My Name is Joseph

Friends in Exile

I walked through the back to the van that was going to take me and the other new privates to Basic Training Camp. I know I did not look eager, but I was apparently strong enough, because I had been admitted. I walked in silence, ignoring the other young men around me. They seemed to be quite hyped. I felt nothing. I'm not sure if that was a good thing.

We stepped outside and entered the van. Our seats were in twos, and I sighed when I realised I would have to sit next to someone. I was in no mood at all to talk. I sat down as far to the back as I could, hoping no one would sit next to me. It didn't work.

"Hi there!" a boy, probably eighteen or nineteen years of age, said as he sat next to me.

"Hi." I answered, hoping he would not continue talking.

"What's your name?" he asked, sounding as perky as could be.

I rolled my eyes, then resisted the urge to cringe as I realised what I had to answer, "Alexander."

When he saw I had no intention of asking his name, he told me himself, "My name is Jonathan. I'm quite excited that I get to serve God and my country by being in the army. What brought you to the army?"

I nearly groaned. First of all, I did not want to talk. Second of all, I did not want to think about what had brought me to the army. Third, I did not want someone religious talking to me. I was done with God. So, I just shrugged and glanced up at him. Then I looked away and out of the window. I hoped that would shut him up. It did. He looked at me thoughtfully, then proceeded to rest his head back and close his eyes.

The trip was going to be nearly twelve hours. We were driving all the way to the other side of the country. As far away as I could possibly get from my family. I would never see Benjamin again. I would never see Dad again. They thought I was kidnapped. They probably thought I was dead. It was because of my brothers. My mind flashed to my brother's faces as they stood gloating and hitting me, and I jerked up, gasping for breath. I must have fallen asleep.

I looked around again. We were driving down a pretty empty highway, and everything was dark. Many of the young men in the van were sleeping. I must have been asleep for quite some time for it to be this late already. I went to look at my watch, but remembered my brothers had taken it when they staged their kidnapping scene. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself.

"Are you okay?" a voice said softly at my side. I looked over and for the first time fully registered the boy who was sitting next to me. Jonathan, he had said. He had brown hair, green eyes, and a handsome face. He looked about the same height as me, but with a stronger build.

I nodded, but took a deep breath and leaned back.

"Bad dreams?" he asked. I looked over at him, and was surprised to see a very sincere look in his eyes. I nodded again.

I swallowed, "Sorry about earlier," I cleared my throat, "I'm not having a very good day."

Jonathan nodded understandingly, "No problem. Just tell me if you need to be left alone and I will leave you alone."

I glanced over at him and smiled slightly, "No, it's good. I should talk to get my mind off things."

Jonathan smiled, "So your name is Alexander, you said?"

I nodded, pushing Joseph out of my mind, "and yours is Jonathan?"

He nodded, "How old are you, Alexander? You look younger than me, but I could be wrong."

"I'm se-eighteen. You?" I cleared my throat and chuckled nervously.

"I'm nineteen. Just a year older than you," he paused, "Being in the army is really special, don't you think? You must; you did enlist at minimum age."

I froze as my brothers' faces again appeared in my mind. No, I did not think so.

Jonathan glanced over at me. "Are you okay? It looks like you just saw a ghost."

I shuttered, "I'm okay."

Jonathan just watched me, puzzled.

"It's cool, I guess." I forced out.

Jonathan's expression turned thoughtful, and then thankfully, he changed the subject, "So, you just finished high school?"

I shrugged again as another pang hit my chest, "No, I wasn't able to."

Jonathan raised his eyebrows, "Why?"

I cleared the knot out of my throat, "Family matters." I smiled weakly, "I was really good in school though."

Jonathan smiled, and I was relieved he didn't ask about my family, "Really? That's great! I was pretty good. But not Valedictorian or anything," he chuckled.

"I was." I whispered half to myself.

"You were Valedictorian?" Jonathan asked, eyes wide.

I nodded, then shrugged again, "Nothing I can do about it now, though."

Jonathan watched me quietly again. "You know, if you ever want to talk to someone about, well, whatever happened, I am here."

I scoffed slightly, "Yeah, thanks. I'm good."

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Jonathan just watched him thoughtfully. He looked really young, but he also looked really hurt. Well, not on the outside; but his bright blue eyes were filled with pain and bitterness. It was very interesting to see his whole body to tighten up whenever he talked about his past and his eyes to go blank whenever he mentioned his family. Something really bad must have happened.

"Okay," he replied, knowing that the bitterness in Alexander's voice was not against him, but against whatever had happened. He changed the subject, "Well, I'm a Christian."

Alexander just glanced at him and shrugged, "Okay."

"Do you believe in God?"

Alexander looked over at him and rolled his eyes, "Do I believe there is a God? Yes." He humphed, "but do I believe in Him? Definitely not."

Jonathan took a breath, yes, there was extreme bitterness here. "Okay..." he paused for a few seconds that stretched awkwardly. "Well, what's your favourite thing to do?" he heard himself say.

Alexander looked over at him, trying to hide a slightly-sarcastic smile, "Nice save."

Jonathan flushed.

"Well, I like to read books and..."

They then proceeded to talk for several hours. Even though Alexander expertly avoided talking anything about his family the whole time, he seemed to loosen up considerably during the conversation. It seemed that he might have actually enjoyed it. They both did. Jonathan was finally the one to cut it off.

"This has been really fun, dude, but, if I don't go to sleep now, I'll probably embarrass myself by falling asleep while you are talking," Jonathan yawned.

Alexander yawned after him, "Yeah, I agree," he then rested his head against the back of his seat and closed his eyes.

"Don't let the bedbugs bite, Alexander!" Jonathan teased.

Alexander laughed and cracked his eyes open, "Yeah, sure. Although, I think they would bite you faster than they would bite me," he paused, "And call me... Alex."

"Okay, Alex."