Military/War

Jack hated his job. With his parents pressuring him to join the military and him feeling lost in life, he decided to just try it out.

When he thought military he imagined serving the country, being heroic and brave, troops together fighting. He did not imagine he'd be so awful in fighting that the only job that was possible for him was to be a guard for the war prisoners.

Above everything he detested his stupid job. He wanted to do something else with his life, wanted to find something he was good at and never stop doing that. The only problem was he didn't know what he wanted.

As impossible as it sounded, in Jacks entire life there never was something he truly wanted. He never had some great need or desperate want. He never had some huge dream. He never had some passion for something that made him act. He just lived his life and went with the flow. That was how he found himself in the military, alone, guarding war prisoners.

The war with Britain was long and bloody. It had been going on for 7 years with no avail. There was no conclusion, no winner, only blood and misery. People considered it the third world war.

Jacks life as a guard was monotonous. The only real spark of interest in his life was Alex Gaskarth. Jack didn't recall the day he was brought. Slowly he became more and more intrigued with the British man.

As far as Jack could see, Alex spent most of his days simply staring into space, as if in his own world. His brown eyes always seemed to be miles and miles away. He rarely talked, rarely even looked in people's eyes. He was in his world. Jack became more and more curious about what was going on in his head. It started as just a simple question for him, just wondering what it was like in there.

Now it was almost a obsession. He'd spend hours looking at Alex's focused face and wondering what could possibly be going on there.

He had a silly hope that maybe once the war was over, once it all ended, he could talk to Alex and just ask him. But for now he just contented himself by wondering, constantly wondering what was going on there.

It was another usual day for Jack until his boss Officer Hoppus called all the guards to his room looking enraged. He held a newspaper in his arms. "Britain Prisons Breaking Prisoner Of War Rules and Murdering Hundreds of US Prisoners Of War!" The headline blared.

"Those fucking dicks in England think they can just kill hundred of our soliders! I have orders to get rid of 700 prisoners of war to show them that they can hurt us but we'll fucking hurt them back!" He yelled. "Barakat, Fuentes, Quinn and Wentz get all the prisoners from 1-400 outside."

He continued to order everyone around but Jack was still focused on what he said earlier. Alex was prisoner number 182.

"Ok I'll take number 1-100, Jack'll take number 101-200, Mike'll take 201-300 and Pete will take 301-400. Alright?" Kellin asked.

For Jack everything had just gotten so much worse. Everyone nodded and walked of to do it. Jack felt so torn.

True he didn't know Alex and his nation came first but the thought that he would bring Alex to his death was something he absolutely didn't want. He started to walk towards the cells, feeling so torn.

He looked again at Alex's eyes, still staring into space. He didn't want to do it. He didn't want Alex to die, above anything. He just couldn't let it happen. He was sick of the war, sick of his awful job, sick of seeing those eyes without understanding. Finally he had a chance to do something he wanted, to save someone.

He ran to Alex's cell. Opening the door he grabbed Alex's hand and told him to come with him. Alex jumped and looked confused. Jack knew he didn't have a lot of time until everyone would notice he wasn't doing his job.

He grabbed Alex's arm and said quickly "I'm helping you. Just come with me and be quiet."

Alex still looked confused but he stood up and went after Jack. Jack started to walk quickly towards the door. Since it was just a war camp and not a real prison, it wasn't too heavily guarded. He walked downstairs, avoiding the main staircase, Alex following him silently.

Then Jack heard Officer Hoppus's angry voice echo through the hallway. He started to run upstairs, half dragging Alex with him. He found the small bathroom he was looking for.

Letting Alex in, he entered too. He closed the door and hoped no one would try to enter.

"Simply awful! So many lives wasted!  Its just murder! We'll show them. They'll regret the day they ever started a war with us! If they murder our prisoners we have every right to do the same! Fuck the stupid Human Right!" He ranted.

"Sir, I'm going to relieve myself."

"Permission granted."

Jack made sure the door was locked. He tried to relax. He felt someone try and open the door. Alex sent him a panicked look.

"It's taken." Jack said, hoping he'd go away. The man waited for a few more tense seconds before going away.

The second they heard his footsteps slowly fade, Jack opened the door and quietly ran downstairs, with Alex following. There was a special guard door that didn't have security around it.

Jack ran to the lower part of the fence. He slowly started to climb it, Alex following him. They were finally out.

Jack knew they didn't have much time and he start to run to his car. He opened it, and Alex sat next to him. He texted Mike,telling him he had a family emergency and he didn't finish gathering everyone. Mike agreed to do it for him. Alex just sat there looking bewildered.

Jack started driving, just to be as far as possible from the camp.

"Why are you helping me?" Alex asked quietly in his British accent.

"Because I can't let you die." Jack answer honestly.

"Why me? I'm nothing special, just another one of the hundreds."

"Yes you are. You intrigue me." He gave Alex a smile, hoping he'd relax.

" How do I intrigue you?" He asked curiously. Jack avoided the question, as he realized he didn't truly have a answer.

"To my house?" He asked. Alex nodded.

"Thank you for saving my life." He said giving Jack a small smile.

"I had to. I couldn't let you die."

Alex stared into space again, eyes looking but not seeing what everyone else was. Jack couldn't help but look at him again. He looked so calm and focused.

They arrived at Jacks home. He called Alex's name softly. Alex jumped again before going with Jack to his small yet cozy house. Alex stood there awkwardly not sure what to do with himself.

"So do you want to eat something or is there anything you need?" Jack asked.

"You've done so much for me. But do you have maybe a piece of paper and a pen?" He asked shyly.

Jack found Alex's requests, wondering why he wanted them. Alex smiled and said thank you.

He immediately started to write quickly, scrawling desperately, his hand not stoping for a second. Jack looked at him, even more intrigued now.

"What are you doing?" He asked finally.

Alex looked surprised, as if he forgot Jack was there. "Um it's nothing, I just had to-" He stuttered.

Then he took a deep breath and said "It's song lyrics."

"What?" Jack asked.

"Song lyrics. For music." Alex said simply. Jack felt so confused. For him music was whatever they played at church. Why would someone write out music?

Alex saw his baffled face and said "I thought of these back there. I don't want to forget them. They're the only thing that kept me sane."

"You'd write these back there?" Jack asked.

"Yep. I've written so many songs there. But we never got paper so I couldn't write them down. I really don't want to forget them."

"So that's what you do?" Jack asked, feeling like he finally understood.

"Pretty much." Alex answered.

"Can I see?" Alex looked awkward but nodded. Jack quickly skimmed through it all. Alex had written more than 50 songs. Jack read the lyrics for one of them.

"I painted a picture of the things I wanted most.
To color in the darker side of all my brightest hopes. 
But there's a monster standing where you should be 
So I'll paint you wings Now I'll set you free"

It was beautiful. Jack smiled at Alex again. "That's just amazing."

"Thank you. I really want to be a singer for a band, when this war ends."Jack gazed at the passion and excitement in Alex's eyes.

"That's awesome! You'll be amazing."

"You know, I'll need bandmembers." He said shyly. "Do you play something?"

Jack remembered my parents telling him music was a waste of time, that he can focus on more important things. "I don't. But I'd love to learn." Jack smiled at him.

Little did Jack know that that small conversation would change his life, give it a point, that the man with the eyes that were miles and miles away would be the person that changed his life.