Monday, XXXX
How could you, dear one, how could you? What were you thinking? Were you even thinking at all? There are people spewing all sorts of lies to stay out of the war, and you lied to get enlisted? I know you lied, no one would even let you in with that asthma and respiratory disorder. Why would you do this? Do you not realize that this is no back alley, and no amount of tattling will save you from the enemies' bullet? When I boarded that ship that took me from the heat of hearth and home, I found solace in the fact that I left behind a mother and three sisters with enough income to land them two full meals a day, and that my best friend - and perhaps someone with whom I once dreamt of more - was safe and happily married.
What possessed you to throw all that away? Would you rather snatch a soldier's life breath than your lover's heart and last name? I know, you think you have no right to sit at home while your country people die on the field. But do you not realize, that by putting yourself at death's door, you just kill your family and mine? Sweet one, life is not only about breathing, it is about living. And you have no idea how many people cannot truly live without you. You think you are doing the right thing. Hear from me, there is no right nor wrong in war. We are just two groups of hapless humans trapped between two bloodthirsty regimes, and in the end, we are all the metaphorical scapegoats that shall be sacrificed on the bloody altar of their unfulfillable and unquenchable ambitions. I do not know what to tell you, should you try to point out asthma, you will be court- martialled. If you do not, then you will be dragged across seas and oceans to whichever pathetic place they have decided to pollute with bullets and bombs. I have no great belief in God, but again, I shall pray for your safe passage back home.
Sincerely yours,
I don't even want to sign off.
YOU ARE READING
At War
Romance"Revenge by young men is considered victory, but old men who stay at home in times of war, and mothers who have sons to lose know better." -Chief Seattle This is an anti- war epistolary novella written for ONC 2022. Prompts 5 and...
