AUTHOR'S NOTES: I wrote this in fifteen minutes. I rambled. There was no plot or substance when I started. After those fifteen minutes, I came up with this. I haven't edited it, it's In pure undedited form. Read it as it is. Review if you want.
CLOSURE
The first thing I notice is the smell of dirt. Perhaps even grass, I don't know.
My face is buried in the dirt and grass, and the pain in my back isn't going away. In fact, it's getting worse. I feel heat, unbearable heat. I can hear screams, terrible wails of agony and pain. My senses are dulled, the world is hazy. The last thing I remember is a sharp, piercing pain in my back.
Then, I started to drift, as if I were a feather. No, wait, that's not right. When a feather hits the ground, it's a graceful and gentle landing. Much different from my situation; very different. I go down fast, and hard, but it slows down for me, just me. I'm drifting, but when I hit the dirt, it hurts.
I smell blood now. My blood? I'm not entirely sure. Blood has a unique smell. Most people don't really notice it, but I've smelled enough blood in my first two weeks out here. Blood has a smell, a faint smell. Blood smells like…death. Now I'm tasting blood. It's a crisp taste, metallic almost. I gasp, the pain's coming faster now. It's coming in short, powerful bursts.
I need to know what's going on. The screaming isn't stopping, it just continues on. It's become apart of my awareness. It's as if…my entire life has been filled with these screams. They never stop. I use all of my strength to roll over on my back. The pain comes even stronger now; I don't think I'll make it.
I see the sky, but it's clouded by something. But what? Some sort of haze…is it my eyesight? No, it can't be my eyesight, that's impossible. I'm perfectly fine. I'm at home, eating dinner with mama and papa. Aren't I?
I snap out of it. I'm lying to myself. I'm dying right here, right now. But I'm not the only one. I see more and more fall, they stop for a split second, gasp, and then hit the dirt and grass. The dust flies up.
My visions goes wonky for a second, I see nothing. Nothing but memories.
I'm at home; we're all at the dinner table. My father asks my brother to pass the potatoes. He complies. It seemed like a normal day. A perfect, normal day. Then, my brother finally mentions "it". My father slowly lays his fork down on the table, there is silence. My father simply nods his head, and leaves the table. My mother has that look on her face, that look that means bad things.
She leaves the dinner table. My brother and I continue eating, and then he gets up as well. Father cried that night, I could hear. I didn't tell brother.
The next day, brother leaves. Says he's going out with some friends. He's lying. He's not coming back. As soon as the ships arrive, he's enlisting. That's what he told father last night, but he doesn't want to say goodbye. So he doesn't.
My mind fast-forwards to a more recent memory. I'm leaving for the military just like brother. This time, I say goodbye. I won't make the same mistake as brother. He never told mama or papa goodbye, and so when he fell in battle, there was no closure. He had never told his family goodbye. I don't know much about big brother's final thoughts, but I'm sure he was hurting inside. He had to be.
As my mind waves, at least I have closure. I said goodbye. The pain is coming stronger than before now. I close my eyes, just to rest for a little while. I fade into nothingness, knowing that I have nothing to worry about, closure has been made.
I can't wait to see big brother.