Author's Note: "My goal was to write a creative piece using correctly formatted dialogue so that is why I wrote this piece."
Dear Katherine,
Today marks my 417th day away from you. With
every passing day I find myself missing you more and more. I miss your smell,
your touch, the way you always made me feel safe. I long for the days when we
were together, as a family. The army is
a cruel place, filled with hatred and anger. Every man for themselves. But I know that I
will never be alone. I will forever have you and the kids, little Timmy and
Jack, to stand by me and support me
throughout life’s hardships. But I know
that I will see you soon, in just a couple of months things will be all back to
normal again and it will all be over. All this separation that we’ve had to go
through and all the nights I couldn’t sleep because I was worried about you and
the boys will be worth it because we will be reunited at last. There is nothing
I want more than to see you and the boys, nothing.
It’s getting late so
I know I must go to sleep soon but I will write to you again soon, I promise.
Remember I’m doing this for you, and the kids of course, but just remember that
no matter how far away we are I’ll always be in your heart. I love you
Katherine. See you soon.
Forever Yours,
John
~*~
As I finished writing I put the pencil and extra papers
neatly inside my dark green duffel bag and zipped it up tight. Careful not to
burn myself, I put out the candle and climbed into my sleeping bag and drifted
away.
The fumes of burning bodies and death cause me to awaken
from my deep slumber.
“John, wake up,”
yelled one of my platoon members into my ear. I burst to life and was up
on my feet within a couple of seconds. I grabbed my sleeping bag and shoved it
in my duffel bag as fast as I could. We ran outside of the tent trying not to
be seen. Sparks light up the night sky and fire surrounded our campground. I
rushed to help one of my fallen platoon members but it was too late, he was
gone. I knelt down beside him and said a quick prayer in his honor and for his
wife and kids back home.
“John come on,” my platoon leader shouted among all the
flames and chaos. I rushed to his side and as we gathered all the other members
of our platoon I realized that I had left my letter back in the tent.
“You guys keep going, I’ll meet
you there.” I called out to them. I sprinted through the forest and dodged
burning trees desperately to get back to the tent. Just as I was 10 yards away
the tent exploded and I was flung back into the trees. I took a pretty nasty
fall and hit my head severely on a tree trunk. I touched my now throbbing head
and realized I was bleeding very badly; I tried calling out to my platoon
members but they were much too far away to hear me. My vision began to blur and
I felt all my limbs turn numb. A blacked out to the sight of flames burning away everything in it's cold dark path.
~*~
My eyes fluttered open to a very harsh light and as my eyes
adjusted I realized I was surrounded by people, people I didn’t know. I tried
to touch my head to see if my wound had swollen but my arms and legs were locked
down to the table I was laying on. Where
am I?, I thought to myself.
“He’s alive sir,” I heard one of the men whisper.
“What are we supposed to do with him?” asked another.
My memories started to come back and as I continued to gain
my consciousness I realized that these men that were surrounding me were the
enemy. Leaders of the countries that were trying to destroy my troops.
:O
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