Jr. Cadet Walker was dreaming. In the dream, he was a boy named Ben. He was a Boy Scout. His troop had been called out in the midst of a great storm to help find a missing cadet from the local military boarding school. He knew that there were dangers in going out in the storm, but he felt a strong pull to assist and do whatever he could. He and his friend and troopmate Aster had been scanning the riverfront, wearing rain ponchos and flashlights in the hopes of finding the missing cadet. They had almost finished their search of the river when Ben saw something. A dark figure in the water down by a ditch. “Aster! Over here!” he called out.
He ran to the edge of the water and saw a young man a few years older than he was. The boy was wearing a blue military jacket and was lying face down in the mud with his bottom half still floating partially in the water. Ben ran down the muddy path and grabbed his arms, trying to pull him back. He slipped to the ground and got his poncho covered in mud. The cadet’s lower body was still in the water. Any second now the force of the river could pull him further down. Ben wrapped his arms around the cadet and pulled with all of his might, but the riverbank was covered in mud, and he wasn’t making much progress. He heard Aster in the distance call out, “Over here! We think we have him!”
Ben kept holding on to the cadet, trying to find footing on the muddy bank. Just when he thought the force of the rain and river were going to pull them both into the current, he felt several other strong arms around him that dragged him and the cadet fully out of the water and onto the firmer part of the riverbank. The cadet was rolled over onto his back and several other people gathered around him, checking on him. Aster came over to Ben’s side. “You saved him!” Aster said with a smile.
“It wasn’t just me…everyone helped out!” Ben replied.
“Excuse me, young men,” a voice called out nearby. “Am I correct in understanding that you both were responsible for helping Cadet Carter from floating further down river?”
Ben looked over to see a respectable police officer standing above him. The man was covered in mud as well, but he definitely commanded an air of respect about him. “Yes…yes, sir,” Ben replied.
“Outstanding work!” the man said, shaking Ben’s and Aster’s hand strongly. “I’m Officer Stevens, and I run the boarding school these cadets attend. You know, we’re starting a junior cadet program at our school. I think some strapping young lads like you would be fine recruits!”
“Thank you for thinking of us, Sir!” Ben replied. “We’ll definitely consider it!”
The dream then shifted and soon Ben found himself in an office with his parents and Officer Stevens. “We’re glad to have Jr. Cadet Walker join our program,” Officer Stevens was saying. “He’ll be an asset to our school and our community…”
“Goodbye son!” His mother said, giving him a kiss. “Make us proud!”
“You’ve got this, son!” His father said. “You’re going to do great!”
Next thing that Ben knew, he was walking down a hallway. At the end of the hallway was a pile of clothes. Something was drawing him to these clothes. He started to feel a sense of dread. As he approached, he recognized it as one of the cadet uniforms he had seen the cadet he rescued wearing. Without warning, the uniform came to life and started wrapping itself around his body. A strong smell of body odor surrounded him. He couldn’t breathe! The clothes were going to smother him…
“Rise and shine, Jr. Cadet!” A voice pierced through Jr. Cadet Walker’s dream.
Jr. Cadet Walker found himself awakening from his bed and standing to his feet, back straight, legs together, arms at his side, and facing forward. His feet felt incredibly uncomfortable, as if he was wearing the most painfully uncomfortable tight wrapping around his lower legs. He couldn’t even see what it was, as he was forced to face forward towards a blank wall. He also felt something on his head, as if it were attached. Additionally, he became aware of a strong smell that seemed to surround him. One that was very comforting and familiar, although he couldn’t quite figure out why.
He felt thoroughly confused. He distinctly remembered the night before being behind the paintball store with his friend Aster. But at the same time, he also had a memory of enrolling in this school the night before as well. His mind was fuzzy, and he felt like he couldn’t place what was real and what was not.
“At ease, Jr. Cadet,” the voice said again. Jr. Cadet Walker found himself automatically assuming the at ease position. Three Sr. cadets walked in front of him, each wearing camo pants, green belts, military boots, and gray A-shirts. They all seemed remarkably similar, although Jr. Cadet Walker felt that the one with the faint hint of dark brown hair seemed strongly familiar to him.
“Welcome to the school, Jr. Cadet,” the one in the center said. “I’m Cadet Stevens. These are Cadets Stone and Carter. Commander Stevens has put us in charge of you here while he will be leaving to attend to business out of state. He will be here today to oversee your first day, but we will be the ones that you report to. We all hold rank over you, and you will be required to do everything that we say. Do you understand, Jr. Cadet?”
