The MTP also constantly monitored student's heath making for a quick entry process in the event of enlistment.

Aside from school, the Capital city was quite different. As I walked Savannah home, day by day. I would see different recruitment posters lining the walls and fences in Georgetown. What used to be fine painted fences and sunny skies seemed to turn into grey skies and bombardments of patriotic war images everywhere you could go in America. The posters covered the walls, and constantly reminded us of what was happening in that far US territory. I remember my favorite poster during this time was the one with a soldier in a beret saluting with a winter background. The caption for it read, "Sign up today and help us end this war before the springtime." We Americans were naïve enough to believe such sloganeering at the start.

The pictures on the posters after the first months of conflict were glorious, but unlike the actual thing. I remember shortly into the first weeks of the war, a marine officer visited our school in I believe early March of 2066. The war had already been going on about two months, and the officer gave a big presentation in the auditorium. He told us that he was on the front lines when the Chinese attacked the "Anchorage Line." The pictures he showed were horrific. The limbs of the men were torn up, dead men covered the soil, blood filled the trenches, and there were pictures of large flashes coming through the artificial fog cloud. There I learned that the military captured samples of the cloud residue. I don't know all the science behind it, but the ships poured the toxin into the atmosphere and the cloud completely hid the Chinese fleet from satellite and radar on approach. Accounts from soldiers at the Anchorage Line said that the cloud just looked like a gathering storm. Little did they know, the synthetic fog concealed nearly 60 Chinese warships ready to invade. After the presentations, people went to ask the marine officer all sorts of questions about what to expect in this new world of conflict.

The world was up in flames all across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and though for most of my early life, I felt like America was safe from the rest of humanity, we weren't. Sometimes isolationism makes people think you're weak until you've woken them up and they snap. China took advantage of us and thought we couldn't handle a first strike, but the way our country got up from that blow showed that all our country could see as a whole was nothing but red...

With the world up in flames and America already shifting national focus to the new front line, school wasn't even safe from conflict. Despite what my classmates did to those exchange students, you'd think the invasion would unite everyone against a common enemy, and it did at least for a while. However, humans are still petty beings, so fighting over the stupidest things are inevitable at all times, and I'm no different. Even though Savannah was the perfect being, that didn't stop us from fighting when things finally took an unexpected turn. I was never mad at her, and I never blamed her for any of it since most things are my fault. But, whenever I lost sight of her in my mind and heart, it not only killed me but her as well. You reading this may think that I am too obsessed with her and perhaps I shouldn't idolize her. I would've agreed with you if it wasn't for that fight between us. After that, I learned Savannah has some sort of gift that I still don't know how to explain... Perhaps I overthink these things, but I know the way I felt and currently feel whenever I see her face... Anyway, here's what happened:

Mid-March was when Savannah and I had our fight. After so long of pure happiness, it finally happened. One day we were in the halls talking to each other when her friend Christa came over. For some reason, Christa hated me and had been giving me bad signs since Savannah and I first got together.

Christa and Savannah started talking, when Kevin, Roger, and Brandon came over to chat with me. I still kept in touch with my old friends every now and then despite our new "cliques." I sometimes started missing the usual bullshit topics and arguments. The egotistical narcissism from Kevin, the relative silence from Brandon in groups, and the blind agreement with everything Kevin said from Roger were somewhat heartwarming after spending 90% of my time with Savannah. Anyway, we were all having our own conversations, but then Christa walked up to me out of the blue and said...

I honestly don't even remember what she said. I just remember I was really sick of that stupid fucking cunt saying shit about.. Again, I don't remember. All I do remember was that it was something about me and Savannah, Christa's long time friend.

Feeling a way I'd only felt maybe two other times at this point in my life, I lost it with that bitch because that was the final straw. It wasn't much, or at least much worse than I say about myself, but I just had enough of Savannah's friends treating me like crap when I had been nothing but good to her.

