His Deepest Regret

Chapter 3

Checking bodies in at the clinic, at 0500 was the last thing that the head nurse wanted to do.

Unfortunately, it had to be done, it was part of her job. She was watching as two soldiers pulled

the last body out of the transport vehicle and carried him through the morgue doors. She

was waiting for the private to bring her the paperwork that identified each soldier. "A whole

platoon wiped out. Such a shame," she thought to herself. It wasn't like she hadn't seen it

before, but that didn't mean that she enjoyed the sight of it. As she was lost in her thoughts, she

thought of the encounter that she had had a couple of weeks back with a platoon that was

getting ready to go on a mission. The thought of it caused a pang in her heart and she

remembered the Lt. Colonel; he looked so tired she thought. Her mind was wondering when she

felt a tap on her shoulder. "Ma'am, we need you in here," said the private. She came out of her

stupor and nodded her head. Time to go to work, she looked out at the vehicle again. "Still no

paperwork," she said to herself. She pulled her baby brown hair up into a ponytail, exposing her

tattoo and followed the private.

When she entered the morgue she saw ten bodies lined up on the tables, covered with a

single white sheet for each. She noticed that there was a group of staff struggling at the end

table, with a hand that belonged to the last body they had brought in. She walked over and

observed for a moment. The nurse that was struggling with the hand, finally gave up and looked

at the head nurse exhausted. "Maybe you can get this, he has made such a fist that his fingers

have literally dug in to his skin." The head nurse looked at the hand, the other nurse was right he

did dig his fingers into his hand. She also noticed that there was something under his fingers, it

seemed like he was trying to protect it. At that moment the driver of the transport vehicle was

bringing in the files she had been waiting for and placing each file on the body it belonged to,

after checking each soldiers dog tag. The head nurse began to pry the hand of the last soldier

open, while the private was searching his body for a dog tag. When he couldn't find one he

threw the file in his hand on one of the tables and left. "Do we know who this tight-fisted fellow

is?" The head nurse asked, still struggling with the hand. "No ma'am," replied one of the nurses.

At that moment the head nurse was able to open his hand and she looked at the contents

inside. She pulled back the sheet and gazed upon the face of the Lt. Colonel from the other day.

His face looked peaceful, not tired, almost happy except for some streaks that she noticed in the

soot on his face. The streaks revealed clean skin trailing from each eye, as though he had been

crying. She studied the dog tag and picked up the blood spattered note that was underneath.