Call of Duty Oneshots (Mostly Ghost)

sunsets.

The light breeze felt refreshing against my damp cheeks as it twirled the ends of my hair, but nothing compared to its embrace when I had no one else's comfort at hand. Cool, invisible arms were better than nothing.

Yellow pools danced with the orange hues of the sky, and I marveled at how the horizon's fiery painting grew so quickly as the sun disappeared. Transparent bars of gold beamed past pink clouds while the light blues above my head darkened with each passing second.

I wrapped my arms tighter around my middle to overlap the crisp air's caress, fingers clinging onto the sides of my grey jumper.

Lower and lower the sun plunged to the ground, the sky lowering its circadian lover in a sensual dip after a full day of waltzing in dizzying orbits between overcast azures and various hovering entities.

And yet when faced with such beauty, I was stuck in tumultuous memories. Thick and dense, they saturated me as if I had been caught in the throes of a relentless thunderstorm, soaking me to my weary bones.

One year.

One year it took for the task force to break me.

Maybe it was time to accept that happy endings were never for me.

00:36

"Soap! Help me!"

I shuddered as the echoes of my own shrieks reverberated through my head. My throat still ached from the desperation and panic that tightened around my neck as if someone's grip had found its way to wring the life out of me.

00:34

"There's no helping them, we have to go!"

He'd pulled my arm so aggressively that I initially thought he'd pulled it out of its socket, and both my knees continued to burn from how I skidded against concrete when I fought back. My whole body suffered from my retaliation.

00:31

"No! John! We can help! Please-"

He then yanked me upright by my vest and didn't even let us finish the argument before he dragged me out of the stifling room that the imminent presence of Death was about to briefly sweep through.

I could only look back helplessly at the confused child who had been used to bait me as the clock ticked in reverse, the numbers blazing across their chest.

00:21

Their little legs had tried to follow, but our legs were longer.

Their eyes were so wide with fear...

And so were mine.

He could have done it.

Helped me save them.

My jaw ached with more unshed tears, and I shivered through another gust of wind pushing against my tired back.

Toes flirting with the edge of the rooftop, I teetered gently, not yet ready to end the final act as the sky had not finished its routine. I couldn't upstage it like that; that would be rude.

Funny how I'd never stood a chance against stage fright, but here I was for the whole world to see. Just the thought made my palms and pits perspire.

"Big jump," a familiar voice came from beside me, and I didn't even need to look to see who had joined.

"Yep," was all I muttered, my eyes still glued to the bleeding horizon, not the ground below.

"Lots of paperwork. Even bigger mess to clean."