One Word Short Stories

War

My hands were bloody and caked with dirt when the bomb went off. My head was bowed over the body of my fallen comrade when the bomb went off. Tears were tracing paths through the dust that had settled on my face when the bomb went off. It wasn't dropped anywhere near where I was, but everyone on the battlefield still heard it when the bomb went off.

Bullets flew through the air. I ducked back down into the trench, as a bullet from the America lines came flying into the space where my head had been previously. I took a deep breath before poking my head up out of the trench again. I peered through my scope at the enemy lines before firing off a shot. The bullet hit the American soldier in the head and he dropped, obviously dead, to the ground. I quickly pushed unwanted thoughts out of my head, knowing that I couldn't think. I had to numb myself, or I'd never survive. I quickly moved my scope till it was fixed on another target. Another shot, another body falling to the ground. Over and over. I couldn't tell you how many I had killed, there were too many that had died at my hand. I tried to tell myself that I was doing what I had to do to survive. But the unwelcome thoughts came creeping back. The face of a recent victim came into my head. "His poor family" my mind leered at me "They will be inconsolable. Imagine the screams of agony from his mother, his wife, his children. The family will be torn apart and it'll be all your fault." I let out a wail and dropped to the ground, head in my hands. It took a couple of minutes before I was able to calm myself down, and when I raised my hands out of my hands, I was greeted by a pair of blank, unseeing eyes staring back into mine. I took in a sharp breath before my eyes focused in on the body laying in front of me. I hadn't personally known the man, but I vaguely recalled his name, Akihiko Saburou. And while it was difficult for me to remember his name, I quite clearly remembered how his wife had clutched him tightly before we left and, while sobbing into his shoulder, had begged him to come home to her and the children. He had promised that he would before giving her a final kiss goodbye. It looked like Akihiko would not be able to keep that promise to his wife I thought bitterly. It was then, when the tears began to fall down my cheeks. I had never met this man before, yet here I was crying over his body. I didn't just cry for Akihiko, I cried for his family, and all the American soldiers that I had killed, along with the families they had left behind.

The battlefield had long been emptied of Japanese and American soldiers alike when I had finally managed to pull myself back together. Once I took in my surroundings I realized that the army had already packed and moved on, leaving me behind. That meant that I would have to make the journey back to the military camp in Hiroshima on my own, on foot, unless I managed to find a ride. That was when the screams began. I looked up startled, and in the distance an enormous mushroom cloud was rising up above the city of Hiroshima. I could hear the terrified cries coming from the city. I ran towards the city, and when I arrived in the city, hands on my knees, panting heavily, there were bodies littering the streets. Hundreds upon thousands of civilians lay dead on the streets. Women, children, elderly. They were all dead. A few more people were still staggering through the clouds of dust and radiation that the bomb had left in its wake. I collapsed to the ground. I couldn't comprehend what had happened, and before I knew it, I had passed out. 

When I finally woke, it was to the sterile white ceiling of a hospital. There was an IV connected to my arm and a doctor had just entered the room. "Oh, you're awake now." The doctor stated mildly, in an almost bored tone. "You will be fine, we just wanted to take you in and run some tests after you collapsed in the street." The doctor handed me a piece of paper to sign, stating that I was fine and stuff. 

 In the days following the bomb explosion, our war with America eventually came to an end. The populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had been decimated, however, and many people were extremely shaken. I for one, had nightmares every night. I knew it was something that I would never be able to escape. And while the war was over for the citizens of our nation, the war would never be over for those of us that fought. The memories would always be there, and they would never leave.