I felt angry like when Scott approached me in freshman year. I don't remember what or how I responded, but it was probably something along the lines of how I described her two paragraphs ago. So, my long time boys and I went out calling her bad names even worse than her fucking pretty girl mind could top. I never even saw how Savannah took the way Christa started it because all I could see was Christa's self entitled fucking face. Anyway, we cussed her out and my boys and even others relished the opportunity to join in.

Most passers avoided the shouting match in the already noisy hall until a passing "normal guy" overheard Kevin say something and said, "You tell that stuck up bitch! Haha!"

Christa's boyfriend who'd been chatting with his buds further away, overheard the passing insult and threatened to beat the ever living shit out of the guy. From there, the hall went up in flames. All of Savannah's old friends who thought my old friends and I were losers joined in. Some other unknowns from the various classes got my back, and the shouting between the loser crowd and Savannah's old group took up the whole passing period, and even further. Brandon was escorted away by his new friend Trent who didn't know quite sure what the situation was about, and Kevin stormed off to class trailed by Roger who waddled along. The "Loser Uprising" lasted all day at every moment, and spread from class to class involving people who didn't even know the source of the fight. By the end of that first passing period, Savannah was nowhere to be seen and she avoided me the entire day, even sitting with God damned Christa in our last classes together!

I felt unbelievably betrayed at that. I couldn't believe that after the conflict in the hallway, she preferred to sit through classes with her bitchy friends instead of me! I wasn't alone though; since the shouting match essentially divided the whole school, all us on the same side banded together.

In case I wasn't clear in previous chapters, high school was like a caste system. Since I was a "Loser" in middle school, and freshman year, I apparently still wore that label two years later. I was dating the prettiest and sweetest girl in the God Damned Fucking World, and even though I myself was confused about why, I was still a "Loser!?"So, I sat through the last classes unable to focus on the materials and wondered where Brandon stood since he was now best buds with Trent, a guy higher up than supposed un-touchables.

"New Dave" or Lewis took Savannah's seat next to me in the immediate class after the hall situation and said, "We sure showed those bitches what's what! Huh Dave?"

I ignored the guy and looked down at his formerly expensive shoes now withered from use. I thought about my fight freshman year and about Christa, who was in the crowd at the time. Through my daze, I couldn't stop staring at Savannah sitting with that bitc- girl. After staring at the scene with resentment and hate for far too long, I noticed Savannah sitting distant and ignoring her friend completely... Sorta like I was doing with Lewis. The only difference I saw between her and myself was that I was seeing the world in pure anger, and she looked utterly depressed. When I was angry, I saw the extremes of what I wanted to do to the cause, but then I'd see her tragically beautiful face amidst the conflict and felt myself calm. I wanted to take my rage out on Christa, and tear the world down with me, but Savannah's tears calmed me in ways that I can't explain.

I want to hate her, but I can't. It's not possible, and that sadness is always there, making me happy? Happy to see her misery, and hate filled that I'm the cause. I can't Not see her. I hate loving my misery for hating the depression she cries when I'm happy and miserably angry?

Don't try to understand the paragraph above.

Anyway.

Once the day was over, she still avoided me. I caught up to Savannah walking home by herself, unsure of what to say. I wanted to scream at her for seeming to side with Christa, but seeing her made that puzzle of feelings start up in my head again. I simply didn't know how to talk to her or what I wanted from her, myself, Christa, or anything. As I confronted her, standing before her, she yelled at me to go away and I couldn't find the words, but she certainly had a few. She told me that I acted very immature and that made rage come to me again, not at her, but at the situation. I told told Savannah that Christa was a bitch, and CHRISTA was immature. There was no calming wave when Savannah unleashed her wrath, only her rage at me, and my rage directed at everyone not her. We argued on the side of the street for what seemed like forever until, in the end, she stormed off.

For an entire week, Savannah and I avoided each other. She refused to even look my direction, and so I had to sit with my old friends, including Brandon who was ousted by Trent shortly after the passing period conflict.