“Sir, yes sir!” Jr. Cadet Walker replied. He looked over to Cadet Carter. He instantly felt a connection to the young cadet. There was something about him that he couldn’t place, as if he were a long-lost friend that he hadn’t seen in months….He didn’t understand it, but it was definitely something that he viewed as important.
“Jr. Cadet, since you are already dressed in your uniform for the day, you will report downstairs immediately where you will eat breakfast and fill your canteen,” Cadet Carter said. “At 0530, you will report behind the school to begin your morning task, where you will be chopping wood until you are told to stop. Do you understand your orders?”
“Sir, yes sir!” Jr. Cadet Walker said, a sense of strong urgency to comply with Cadet Carter’s orders.
“Dismissed!” Cadet Stone said.
Jr. Cadet Walker felt his body immediately turn and leave the room. Without any question, he made his way downstairs to the mess hall, where he grabbed an MRE and sat at one of the wooden benches and began to eat. The meal tasted horrible, but he had specific orders from Cadet Carter, and he dare not disobey them. Still, the time eating gave him some time to think. The first thing he noticed was that his uniform did not smell very fresh. Looking down, it appeared clean, but there was a definite scent of BO surrounding him. What was odd was that it didn’t smell like his own BO. It had a very different scent to it, as if he were wearing someone else’s dirty clothes. What was he doing? Why was he here? This didn’t seem right. He wasn’t in a military school. Was he? He found that his memories were struggling to keep up with the reality facing him. He had vague memories of being a Boy Scout and being invited to this school, but that had only been a dream, hadn’t it? Another part of him remembered being attacked by living clothes in an alley. That seems more like a dream! But a part of him was telling him that those memories were important.
Whatever the case, what he was experiencing right now was no dream. His feet were already aching with the remarkably uncomfortable boots he was being forced to wear. He felt his head briefly and realized he was wearing a plastic hat. Part of him felt that it was wrong to wear the hat inside, but another part of him told him that his commanding officer had ordered him to wear his full dress uniform. Had he slept with the hat on? How was that even possible without it falling off?
He struggled to understand what was going on, but before he could put more thoughts to it, he realized he had finished his MRE. His body stood without regard to his commands and mechanically walked over to the trash can where he disposed of his trash. He found himself walking back to his room and opening a small locker. There was nothing else inside the locker except for a water canteen. He grabbed it and made his way to the only bathroom in the building, where he filled the canteen with water and drank from it.
He paused for a brief moment to look around the bathroom. There were three sinks next to the entrance, and further down he saw a line of toilets with no partition or stalls between them. Across were urinals which also had no partitions between them. The room curved around to the side where he assumed the communal showers would be. He had no time to process this as he filled his canteen once again to the brim and put the cap on. Before he could think about doing anything else, he found his body moving against his will down the stairs and outside towards the back of the school. There was a huge pile of large pieces of wood next to a chopping block and an axe. Cadet Carter stood a few feet away, watching him intently.
“Jr. Cadet, you will begin chopping all of this wood. You will not stop until you told to do so. I will be determining when you break for water and toilet privileges. Until then, you will keep at your task without stop. I will supervise your progress this morning, and Cadet Stone will supervise your progress this afternoon. Do you understand, Jr. Cadet?”
“Sir, yes sir!” Jr. Cadet Walker replied. He grabbed a piece of wood and the axe. He put the wood on the chopping block. He started to lift the axe, but it felt heavy and clunky in his hands. Part of him told him he had no idea how to chop wood and he would probably end up chopping his foot off instead.
“Hold, Jr. Cadet!” Cadet Carter ordered. Jr. Cadet Walker froze, his arms shaking but still maintaining the grip on the axe.
“You’re not holding that axe properly, Jr. Cadet. Allow me to show you how to do this properly.” Cadet Carter moved next to Jr. Cadet Walker and began to reposition him. The nearness to Cadet Carter made Jr. Cadet Walker’s heart fill with excitement. Cadet Carter was clearly the best of all of the Sr. Cadets, and he felt so proud that Cadet Carter was working with him this morning. He listened intently as Cadet Carter walked him through cutting the wood, showing him the best tips as to how to stand, how to swing the axe, how to position the wood…The more that Jr. Cadet Walker worked with Cadet Carter, the more he felt that he had to do whatever it took to make Cadet Carter proud of him. His doubts from the morning were for now forgotten. This was where he was supposed to be.