Golden Widow #1: Awakening

2

1943...

"War continues to ravage Europe." The black and white movie screen monotonously proclaimed in front of us. I wriggled uncomfortably in my seat in the dark movie theatre, yearning with every inch of me for the cartoon to start rolling. A soft weight placed intself onto my little shoulder, and I swung my head around  to see what it was, my eyes meeting Steve's gentle hand. I did my best to sit perfectly still whilst the war video played, trying really hard to watch the screen, although I was fearful of the great tanks, and the huge guns, which were as tall as me! The guns, not the tanks.

"But help is on the way." My head snapped upwards to see the bright beam of azure light shining onto the screen, and my mouth opened in a little "o" of wonder. "Every able-bodied young man is lining up to serve his country." I tried to reach the beam of light with my fingertips, to brush it, to see how it felt on my skin, but I was too tiny. I'm taller than Steve was at my age, however, and healthier too.

"Even little Timmy is doing his part collecting scrap metal. Nice work, Timmy!" I looked back at the screen again, to see a small boy around my age help pull sheets of jagged and bent metal from huge piles of rubble, and I excitedly realised that I wanted to do it; it looked like fun. I began to poke my brother furiously.

"What?" He whispered, leaning over so his ear was an inch or two from me, quite so he didn't disturb the small crowd around us.

"Can I help Timmy collect scrap metal?" I whispered back, grinning excitedly from ear to ear.

"Maybe when you're older." He replied quietly, nodding at the boy on the screen.

"But why? He looks like he's six." I whine, showing him the relative number on my fingers.

"I just don't want you to get hurt, that's all." He spoke, straightening back up. I slump my shoulders and fold my arms tightly at my chest, huffing. He chuckled, and ruffled my hair in response, and the person next to me cooed and giggled.

"Who cares?" Yelled a man at the screen. All eyes in the movie theatre turned to him, and I glanced at Steve, who looked positively disgusted. "Play the movie already!"

"Hey, you wanna show some respect?" Steve asked the man quietly, although he was loud enough for the people around us to hear him.

"Meanwhile, overseas, our brave boys are showing the Axis powers that the price of freedom is never too high." I quickly turned away in fright as a bloodied man was carried away through the trenches on a stretcher, presumedly dead. I could feel Steve place a hand on my head, and gently stroked my hair. Quickly, I scrambled over the armrest between our chairs, and clung into him like a koala-bear. He held me close as the video kept rolling.

"Let's go! Get on with it!" The man in front of us shouted again, louder than before. I turned around quickly to have a look at him, although the dim light around us gave me no aid, only allowing me to see his faint silhouette. "Hey, just start the cartoon!" Steve glared at him with silent fury, leaning over slightly.

"Hey, you wanna shut up?" Steve hissed, adjusting himself so that he was sitting against the back of the movie theatre chair again. The man stood up, slowly turning towards us, and I cowered into my brother's chest. He was much taller than Steve, and looked a lot stronger. He towered over us in our seats, and blocked the screen from my view.

"You wanna repeat what you just said, little man?" He snarled, moving forwards so that his face was mere inches away from Steve's. I whimpered, and the people around us all stared, not doing anything to diffuse the situation.

"I said, you wanna shut up? You were being very disrespectful; those men are dying for us." Steve retorted, remaining seated, his voice low.

"And you think I care, little man?" He retaliated, and a little spark lit up in my stomach.