Each of those days were everyone sticking to their isolated communities hating everyone who wasn't one of us. Savannah continued to stick with her old friends in classes and wherever and each interaction with someone outside of their designated group was met with either a shouting match or even fist fight. The school and even world seemed to slow as each fight escalated with everyone hating one another, until the last day.

Too many people had been suspended, there was even an assembly about cooperation with each other during our nation's newest fight. But on that last day, I looked to see where Savannah was at lunch as I used to do before dating her. Me and my old friends talked amongst ourselves, and I turned to see where Savannah usually was only to notice Christa sitting alone. She wasn't even sitting with the other girls, and looked like she was a mess of her old self. Like Christa had been forsaken by the world, I looked at my friends and knew they had my back despite the hostile situation around our circle.

When I saw Christa, in that condition, the rage I felt for the past week was gone and I wasn't sure why. I wanted nothing more than to see Savannah's old friend alone and miserable since the start, but when I saw that she'd been forsaken by Savannah too, I felt maybe like Christa and I had common ground. To be clear, I didn't feel like Christa and I should team up to hate Savannah together; I just felt like I knew what it was to lose sight of Savannah as well.

Without a word, I got up from my band and approached Christa. I again didn't know what I would say, but as she got closer I felt a bit of that old wrath seep through. Christa didn't see me coming, so when I slammed my fists down on the table next to her, she was startled. I slammed my fists down on the table again, feeling the anger slowly settle as my prior unconscious purpose came back. I asked her in the strictest tone I could;

"Why Do You Hate Me?"

She looked up and asked, "Why? Did Savannah leave you too?"

I was puzzled and said, "Too?" but thought in that old rage, "Of course she did, you fucking bitch! Why the fuck you think she's been hanging around your stupid ass lately instead of me!?"

Despite what I was thinking (Having never spoken to her in a rational way), I held it together as my feelings leveled themselves.

She looked at me and said, "Ever since our fight she refused to even look at me."

Christa's words went through me, and I felt myself calming almost instantly. I thought maybe it was from knowing that Christa was miserable too, but my mind changed when I looked up.

When I looked up, I noticed where Savannah was for the first time all day. Savannah was sitting alone at a corner table, her face was redder than it had been for the past week and she appeared to be crying in that very moment. I knew she looked saddened every moment I saw her since the incident, but seeing her from where Christa was made something cry within me. So many days later, and during the peak of all that conflict, Savannah was still an upset emotional wreck.

I thought to myself. The way Savannah was mad at me made it seem like she was on Christa's side. But, even when she was surrounded by Christa and the others, she was apart from the entire world and finally felt the need to part from everyone else physically.

The sight of Savannah alone and even more depressed when everyone else seemed simply angry made me think out loud to Christa, "I thought she was on your side during the fight. She got really mad at me."

Christa said "Well, she got really, really mad at me."

I looked to her and asked, "Why'd she get so mad at both of us then?"

She looked at me puzzled for a moment, and when I caught her eye from my study of Savannah, she replied, "You really don't know her that well, do you? After years of being her friend, I learned she absolutely hates conflict… Like, of any kind… She doesn't like it when people fight each other. That's why she didn't go and watch you fight Scott back in freshman year. I don't know if you remember that?..."

I did remember that, and thought back as she continued, "Savannah is really something else. I don't know what it is about her, but she seems to feel like wherever there is conflict, it's because of her. Ridiculous I know, considering guys haven't even fought for her, but she takes responsibility for almost anything negative and... I don't know why she's like that, but she's always been that way. How she could feel anything is her fault when she's essentially nothing but quiet, pretty, and completely innocent in everything I've seen her in is beyond me."

Still looking down at the table next to her, I thought about Savannah. We have never fought over anything, and when we were together, the only thing in the whole world was bliss. Despite what was happening in the world abroad, or the world around us, nothing was more perfect when Savannah and I were together. The only time things went up in flames were when that world around us stepped in front of me, like Christa did a week prior.

