A Nightmare's Fate

The Nightmare

Chapter One: The Nightmare

I hear gun shots, screams, and cries.

            There is nothing more frightening than the scene I'm seeing. The ground shakes like a volcano had erupted. Boiling hot lava bursting out like all the demons have come forth to claim their prizes and torture them in such ways that cannot be described. That's what it felt like with the grenades going off. It was more fearsome with the explosions rising in the air, letting everyone see a peek of the fiery pits of hell before the paroxysm burst into ashes, having it all fall to the ground like paper, so delicately. It makes me scared, to believe that I was going to be bombed and slightly see my next destination before dying.

            I was only in the army for two years, then I quit. I couldn't take the horrid time being in there. It was like living in a nightmare, but never waking up. I'd stay awake at night, re-living the past over and over again. Hearing the dreadful screams from those all around me. Listening to the grenades going off and waiting until the explosion rises into the air and everything bursting in flames; it’s something I just wasn’t able to take.

            My father wanted me to go into the army and I finally said yes, but after those two years of torture, I gave up. I remember feeling bad because he wanted a son, and I’m his only child, and I thought it would be fine—I thought it would bring him back to my mother after cheating, but being so naïve and young, it never happened.

 I thought it would be easy, since my father was in there and he told me there weren’t any wars he battled. Though, there was once when he and his group were on a plane on an island where a small war was happening and they sat there for eight hours doing nothing. No talking, no bathroom breaks, nothing. But it turned out fine. My father told me that everyone was scared that day since no one knew what would happen.

But I was in a small war once, ending up to be a few months out in the field out in Afghanistan.

            The whole scenery burns in the back of my mind; the hot weather, the sun's rays bubbling upon my skin, needing water but no sign for it––I'd be a coward if I complained about needing water.

            The humidity made me sweat, including the army suits we wore. The streets around the deserted town were filled with a hundred soldiers, fighting for survival. The most tragic scenes are when my closest friends are blown to bits without even knowing what was coming for them.

            That's how I can picture the death of Kenton.

            My shrieks don't come out of my mouth within my dream, instead I'm screaming in reality. But I’m not waking up. It doesn’t feel like I’m screaming outside of my nightmare, but I am.

            For the reason why I’m yelling is because I can see a perfect picture of Kenton smiling at me, acting like all is fine, and then suddenly, a grenade is set off and blows him to pieces. That same picture is replaying over and over again, which is why it haunts me.

            "Raven! Raven, wake up!" I hear a faint, familiar voice.

            "Kenton! No, Kenton!" I shout, still reiterating the part in my head.

            "Raven, wake up!" Periwinkle shakes me even harder, finally waking me up. My eyes flutter open, noting that I’m in sweat. I feel around me, checking if I am in reality. "It was only a nightmare." She calmly notes, rubbing my cheeks as I notice that she's wiping off my tears or sweat, or both.

            "It felt so real––I . . . Kenton died . . ." I stutter, hoping she understands me through my sobs.

            "It's fine, you don't know how he died, you weren't there, and all you know is the small facts."