World War III

“General! General!” I demanded as I pushed through the second barrier of locking doors. “A few words please!” I waved my tape recorder in his face. He brushed me aside.

“What do you want, reporter?” He asked. His eyes were grey, cold. But they weren’t tired. No, they were awake. Observing everything. I sucked in my breath.

“This new war brewing… Everyone wants to know: will it be the next world war? World War III?”

The general exhaled slowly. I detected a hint of nicotine on his breath. Cigarettes? No one’s used those obsolete addiction sticks in over fifty years. He scoffed at me, a few chuckles, then said. “You’re a reporter. Without a doubt, you’ve seen the pictures.” He glared at me. Like I was wasting his time. “Why ask a question you already know the answer to?”

I bit my lip and continued the interview. “Do you think the New Allies will win?”

He laughed again. It was deep, rich laugh. Coming from the pit of the stomach. A genuine laugh. Damn, this man thinks I’m an idiot. “Reporter-girl, you do realize I’m a five-star general for the New Allies. Right?”

“I am aware of your rank. Yes.” I held my ground. After breaking several laws to get into this room, I wasn’t gonna let his lack of straight answers dissuade me. “But you didn’t answer my question.”

“Well, my answers depend on you. Do you want a story, or do you want the truth?”

“The truth is the story!” I defended.

He shook his head at me, clicking his tongue in disapproval. “The truth is never entertaining like your stories are. Once you spin the truth, you have woven nothing but a lie.”

He looked to me once again. “So, do you want a story, or do you want the truth?”

I didn’t answer right away. A pit was growing in my stomach. I thought of my brother. He had enlisted as a volunteer for the New Allies weeks ago. He was going to get out of basic training soon. Probably going to get shipped off to fight the enemy soon.

I dropped the recorder. It clanged against the ground. Part of its plastic fragmenting off. Broken. I didn’t care. “I want the truth.”

“Very well then.”

“So, do you think the New Allies will win?”

He laughed again. “Still on that?”

“You said you’d give me the truth!” I growled, irritated.

The general grinned at me, then threw his hands in the air. “The truth is I don’t know.” Leaning forward, he added in a whisper with an almost cheerful tone. “And it doesn’t matter!”

My blood boiled underneath my skin. I gritted my teeth. It took every ounce of self restraint not to straggle this man. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

He didn’t answer. He just kept smiling.

What a fucking loon.

How could my brother giving his life to you just not matter?

“This war is going to bring about world peace, isn’t it?!” I was practically shouting at this point. Hysteric. “That’s what everyone says!”

“The ‘everyone’ who reads your stories? If people are fed nothing but lies, how could you expect anything but that to come out of them?”

“It’s going to bring about peace!” I repeated, desperate to convince myself. “The war to end all wars,” I said in a near whisper.

“That’s what they said about the first world war. The Great War. That’s what they called it. But, then there’s World War II. And I bet you, some folks also thought that would just be the end of it.”

Then he gestured to the room around us. A room with specialized military personal planning the next move. A room with maps detailing the enemy’s territory sprawled across the walls. A room with buttons that could destroy entire nations. “Yet here we are. War does not beget peace. The only thing war begets is false peace. For the remainder of our lives, yes, there may be no more war. Only because the scars of it are burned too deeply into our skin. But our offspring are born, free of marks. They do not know of our pain, our suffering. Instead, they grow arrogant in times of false peace. And once we have passed… a new war shall be born of their ignorance.”

He smiled at me. A toothy grin. He was missing a front tooth. I wanted to knock a few more out. God, I hate that smile.

“You have been fed lies all your life. A common citizen. I do not blame you. But I’ve seen the truth. Now, I’ve given you the truth. But you are not a general. You are a weaver.”