| Fan Fiction |
by elmo
“Raymond, this’ll be your home from now on. These boys here will be your friends, and you’ll live together with them in harmony. Come on, let me show you to your room which you’ll be sharing with three other boys.” A lady took the 10-year-old boy’s hand and led him around the hostel.
Soon, they were walking past many similar rooms which were located next to each other, as curious stares from many other boys were kept fixed on Raymond and the lady-in-charge before inaudible whispers could be heard from some of them. Raymond tried his best to ignore them, since this scene of stares and whispers just triggered some unhappy memories within him. He was in this exact same situation three days ago in a hospital where his mother passed away due to lung cancer and his relatives were mostly debating over whom to take him in. He did not have a father, or to be more specific, he had no idea whom his father was since he had never seen him before. So, in the end he was sent to this orphanage by his mother’s best friend.
“Okay, we’re here, Raymond,” The lady said and the boy looked into his room, whilst the lady beckoned for a boy in there to come out, “Billy, this will your new roommate, Raymond Lam. Make him feel at home, will you?” She asked sweetly, before leaving Raymond to Billy, whom looked like he was at least 3 to 4 years older than Raymond.
“Hi Raymond, I’m Billy, the leader of this room,” Billy smiled and introduced himself before going onto the other 2 boys, “You’ll be sleeping on that bed near the window, I’m just opposite you, while the one beside you is Joseph Tong, and lastly, that corner bed…Well, he’s Bosco Wong, but since you’re a newcomer here, you better be wary of him. He’s a jinx, so it’s better to stay away from him if you can. Nobody in this orphanage dares to go near him at all.” Raymond looked over at the corner bed which Billy was pointing at. Making a mental note to remember the ‘warning’, Raymond then proceeded onto arranging and tidying up his belongings.
Due to Raymond’s outgoing and friendly personality, he managed to make friends with most of the boys near his age in less than a month. Well all except for one – Bosco Wong. He had observed that Bosco mostly kept to himself, only talking when it was necessary, and he definitely did not mind that everyone was actually talking behind his back or occasionally playing some nasty pranks on him. It was not until one day Raymond chanced upon a group of boys surrounding Bosco in the backyard garden late in the night. They seemed to be older and definitely larger in size, and Bosco seemed to be demanding something back which those boys had snatched away from him, but it was evident that he was on the losing end.
“Give it back to him.” Raymond spoke in a firm and cold tone as the supposed leader turned around and glared at this ‘intruder’.
“Scram off busybody, before you’re next.” The leader snarled at him, and before he knew it, Raymond leapt up and used a tree branch he found to whack across the leader’s head. The others were in shock at the sudden turn in events as they rushed to check on the leader while cursing at Raymond. The commotion caused the caretakers to be woken up and they went over to see what had happened.
“So who did this?” One of them questioned sternly, referring to the wound inflicted on the boy’s head.
Just as Raymond was about to answer, Bosco stepped forward and raised his hand meekly, before his head hung low, staring on the ground.
“Alright, all of you here will be serving detention for a week from tomorrow onwards,” The man said, before turning to face Bosco, “But you will be punished for 2 weeks, and also, please drop by the counselor’s office after your classes starting from tomorrow. I think you need some lessons on using violence.” With that, everyone was dismissed back to their respective rooms, while the injured boy was attended to.
As Raymond and Bosco were scrubbing the toilet’s walls, Raymond had always wanted to ask Bosco on the reason for taking up the rap for him the previous night.
“Bosco,” Raymond turned around and called his name, “Can I ask you something?”
Bosco stopped the scrubbing, “About last night? It’s nothing really. I just don’t wish for anyone to get into trouble because of me.”
Raymond walked over to his side and stretched his hand out, putting on a wide grin, “If you don’t mind, I’ll love to be friends with you.”
Bosco hesitated about accepting the handshake. Friends? He had no friends before, neither did he understand the meaning of friend. But Raymond looked sincere. Slowly, Bosco raised his hand and Raymond quickly grabbed and shook it firmly.
“From now on, we’ll share both weal and woe together! Just like brothers!” Raymond proclaimed excitedly.
It was indeed a start to the long-time friendship between both men.
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[Late August 1939, Military Airbase in London]
“Important Announcement: Our government, the French, Australia and New Zealand have declared war against Germany. Evacuations are starting in London today. All civilians are to pack up their necessary belongings and move to specified locations stated and directed by the army personnel. Please remain calm and orderly as……” The national radio, television and newspapers continually broadcast this message throughout the entire day.
“Bosco Wong!” Someone yelled out his name as he quickly switched off the radio and turned around to see who the person was.
Raymond was jogging towards him, and held out a stack of papers in his hand.
