This was it. All their moving throughout all the years had now reached the grand number of 50. Last year she finally gave up having friends when her closest one moved to Canada. 16 years old and now the closest friend...the only friend she had was her 13-year-old sister. The two had kept their promise of sticking together; there wasn't any other choice besides to die. They were sharing a room for the first time since Elizabeth was a baby. They opted to share, there were two other spare rooms in the house they could have. But sharing was the only option. Their father was now head of this particular base they were on in Georgia and saw even less of his family. Never was a hard step to get below...but Alvin 'Howitzer' Houlihan did just that. Their mother had the previous year, turned to drinking. She did not find happiness with her husband, the army was no longer her life and she didn't know how to communicate with her daughters. They had put a lock on their door...Kathryn's drinking quite honestly terrified them and the slight scar on Elizabeth's arm was a reminder of how violent alcoholics can get.

The two began to unpack everything they had. Everything in material terms wasn't much. The day after her 10th birthday the dolls all went into the trash. Hers and her sisters. Apart from them, mostly they had clothes, a few books and a bear each from their grandmother who had given them to the girls before she died. They didn't care what they had or didn't have. As long as they stuck together everything would be okay. The pair both helped in the base hospital; the two wanting to become nurses they figured early practice was good...and it was a great time killer. They were both excelling at their studies; Margaret was in high school and Elizabeth was still in middle school; their time apart was healed only by their determination to achieve as much as they could.

They heard to front door open and shut. It was 8pm...no one was expected home for another 2 hours. Peeking outside their room she saw her mother stumbling around. She quickly shut the door and locked it. "That's it!" "What is?" "I've had enough...stop unpacking, we're outta here." Her sister nodded in reply and the two began re-packing as much as they could into two suitcases. Clothes, a book each and their bear. The two stayed silent, listening to hear if their mother had gone...or collapsed. After hearing nothing but the wind and outside noise, the two crept out. She went over to a bowl near the front door. Inside was about 50 dollars in small notes and coins. She took the lot. Stuffing it in her schoolbag the two silently left the house, making their way across the base, sticking to the shadows and out the gate. Where they were heading she wasn't sure.

Things weren't always like this. In the beginning before her sister was born, her and her parents were a happy family. Her father always spoke to her about his great days in World War One and how he shot down 17 German spy-gliders. Her mother was quite useful, taking care of her, putting her to sleep, reading to her and feeding her. Things were picture perfect. Until Elizabeth was born. Until she turned 4 and her sister 1, things were generally okay. There was a slowly sliding descent of communication between everyone. By the time she was in school, she had to take care for herself and her sister 50 of the time. By her 10th birthday, she was taking care of herself all the time and her sister 75 of the time. Now it was like neither of them existed. She never blamed her sister. She knew the real reason why their father didn't want anything to do with them, why their mother ignored them. She wasn't a boy. And neither was her sister. Complications with Elizabeth's birth meant her mother could not have more children and her father's wishes of a son to make a soldier were dashed. Secretly...she always thought if she joined the army...if she did all she could to be that soldier...that her father would love her. Not even her sister knew of her desire to make her father proud.

The pair went to a payphone and looked up the directory for their old base in North Carolina...the only adult who really cared about the two was there. Marty Hortenski...the Sergeant who kept secret her confession about her mother. They found the number and called. "Is Sergeant Hortenski still stationed there?" she asked hopeful. "Marty?" "Yes" "Yeah sure he's still here...a lieutenant though now." "Great" she muttered. "What...isn't he there?" her sister asked. "Yes...but he's an officer" she grumbled. "Patching you through now."

After a minute or so "Lieutenant Hortenski here." "Uh...do you remember about...10 years ago, 2 small girls stationed there?" "Yes...why...who is this?" "Do you also remember you told the older one that if ever something happened she was to call you." "Something along those lines yeah..." "Well I'm calling now." "Is that you Miss Houlihan?" "Yeah...it is." "Well how the heck are you...what it's been..." "10 years yes. I...we're not so good." "Why? What's happened?" In 5 minutes she brought him up to speed on everything that had happened in the past 10 years. "And...I'm calling now." She finished. "Margaret...I don't know what I can do from here. Can I give you some advice?" "Yes." "I know things at home are terrible. If I could take you 2 away I would...but the army would have me hung higher than my wife's washing. And there's really not much I can do except say you've stuck it out this far...in 18 months you'll be old enough to leave." "What about my sister!" she exclaimed. "Take her with you...if things are as bad as you say...and I believe you...your parents won't really care." "You really think so?" "Trust me. Look I gotta go now Margaret...if you ever need to call again or just wanna talk...ring me on..." and he gave her the number "Alright?" "Yeah. Thanks again." "Okay I'll see ya round." And he hung up.

She leaned against the side of the box, taking a deep breath. She really didn't want to go back...anything but being stuck there. But if they were going to make it...they had to. "Come on...let's go back." She said, her voice trembling. The two sisters headed back to the base with heavy hearts and the feeling they had been let down, once again.