my one-shot book

the fallen soldier

Here I was, laying in this garden of death with the feeling of fluffy grass on my face. the sound of guns and planes filling the silence, along with the clank of medicine bottles around me. All I could focus on was the distinct smell of gun powder and dirt as the life I had flashes behind my eyelids, my family, friends, pets, and homes. But I can't seem to hold on to any of them.

-----10 years ago-----

I could smell the food being made in the kitchen, my mom making my favorite enchiladas. I was graduating tomorrow, both of my parents happy I was able to get this far. I was sitting on the couch in our living room with my dad, but both of us just playing on our phones, he was glancing up at me every few seconds.

"Josh" I hear him say out of the blue. I look up at the aged man, him smiling at me.

"Dad?" I question as all he did was smile; not a rare occurrence in the house. His gray hair showing through his dark head, the crinkle by his eyes ever-present and dirty clothes from working in the garden outback with mom's crops.

"When I was your age, I was aiming to fly one of those aircraft carriers." he sighs as we all know he was never able to get that far, but we were happy he tried. I smile at him both of us knowing I wanted to make it into the army.

"I know dad." I sigh as I take the breath, I catch a whiff of the food mom was working on. We both get up moving to the table as we hear mom yell out.

"Food" we hear moving quickly making sure to wash our hands. After we sit down mom walks in with the food, her dressed in an apron and a chef's hat with her blond hair waving down her back and her body moving to the soft music in the kitchen. She glides over to the table where both dad and I were seated our mouths almost leaking as we smell her masterpiece. She set the food on the table and we both have to hold back our hands. She sits at the head of the table as we wait for her to pray as we hold our hands together.

"Smells good hun" dad praises as she smiles at us.

"Thank you, now, thank you Lord for this food and our son for this school and our house, I hope we can meet like this again after today." she prays, and we smile at this, our heart's warming at my mother's words. She ends with "amen" and we follow suit.

"Amen," we all start serving ourselves, making sure we all got some of the food. As we eat I can see my mom slowly breaking down, as silent tears fall down her face and she puts her fork down and shoves her face into her hands.

"My baby" we hear somehow through her sobs. Dad and I run-up to her trying to comfort her but I can see a few tears in my father's eyes as he hugs her.

"Josh, we are so proud of you" he sniffles a few stray tears making their way down his face, as he looks down at his wife.

"Mom, dad I love you," I tell them as the memory fades and it moves on.

-----2 years later-----

I jump up, the drill my commander told us to do halfway done. I was still in training. We were inside today, the cold tile under my hands as I do my push up. I feel my arms strain to keep me up as he told us to pause.

"What are you here for cadets?" he yells at us.

"To fight" we all yell out knowing the answer, as we have been doing this for a year. The training we have gone through is almost done.

"What are you fighting for?" he yells again, we all keep our position.

"U.S.A." we yell back still in a plank position, our faces still blank as we sit.

"Relax" he smiles at us, his face wide as we were a class of behaved cadets. We listened and made sure we got the drill done and he holds his hand to his head in a salute "good work cadets" he yells at us " take the rest of the day off." We all look at him like he grew a new head as this was out of character for him, "move maggots" he yells we all scrambled to get out of the stuffy room he put us in. We all go our different ways, some following me and others going out on their own, as we all start talking.

"Hey Josh" I hear someone yell at me and I look back to see who.

"Hey, Dustan what's up?" I respond back as he runs up to me.

"Where you going?" he questions walking beside me, slinging his arm around my shoulders holding me close. It's slightly awkward as he is shorter than me, he is known as the goofball of our unit.

"Just to the canteen," I tell him not stopping with my stride.

"Great we can get some grub" he cheers walking slightly ahead of me. After a while, we get to the canteen, and Dustan goes and gets some food for us. I see a nurse walk by, her uniform like ours but a small badge on her right breast, and her hair flowing behind her from her high ponytail as she gets her own food. As I watch her she looks behind her making eye contact with me, her amber eyes sparkling in the sunlight and her pale skin shimmering with them, she just smirks at me and walks away and Dustan walks up to me with the food.

"Hey man, what you watching?" he asks as he follows my line of sight.

"Her" I almost whisper, as she leaves the canteen and walking away from us.

"*whistles* dam dude she's hot" he sighs "too bad shes probably taken" he shakes his head at that thought. I just keep staring at the exit while I munch on a piece of bread.

----3 years later----

I found one, a puppy and I bring it to the compound keeping him hidden in my bag as I walk in. I made sure I had everything I needed for him. I brought the puppy into the compound and I see her, Lucy, the nurse from 3 years ago. We both got assigned to the same squad, not long after we got here I had talked to her, it was fun, she didn't seem like the others, she used her smarts to keep up with them. But she was a very compassionate person, so I brought the puppy for her to keep her ahead of the game.

"Lucy!" I yell out to her as I see her walking around. She turns her head to me. Over the years she has cut her hair to match the profession, so now she has short black hair and her badge still proudly displayed on her right breast as she smiles at me.

"Hey Josh what's up?" she waits for me to get to her as we stand in the middle of the road. I pull off my bag and she can see the movement inside of it.

"I got you something, come on," I tell her walking to her bunks as she follows. Her watching the bag I am holding, we get to her bunk and I set the bag down on the floor and the puppy pops its head out of the bag yipping at us.

"Aww, puppy" she coos at the puppy picking it up and holding it in her arms.

"Yeah I got it for you" I rub the back of my neck in embarrassment, as she coos at the puppy cuddling it in her arms. We hear the siren we both freeze, and she puts the puppy back in the bag and I just smile at her.

"We better get going" she sighs at me, and I just nod moving quickly and make my way to my own bunk getting my self ready to do this.

And then they start.

-----5 years later (present-day)-----

We are here, the bombs sounding, airplanes and guns shooting. we were marching our way through our guns ready to fire at the slightest movement of the terrain as we walk. It all was coming down we could still hear the camp from where we were the nurses scrambling to help the injured. The commanders yelling at the scared to get out there. We are border patrol keeping the people at camp safe as we walk, I could hear the people from in front of us getting shot at, I saw something move.

"Hold" I whisper the people behind me staying still as we watch. I hear the sound of my squad going down all of them shot I frantically turn around looking for this thing or the person who shot them, but I just look down showing defeat and I hear the person walk out of the brush.

"Already?" they ask I just sigh and look towards them, they just shake their head "Oh well, bye bud," they say I turn my gun to them pulling the trigger, but he beat me to it and shots me. I can tell I got him from his destressed grunts but, I feel my life divide away from my body as I lay there, the fluffy grass on my face and the clank of bottles from the camp and the sound of bombs going off with guns following lastly I hear is a soft whisper.

"Where did you go, Josh?"