Chapter 383 - April's Decision

April sat at the kitchen table weighing all her pros and cons. No matter what she thought of everything looked bleak. There's was no way she could find work, no matter how hard she tried no one was willing to hire her. She needed money to survive, the army could feed and shelter her. She was lonely in the empty house and at least with the military she could be surrounded by others.

April still had her father but she had no idea when he would come back. She shuddered at the thought of what her father would say or make her do so he could have a bottle in his hand.

With a heavy heart April came to her final decision. She got up and rushed up to the door, she hoped the old lady didn't get too far. The moment she rushed out she ran into a man dressed in a military uniform. He looked down at her as she looked up. "Have you made a decision?" He asked. "I am going to take the job but I just don't want to sing I want to fight too!" April said with conviction.

"Are you sure? You didn't take too long to think that over." The old lady asked from with a dark coloured car. April looked around the man and nodded her head to the old lady. "Then we leave now." The old women said as she moved further into the car. April closed the door to her old life and walked into her new one without looking back.

.....

"So you joined the war?" Ariana asked. 'Yes.' Loralei replied. "So who was the old lady? Did you ever meet your brother? Or who ever sent you the food or paid your bills? And who blocked the old lady's letter?'" Ariana asked enthusiastically.

'I don't know.... I never cared to ask or find out. She never appeared before me again. As for my brother, yes but he wasn't happy. I left the house and never talked to everyone about my decision, I got yelled at for hours. Yes, I did find out who sent me the food, ended up being the same person who paid my bills and blocked the old lady's letter.' Loralei replied.

"Wait, why did your brother get upset? He didn't write you right? He didn't show up to your mother's funeral. Did your other brothers write you letters? You didn't mention if they did." Ariana said as she furrowed her brows. 'No. They never did. They took my money and started their own lives as for John he said he never wanted to see me again.' Loralei replied as she looked at Ariana sadly. 

"So no one bothered to check up on you? Just the mystery person... who was?" Ariana asked. "No, they didn't bother to check up on me. As for the person... it was William Barrett, the young police officer I met when my mother passed away.' Loralei said with a small blush. "No way! How did you find out?" Ariana asked.

'We met each other at the military base. He ran up to me after I did my first performance. He apparently got there a few weeks before me that's why everything stopped.' Loralei replied.

Ariana's jaw dropped. Loralei couldn't hep but laugh. 'He made the same face when he saw me... Acutally we became really good friends after that. It was because of him that I joined the naval divison and was part of the team that landed on the shores of Africa. From there we marched and attacked. The battle was intense, I watched so many people die in front of me.... William was one of them.'

'My heart broke, I couldn't bare losing such a wonderful friend. He was smart, funny, kind and so brave... sniff... He shouldn't have died. He should have let me be shot instead but he took the bullet for me... sniff... It wasn't fair.' Loralei said as tears rolled down her chubby cheeks. "Loralei, did you... Did you by chance fall in love with him?" Ariana asked sadly. 'I, I... yes. Yes, I fell in love with him. I fell in love with William and didn't even get a chance to tell him.' Loralei sobbed. 

"Loralei..." Ariana called out pitifully as she reached out and stroked the top of her head. 'I got revenge for him and killed the man that shot him but it made no difference William was dead! My famiy didn't want me, I was in the middle of a war and I couldn't think anymore. I went crazy with my grief and started to attack with everything I had.... I died on the batte field. Not on the same day... I died a year later in 1944.'

'If you call that living. I stopped singing for people and just sang for myself. I sang over the loss of William almost every night. Soon enough singing at night wasn't enough, I started to sing whenever I was alone. I didn't care what I was doing or what situation I was in, I couldn't stay sane unless I sang.'

'When I was on the battle field, people thought I was crazy for not staying silent, people thought I was trying to commit suicide. Instead, I killed hundreds of men and women without hesitation and soon I was known as the Siren. People celebrated me for my victories but I didn't care I was empty inside.' Loralei said as she looked at Ariana wiith tear filled eyes.

Ariana's heart broke. She didn't know such a sweet and happy soul was actually tormented, she couldn't picture herself being as strong as Loralei. "I'm so sorry." Ariana whispered as she picked up Loralei and embraced her tightly.

'When I met the Goddess I told her I didn't want my life. I never wanted those events to happen. She said that it was impossible to erase something that held such significance in history but I could erase one single moment.' Loralei said as her whole body trembled.

"So the contest?" Ariana asked. 'Yes. The contest.... Then that way I wouldn't have to exist, my family would have never been so hurt, others wouldn't had to starve to death or be caught and sold into human trafficking or, or, or...' Loralei tried to finish her sentence but her trembling was getting worse.

"Or watch the man you loved die?" Ariana asked. 'Yes.' Loralei cried , just as she finished her sentence her body started to swirl with glittering purple, gold and pearl swirls.