Friday, XXXX
You know, I have always been told that the battlefield makes the best friends. I have often wondered – how so? For the longest time, I have firmly believed that if I had to live with someone I did not know, in a cramped tent, eating all sorts of inedible stuff; I would have been irritated and annoyed beyond belief. But, there is some truth to it. Hell, there is more truth to it than most other things you hear around here. These friendships, I learn, are forged in fire and blood. I fear, that not even spouses and children could inspire the same amount of loyalty and respect a fellow military comrade does. It goes beyond the ordinary realm, beyond all feelings of petty jealousy and grief. Survival binds them together.
We are still at the fortress, and I'm not complaining. (Wow, that is a first.) But of course, someone was sent to recapture it, many someones – that is, and we spent the better part of the morning fending off attacks. I had settled on a niche high above the ground, and poked my rifle through a tiny hole built solely for that purpose – or so it seems – and, like always, shot. One of their guys nearly took out one of ours, and, not to brag, but I shot him. The gratitude! Oh, the gratitude! And when I brushed it off, "Only doing my duty, comrade," he looked like he would jump off planes for me. Mayhaps we take many other lives, but we always save some. You taught me to look for silver linings. Well, sweet one, I have found one. I only hope I can keep it.
Sincerely yours,
The Soldier
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...
