The rough intolerant wind was really giving Danny a gyp. He was cold, hungry and alone. The silk mattress felt like stone as he slept on it. He suddenly realized that he was no longer needed in bed; he woke up instantaneously and hoofed towards the kitchen door.
“Instant noodles, again?” he thought, he had been consuming instant food for three years now. No one is there to cook for him, his stove were covered by spider webs: had not being used for a long time. His eyes were searching for something, and it lay on a packet o ‘Coffee-Mix’, he took the packet, tore it open and started filling the powder in a coffee cup. The water heater was turned on.
While waiting for his water, Danny stared at his kitchen table; the chairs were all in place, he realized that he never touched that table for quite a few years now. He sat on one of the seats while monitoring the living room. He remembered back a few years past when the living room was filled with joy and excitement; sounds of his kids playing combats and all were still fresh in his memory. Then he could still hear the sounds of his wife: Elena, nagging around the boys, pleading them to stop playing. Elena indeed was a loyal wife, he missed her: the way she took care of their family could not be perfectly done by anyone else.
He remembered the first time he met Elena. They were together in Oxford that time, applying for the same course: Information Management. They were indeed a sweet couple, and were married after graduation. Since then, they lived a happy life with their two children. He could still see Elena’s face; those luscious lips, a pair of cerulean blue eyes and the body that perfectionist craved: she was made perfect.
Inexplicably, tears ran down his pale dry cheeks; he remembered the boys. Drake and Justin were just as great as Elena. Drake was still an infant while Justin studied in James K. Polk International: an international school fully sponsored by The Embassy backers.
Danny works as a Librarian of Congress under the supervisions of James H. Billington from The Library of Congress, Washington. His mission was to make the library resources available and useful to the Congress, not including protecting all government information and secrets from public’s eye. A big responsibility was on his shoulders, and his life was always at risk.
He abruptly remembered that day. When he reached home from work, and as he stepped in his mansion, he didn’t hear those nuisance’s sounds from his two princes. He searched the entire building for them, but they were out of sight. He was worried and it got even worse when he suddenly realized the lost of Elena. His whole family was as if taken away from him. He became half mad; he was harassing his place while suddenly everything went black.
He opened his eyes slowly and was taken aback when he observed himself tightly blanketed with ropes. In front of him were Drake, Justin and Elena; they were also fully tided up and still unconscious.
He looks up, even higher than before, and to his astonishment; the Germans: they were the cause of this menace.
“What do you want Germans!” the faces of the generals evoke his mood towards them. “What are you going to do with my family?”
“We will let them live if you give us the information we need.” A pale, fully attired general spoke. Danny knew they wanted the information of the government, but he stated a ‘no’.
“No, I don’t have it,” he said solemnly.
“The information or your family!” The general threatened, with a long black rifle situated on the head of his wife. Danny did not know what to do. If he gave the information, he would be a rebel citizen and the chance of being killed after they got their information was undoubtedly high.
If he did not give the information, all his family would be dead-meat. He was not good at making decision so he think logically. If he sacrifice his family then the nation would never be at risk; millions of life would be save and what was the value of three life compared to the upcoming blood war of the whole nation. That was it, which was the Hobson’s choice. He took the Hobson’s choice.
“I would never lend you the information!” Suddenly, the general fired a dozen bullets into his wife’s head, making his conscious wife shrieking in pain. His wife was as if paralyzed by the gun shot. She lay in front of him, dead.
“Now!” The general cried.
“No!” he refuses. The general cut Justin’s throat out and smashed the head of Drake until he can see the remnants of the three year old bloody brain. The Germans beat him up and left him in the building. He was alone, with the bodies of Elena, Drake and Justin. The CIA turned out late to stop those bloody murders. But the Germans were caught.
The next day, the CIA entitled Danny with the Medal of Bravery for his sacrifice and bravery in protecting the national information. He took the title with soaked–eyes, crying almost unstoppably at home. He realized all that he had done for the nation only worth for a piece of metal, if he knew that earlier, he would never let The Germans hurt his family.
But that was all three years back. Now even though he was lonely, he realizes that what he did back then was the right thing to do. But he always prayed to God of his stupor, for his acts: because the line in his prayer was always, “I regretted the decision for the rest of my life”.
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