Something inside me made me say, "It's all up to me. I have to fix things."

Christa responded to my audible thoughts, "Yes you do. She's been an angry sad mess ever since."

Hearing that response from Christa, despite my knowing it was the truth brought my anger back for just a second to say, "Well what about you? You started this shit!?"

She met my rage with a laugh, and countered it with surprising calmness, "I've tried, believe me. She has some other… 'problems'… If you didn't know…"

I wondered what she was talking about, and before I could say anything, she settled any other potential defiance in my brain, "Doesn't matter, you have to do it… Simple as that. She needs love, love that I can't give."

At that, I stood from the table, but before leaving, I had to ask that first question again: "Why Do you hate me?"

She replied in a way that I never would have imagined from Christa. A way that seemed to send a wave of peace through me, and even make me smile. She said, "Not only did I lose the first pool, Haha; she seemed to cast us aside when you two got together. You were even all she talked about like all of freshmen year, even before you two even talked. You weren't the only one to have a crush... We still aren't sure why."

I didn't know why either, and the thoughts I had about myself vocalized by someone her, didn't hit me the way they did a week prior.

I felt a grin crack across my face and started to walk away. Christa said one last thing, "Dave?... I'm sorry."

I gave a simple nod to her as I continued on, but admired her apology as I again wondered how a girl like Savannah could ever have a crush on me.

I laid low the rest of the day, but at nighttime, I didn't have a single thought in my head as I snuck out of the house to go and visit Savannah. I reached her house where the lights were still on and crept over to her window to peek in. She sat on her bed reading a book, face still almost perpetually saddened. I knocked on the window and she came over to see what it was. When she looked out, she saw me standing right in the bushes right below her window. For almost one nanosecond, I saw her face light up before falling back to sadness. She opened the windows and yelled at me in a hushed tone;

"What are you doing here!?"

No idea what I was going to say beforehand, I only said, "I came to tell you that I made up with Christa. I'm sorry for everything. It's all my fault for escalating things, and..."

I paused as the depression on her face changed to watery eyes and love. Seeing that, I choked out the only words I could, "I'm so sorry, and… I miss you."

She leaned on the window, holding back a tidal wave of tears and understanding as she said, "I know David, Christa told me… Thank you, and... I need you."

I couldn't handle anymore and just told her, "I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Nothing is your fault..."

I can't handle any fucking more.

There was more after that. So, after that night, we were back together, but that wasn't the interesting part that made me see her for what she is.

She sat with me at lunch the next day, and even though there was still a lingering cloud of conflict, she reached over to hold my hand for the first time in already too long. When her hand touched mine, everyone in school decided to take the moment to get along again all at once. It was like everyone telepathically knew that everything was resolved and that cloud of hate for everyone and everything was gone. Feeling her hand in mine, I turned to see Trent invite Brandon back to his table and even some of the other "Losers." Christa and her girls were back together, and just started laughing again for the first time since before it all. Everyone else took the moment to stop every worry and come together in a supernatural way not achievable by a fucking school cooperation assembly. The divide was stitched back together, and noticing the moment, I noticed it in every laughing face and smile.

Catching Savannah's eyes, I remember wondering briefly if Savannah had a superpower of dividing or unifying people. Maybe that was part of those "Issues" Christa talked about, and perhaps if that was why Savannah seemed to take the fault for everything. Then I wondered if I had a role in it. What was the world like before we were together? I didn't remember, but with the immediate world no longer between us, I never wanted to look away from those eyes again.

Maybe it was all coincidence, but despite how peaceful the school turned in the following days, outside of our school, the world was still in turmoil.

I know for a fact that she had a gift now! She's fucking everything! Look at the world now!? It's because of her and because of me. Me and her. Love, Hate, Misery, and Regret. The world continues on, and it doesn't change. All I know is the world is on its course, but me and her are on our own course, and the world doesn't matter since she and I are the only existence of utopia.