The only thing that is mine is the words. The rest belongs to ABC.


Everyone has a word. The word that defines them. He's clever. She's funny. They are witty. His was coward. He is a coward.

He was a young boy. Ten or so. He had been walking in the woods. He had been told not to. But this was before. Before he was a coward. He heard a scream. A bone-chilling, soul-crushing scream. One that hurt his heart. He froze. He could not move. Could not breathe. He wanted to help. He wanted to help so badly. But he was scared. Terrified. He felt a fear that he had not felt since.

He learned later that there had been a wolf in the woods. The wolf had killed. Taken three children. Tore them to pieces. It had killed his sister. His beautiful, brave little sister. He learned that she had heard the scream. The scream that had paralyzed him with fear. It didn't paralyze her. She ran to help. She couldn't be stopped. She wouldn't stop. She was brave. And she died. He learned many things that day. He learned that courage got you killed. He learned that cowardice kept you alive. Cowardice kept you safe.

He was seventeen when he fell in love. Her name was Mary. She was beautiful. She had bright eyes. A smile that lit up a room. A voice like gold. He loved her from afar. He didn't have the nerve to speak to her.

She came to him one day. She had needed something. She smiled her smile and he could barely speak. She found him endearing. She found his shyness sweet. She liked that he listened. She came every day after that. She fell in love. Head over heels. For this shy, quiet boy who loved her so ardently. So silently.

She said it first. She knew he wouldn't. Coward. She thought it for a moment. A second. She banished the thought. He could not be a coward. She would never have fallen in love with a coward. He said it back. It was the happiest day of his life. They were married within a month. Everyone marveled at the couple. The shining star of the village and the quiet, shy, coward.

They needed more money. He knew it. She knew it. She told him to ask. He couldn't. Coward. She thought it for a minute. She banished the thought. He could not be a coward. She would not have married a coward. She asked for him.

They had a son. A beautiful boy. The devotion he had for her was nothing. Nothing. Nothing in comparison to the love he now bestowed on his boy. But the war began. The war. So many lives lost. Yet everyone was expected to do their part. His part was to fight. He was to fight with all the other men. And he was to come back with a victory. Or he was to die trying. Those were the options.

He left. Stole away into the night. He could not fight. He could not protect. Coward. She knew it. He was a coward. She had fallen in love with a coward. She married a coward. The father of her child was a coward. But she was not. She left. And took half of his heart with him.

He ran away. The only thing a coward knows how to do. Took the other half of his heart with him. They would start over. No one would know him. No one would know his boy. He would raise him well. A good boy. A smart boy. A brave boy. And one day she would return. She would see the good he had done. They would live happily ever after.

But cowards do not get happy endings. Everyone knows that.


Reviews would be fantastic. But hey...it's up to you.