PHIL
The year was 1932. I don't know the day, I just know it was warm, July maybe. We were at the beach. With the waves crashing up against the sand, his hand in mine, the sun shining against the sea, it was a good memory. A good one. I don't remember what he said, it feels so long ago, but I do remember his naturally curly brown hair against his face as he spoke, and he made me smile. I was so giddy, so very in love. It sounds cheesy, but way back then, he was the most important thing to me, the one thing that made life perfect. I was happy.
That was before the war began.
The year was 1942. Ten years had passed, and so much had changed. Young men everywhere were being forced to join the British army, to fight for us, for our country. Dan was still himself, his wonderful, kind, slightly awkward self, but I could tell something was up. When I wasn't looking, I could hear him cry. It was quiet, but I could hear it. When I asked him about it, he'd simply deny it. It broke my heart, but there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. With the war happening right then, I worried about him terribly, but he refused to talk about it. He just wanted me to stay happy, stay carefree. Then I got my letter. The letter. The letter that would tear my entire world apart. I didn't even read the whole thing. I opened the letter and immediately began to cry. My name was printed in large letters at the top of the paper. My hands flew to my face, covering my mouth as tears streaked down my face. I remember Dan rushing in, the plate he had been holding in his hands crashing to the ground. He just stood in the doorway, frozen in his tracks. I found it difficult to breath, I was crying so badly. I thought it was my worst memory, the worst thing that would ever happen to me.
I was wrong.
I opened my eyes, focusing back onto the world around me, leaving my thoughts. A small tear slipped down my face, leaving a tiny clean streak on my incredibly dirt ridden face. The mud I knelt on smelled terrible, or maybe it was just me. The gun in my hand felt uncomfortable, like it didn't belong there, like I was too innocent to be holding it. Yet here I was, dressed completely in the British military uniform, my troop sent in to liberate a specific Nazi death camp. It was so dark out, I could barely see a thing.
I looked around me wildly, scanning my horizons for anyone from my troop. My eyes were wide, my heart rate increasing when I saw absolutely no one. I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. I know it was dangerous, especially out where I am, but I needed to calm down. My heart rate slowed to an average rate, so I opened my eyes. This practice immediately proved useless, as a figure slammed into me, sending me toppling backwards as my pulse skyrocketed.
When my vision cleared, I looked up to see a panicked PJ Liguori, a soldier in my troop, laying on top of me. His breaths were short, his eyes as wide as mine. "Hurry," he forced out, his voice cracking in pain. "Everything..... about to get....." Liguori started to choke, blood dripping from his mouth. My eyes widened more. I drew a sharp breath. "Bombed."
My hands started to shake. I pushed Linguori off of me, my heart beating faster and faster. I wanted to be considerate, but now was not the time. I need to know, I needed to know. "I-is D-dan back y-yet?" Linguori gently shook his head, his breathing slow. A drop of blood fell from his mouth, streaking down his cheek. My hand started shaking more. I needed to calm down, I needed to fight my impulses, I just needed to-
No.
And then I was running.
I dropped my huge gun on the ground next to Linguori. His eyes were open, but he was unmoving. I didn't care. I was running. My hard metal hat fell to the ground, but I did not stop. I could hear the shots of battle flying all around me, yet I did not stop. I needed to run. I needed to find Dan. Millions of thoughts swarmed my head, but one specific one stayed the main point of interest, the constant thing that stayed on my mind. Dan. I thought to myself. I HAVE to find Dan. If I don't find Dan-
Then I saw him.
My feet stopped, digging into the cold mud. He turned around, and our eyes locked. His eyes lit up, and his lips stretched into a grin. Seeing his delighted face in this cold, dark, terrifying existence made my heart soar. My legs went numb, and I found myself unable to move. He moved to get to me, taking a step towards me. My lips started to curl into a smile, but out of the corner of my eye I noticed a bullet flying through the air.
It was like everything was moving in slow motion. I wanted to reach out to Dan, to scream his name, but nothing came out. I watched with a shock as the bullet struck him through the back. He fell to the ground, and the sound came out. My eyes watered as they widened, my voice cracking as I screamed out his name. I tried to run out to him, but someone behind me held me back. All I could do was scream. Scream and scream until my lungs hurt. Tears streaked down my face as I screamed, and the tears continued to come even after my voice broke. My head hurt, it hurt like hell. The person holding me back tried to pull me away, tried to pull me back to the base, presumably, but I couldn't bear to be torn away from Dan. My heart hurt terribly just to think about it, but Dan couldn't be dead.
He's not... I thought, my breath staggered, tears flowing down my dirty, mud caked face. "He can't be..." I choked out. "He can't be."
"WE HAVE TO GO!!!" The man holding me back screamed, his thick northern accent cracking as he screamed over the shots of battle. "This site's about to be bombed, we have to get out of here!!"
I stopped my struggle, turning towards him shakily. Behind me stood a higher ranking officer Kendall. As calmly as I could, I whispered, "Go without me." He must have seen stubbornness in my eyes, he must have seen that I wasn't going to budge, that I wasn't leaving Dan. He nodded. I drew a sharp breath as he turned and ran. I didn't bother to watch him run. I turned towards Dan, running to his side.
I knelt next to him, placing my hand where the bullet had struck him. He had landed face down, his face now completely caked in mud. I turned him over, positioning him so his eyes looked towards the cloudy sky. I knew the stars were out, we just couldn't see them. He looked so hurt, so terribly in pain just looking up with his frozen, dead expression. I placed index finger and thumb on his eyelids gently shutting them. A calm, gentle smile found its way to my face.
"Goodnight, Dan." I murmured.
