Thomas Anderson

"Thomas, wake up!" That's the first thing Thomas Anderson always hears in the morning. His mother screaming at him to wake up. And every single time, he stays in bed. His mother walks up to his bed, "Tom! Wake! Up!" His mother yells. Thomas groans. 

"Ten more minutes..." He says with a low, whiny voice. His mother sighs. 

"Get out now, otherwise I'm gonna pour water on you." 

"Yeah, sure. Do what you want." Thomas mockingly says, turning around and stuffing his face into a pillow. A few minutes later, Thomas' mother walks back next to the bed, with a cold cup of water. She pours it on Thomas. He yelps. "You-are you crazy!?" He yells, looking at his wet bed. His mother slaps him in the face. A red mark can be seen on his cheek. 

"Don't talk to me with that tone, young man!" She yells. She points towards the bathroom. "Go get ready for school, now!" She screams. Then she turns around and heads towards the kitchen. Tom stares at her, and then groans. He gets off the bed and heads towards the shower. Fast forward ten minutes and he's at the door. His father had already left for work.  "Have a good day at school, Tom!" His mother yells out as he opens the door. Thomas nods. 

"Yeah..." He says. Thomas walks out of his room and headed towards the stairs. He walked down three floors, and finally found himself in the lobby. He headed out of the hotel. The bustling New York city stood out in front of Thomas, but it wasn't a cheery city that's for sure. Men and women walked alongside the streets, with dreary expressions on their face. People were begging for money on the streets, and children were working jobs, all thanks to the great depression. And now there was the war in Europe. The war that would come to be known as World War II. Thomas sighed. Then he heard a familiar voice. 

"Tom!" The voice came from the right. He looked towards the right side of the hotel, and saw his friend Harry approaching. He smiled. 

"Hey, Harry." He says. Harry grins. 

"C'mon, buddy. Let's head over to the school." He says. He begins sprinting, and Thomas isn't that far behind. Both of them run, as fast as they can. Soon, they arrive at the school. Harry is barely fazed by this run. He has a lot of muscles, and his very tall for his age. Thomas, on the other hand, is skinny and has incredibly short hair. He's not very tall too. They both enter the school, and see multiple people standing around a few students. Harry heads over to the crowd, alongside Thomas. They look into the middle of the crowd, and see a Japanese student beating up two American boys. The crowd is shocked by the fact that a single girl, a Japanese girl no less, can beat up two strong white boys. 

"What's happening?" Thomas asks to someone in the crowd. They look back at him.

"Oh, well see, that Japanese girl, Sakura, was getting bullied by those boys. Then she beat the life out of 'em." The student explains. All of a sudden, the students hear a few adults coming. All the students turn around and look at the teachers, who come and slap Sakura. 

"Why would you beat up these students!?" One of them ask. Sakura doesn't say anything. She just stares at them. She stares at them with hatred in her eyes. And then her gaze turns to Thomas. Thomas is taken aback by this. He gulps. One of the teachers slap her again. "Don't look at him! You should be looking at us!" Sakura sighs. 

"I'm very sorry, instructors. I'll try not to let this type of event occur again." She says. A breeze of wind blows by, and her beautiful black hair flows in the air. Thomas is enchanted with it for a few seconds, before coming back to his senses. The teachers sigh. Then they turn to the entire group of students. 

"All of you! Head to your classes now!" They yell. The students all gulp and run inside the building. Sakura heads inside the building too. Harry sighs. 

"We better head to class too. C'mon, Tom." Thomas nods. They both head inside the school, and head to their classes. As Thomas is walking, however, he sees a girl and a boy arguing. Erica and Samuel. Boyfriend and girlfriend. They're the literal meaning of the phrase: "opposites attract." Samuel is part of a poor family, but is incredibly headstrong and confident. Erica, on the other hand, is part of a rich family, one that hasn't undergone any suffering thanks to the great depression, and is very frail. Thomas wasn't really friends with them, in fact he actually doesn't really like them. However, he does think that they are good people, regardless of his feelings on them. But they rarely argue, so why would they be fighting like this, right now? He didn't have time to ponder the answer though. Teachers had began prowling the halls, yelling at students to head to class. Thomas runs towards his first class of the day. Harry is waiting for him. When he sees him, he gives a thumbs up before he heads into the class. Thomas opens the door quickly, and heads to his seat. School has begun. 

                                                                           .....

Seven hours later, and school has concluded. Thomas walks out of his final class of the day, yawning and stretching. Harry walks over to him. 

"Tom, I can't head home with you today." 

"What? Why not?" Thomas asks. Harry shakes his head. "I have some important business," He explains. "I'm going to have to meet up with someone. Its pretty important." Thomas sighs. 

"Well, its alright. Have fun." He says as Harry begins walking away. Harry waves at him, before running out of the building. Thomas groans, before heading out of the school. Then he sees the Japanese girl. Sakura. She's looking at him. She's wearing a cold, emotionless expression. Almost as if she's analyzing some sort of situation. As soon as she sees that Thomas has noticed her, she lets out a loud "Hmph!" And walks away. Thomas scratches his head. What was that all about?  He thinks. Thomas continues out of the school. However, instead of heading to his house, he's now heading to his job. During the great depression, children worked to support their families by earning money, and Thomas was no different. He headed to a factory, a few miles away if you walk, and entered it. The kids there were breaking up cole for the cole mines. A few were being sent behind machines by adults in order to fix it. Some were putting objects in a few boxes, and others were cleaning. Thomas sighed and went to work. He worked and worked and worked until it had became dark. He was sweating, covered in dust and miserable. 

"Good work today, Thomas!" The owner yelled out to him from the other side of the factory. Thomas gritted his teeth. 

"Just pay me, please." He asked. The owner laughed. 

"Yes, yes! You'll get your pay tomorrow!" Thomas sighed once again. He was supposed to get payed today...

Well, its fine. He thought. I'll ask for it tomorrow, and if he doesn't give it, I'll confront him about it. He walked up towards the entrance and left. His arms hurt like anything. He just wanted to go and sleep now. The moon is in the night sky, radiating with light for all to see. He stares at it for a second, before continuing on his way. The streets are very empty now, for some reason or another. Eventually, he enters a street where no one can be seen. He's completely alone. Thomas feels a little bit of fear, when he's in the dark, all alone. But he's not alone. A man slowly walks out of the shadows, with a wide grin on his face. His brown hair is shiny and is kept in a messy state. He has a small mustache, right above his dirty teeth. The man waves. 

"Hey, kid! Are you Thomas Anderson?" He asks. Thomas slowly backs away, while nodding. He's scared. What if this man hurts him? What if he kidnaps him? What if he kills him? Thomas was always the type to assume the worst in every situation. The man groans. "Look, little shit. I can feel your fear. I know you're scared." 

"I- I'm not scared!" He yells back. The man laughs, before going into a serious expression. 

"You're not fooling anyone, least of all yourself. Now, shut up and listen to me. I won't hurt you." He says. Thomas can sense it. This man is dangerous. I should just listen to what he has to say so I can get out of here... He thinks. The man walks up to Thomas, and opens his mouth. 

"Now, before I congratulate you, I should probably get introductions out of the way..." He mumbles. "My name is Takae!" He says. 

So he is Japanese!  Thomas thinks. 

"And congratulations!" Takae yells.

"Congratulations?" Thomas repeats, in a confused voice. Takae winks. 

"Yes, congratulations! You have been chosen!" He yells. 

"For what?" Thomas asks. His eyes are darting around. He's still looking for ways to escape. But what Takae says next peaks his interest a little. 

"You have been chosen to participate in the Sacred War!"