“It’s really war this time.” Raymond told Bosco breathlessly, showing him the evacuation notice.
“I knew it already pal,” Bosco pointed to the radio which he hid in his locker, “So what’s our next operation?”
“No idea. Michael refused to reveal anything yet. He’s in the midst of a meeting with the other leaders of the Army and Navy,” Raymond looked in awe at the number of fighter planes stationed in the airbase, “I think we’ll really get to fly one of these B-17 ‘Flying Fortress’ soon. I look forward to shooting those enemies down.”
Bosco thought about the news of an imminent war. He could already sense the chaos and restlessness among the people outside, because this would mean bloodshed and destruction. He would much prefer peace. But Raymond’s mentality was different from his – he felt the need to protect his country and people whenever there was a threat, thus it had always been his ambition to be able to enter into the British Royal Airforce since young. When they were still at the orphanage, Raymond often talked about becoming a pilot in future, and gradually, Bosco was being influenced by his enthusiasm, and both of them applied for the military school when they hit 18. Since then, Raymond was put under the combat unit whilst Bosco was in the first aid and mechanics section, and later, both qualified to be training pilots in the British Royal Airforce under the mentorship of Michael Miu, whom used to take part in the First World War as well.
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The lady grabbed two application forms from one of the volunteers, and quickly filled out her details before joining in the long queue leading straight into a pitched tent.
“Myolie!” Someone called out.
Turning around, she realized that it was her classmate, Selena, in the nursing school.
“Sorry, I’m late.” She said panting breathlessly.
“I’ve grabbed one for you. Fill it up quickly.” Myolie passed the piece of paper.
“Have you thought it through thoroughly?” Selena asked.
Myolie nodded, “Our country needs us now. I hope to help in any way I can.”
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[Early September 1939]
“Our mission today, “X-GN”, will be targeting the German Navy. These four warships are entering into the Atlantic Ocean, going in the direction of Poland. We are ordered to launch an air attack on these four warships.” Michael Miu stated out loud to his platoon of ten pilots.
As everyone started to get ready to set off by doing a final check on the airplanes and the ammunition required for the mission, Michael walked over to Raymond and Bosco first as it was going to be their first official assignment for the Airforce.
“Take it as a normal training like before. Don’t panic and listen to my instructions.” Michael told them, before giving a pat on their back.
“See you later, Bosco!” Raymond waved goodbye to his friend, before getting into his B-17 aircraft.
Bosco made a silent prayer first, before climbing into his seat as well. One by one, all eleven pilots listened to the instructions issued from the control tower, as they took turns to take off from the London airbase. Bosco was supposed to be the second last to take off, as his position was acting as a back-up to the front-line planes which Raymond was part of them. Flying higher above than those front-line planes, Bosco spoke into his ear-piece, “Flight Sergeant 6001 into position. Over.” After a few seconds, a reply came back, “Flight Sergeant 6001, please back-up B-17-04 and B-17-05 aircrafts. Over.” Bosco replied “Roger,” and swooped a little down towards Raymond’s and another colleague's aircraft, as they flew towards the direction of the Atlantic Ocean.
“Targets spotted! 60 degrees in the North-East direction! B-17 Front-line Aircrafts, please get ready to fire in a countdown of 10 seconds!” Michael issued his commands over the communication device, as he directed his plane down further to join the other airplanes, and only Bosco and two other pilots would be serving as their back-up.
A loud crashing sound could be heard even though Bosco was miles apart from the exchange of fires between the Germany Navy and the British Airforce. Gripping tightly onto the steering wheel, Bosco locked on the target, and pressed a button to set off the missile, before speaking into the device, “Missile launched in 5 seconds! 5…4…3…2…”
As soon as Bosco issued his order, the two front-line airplanes immediately swerved away in opposite directions, as Bosco’s aircraft flew by in between both of them with the missile being fired straight towards the warship, and then Bosco quickly turned his plane around as well. Soon, a thunderous boom exploded throughout the air. The missile had hit right on the spot as the warship was engulfed in huge flames, before it broke into two parts. Sirens could be heard from way below as the warships were sending out signals to retreat back to a safer location. Then again, another boom tore another warship apart as their enemy was thrown into a state of chaos, before it slowly sunk into the vast ocean. However, just as everyone thought that they were on the winning end, Bosco saw one of his comrades’ airplane burst into flames when the last two warships below targeted their ammunition on it. The impact of the explosion sent Bosco’s aircraft into chaos as it was not far away from the explosion, and Bosco tried to regain control of his plane whilst keeping himself calm. At that moment, he watched on in horror at the scene right in front of him. The tail of Raymond’s aircraft was on fire, and Bosco knew for a fact that Raymond’s plane may explode any minute…