Reflection
It was a quiet night, and Isan like it. He and his two friends in the car had been out all night, celebrating the end of the 4 year-long campaign they had fought in. It was a time of relaxation and reprieve, before they were sent off to the next war zone in some far-off hell hole.
Such was the life of a soldier.
"Aw damn it Urvi, did you honestly have to drink all that?"
Urvi, being much more than slightly buzzed, merely groaned in reply, and continued to lay sprawled over the back seat of the car. Jan was riding shotgun, and Isan himself was driving, considering he was the only one of the trio who didn't drink.
They rode in silence for the next few minutes, listening to some songs on the radio. Isan himself reflected on what he'd been through again.
War. Fire. Death. The air filled with energy. Bodies, bodies everywhere. And a single flag planted on the ground. All that for a flag on the ground in some far away, remote hell.
Suddenly, Urvi stirred a little and spoke, the alcohol clearly affecting her speech.
"Hey....Isan...........You ever thought about when you'd die?"
"What?"
"You heard me....."
"Of course. Every single time someone shoots in my general direction. Why?"
"No, no, no, no....I mean, not IF you'd die....but WHEN you died...what then..."
"I don't know...I guess it means just that. Bam. I'm dead. Something tells me I'll be too busy being dead to care."
"Yeah...but you ever wonder what Jan'd think? What I'd think?"
"....Not really no...."
At this point, Jan scoffed, and turned his head to face out the window.
"Urvi, you're drink. Just give it a rest."
"Hey..I'm just.....wondering......."
Isan yawned, and focused his eyes on the road, up above, the stars twinkled, a silent testimony to the new era, however brief, of peace.....