Triggerwarning: War/Violence
Chapter 7 - Blind
It was Wednesday again and Katrina rang the doorbell to the psychotherapist's office. After she heard the vibrating tone of the door opener and stepped in. Up the stairs she greeted her, leaving her coat outside the room where they usually held their sessions. The scent of books and tissues waved into Katrina's nose, as she was heading to the chair, in which she usually sat. She politely denied the glass of water which was offered to her by the therapist and leaned back into the chair. It already felt quite familiar, her body remembered the texture and softness of it.
"So, how are you doing, Ms. Brown?", the lady in front of her asked, as she sat down opposite to her.
"Well, you know. Pregnancy is keeping my mind busy at least. But the memories come back all the time, over and over again.", she murmured, folding her hands, gazing down towards them.
"I see. Maybe you want to try focusing even more on your baby. You could already do some shopping! You will see, it for sure will get your thoughts off it and lets you focus on something you love."
"I guess I will try that.", Katrina answered, even though it seemed ridiculous to head into the city centre or into Westfield and buy baby items, with all the grief she still had in her mind and her heart.
"Let us continue where we stopped last week, what do you say?"
Katrina nodded.
"You were about to tell me how you lost your eyesight. If that is okay for you, I would like you to hear more about that."
And so she started talking, thinking back to that day, that had changed her life forever.
—-
For 3 long months she has already been in Afghanistan, doing her work in the paediatric wing and being on the battlefield. She was happy that there were no major incidents that took a toll on her and her comrades and she was hoping for the next few months to pass by just as well. Her relationship with Tara grew fonder and fonder, which she was glad about. The little girl already made a big progress in learning English and was able to smile more and more. Katrina already filled out all of the necessary forms for the adoption. Her boyfriend wasn't delighted about the fact of having a new member to the family, but she assured him that everything would work out just fine by the time she would return. After all, they weren't married and she could do whatever she wanted with her life.
She waved Tara goodbye, as she was getting into the lorry that would bring them to the battlefield. Officer Watson was sitting next to her, holding his rifle in his hands, gazing into the vast steps of Afghanistan. They both were working just fine together, helping each other out where they needed it. She already learned many skills from him that were necessary for a medic in the battlefield. She always had the feeling he somehow, in some strange way, liked the thrill of being out here, being in danger. She felt guilty for not being able to say the same about her. She felt some new kind of responsibility since she met Tara and it made her nervous to know that something could happen anytime, especially when they least expected it.
Suddenly the lorry slowed down and she heard some indistinct chatter between the driver and David. She saw how the young lad took out his spy glasses and looked into the distance. Everyone in the vehicle immediately stopped talking and grabbed their rifle. And then everything happened so quickly, in her head would later only remain pictures of scenes.
"Out!", the driver shouted to the back of the lorry, and everyone got up at the same time. Katrina stumbled and fell on her knees, but she felt a strong grip at her arm, pulling her up and with him. It was Officer Watson himself, who dragged her out, almost throwing her into the dirt outside and they coughed, as the dust swirled up and got all around them. In the next moment, they heard a loud explosion. A bazooka hit the lorry and there was a huge cloud of smoke and fire behind them. Watson grabbed her again by the arm and dragged her with him. He was running through the dust, coughing, Katrina had difficulties not to fall, but she made sure to stay right behind him. He found a rock, where they hid behind.
"Listen, don't do anything stupid now, okay? They must come from cover and be prepared to shoot from behind this rock!", he whispered to her. She nodded, her eyes wide open.
Silence.
Nothing but silence. It was getting scary. Everyone of their companions had hid behind some rocks, waiting for the opponents to start shooting. But nothing happened. Watson raised his arm, so that everyone could see. He gestured that he would leave his cover, so he could see more of what was going on. He started to slowly move, looking towards the direction of where the missile came from. Everyone held their breath, prepared to start shooting. Again, nothing happened. But when Watson stood up, they suddenly heard a sharp noise and in the next second he fell onto the dusty ground, his face in a grimasse, that showed the pain he was in. His hand held onto his left leg, blood streamed out and onto the floor. Katrina gasped and without even thinking further, she lunged over to him, away from the rock, trying to pull him back to their cover. Another sharp noise. Now she was the one who fell. But the pain didn't come from her leg, but from her upper body. A bullet hit her right into the left shoulder, leaving her in excruciating pain on the ground. She turned her face to Watson, who looked at her in shock. As he tried to reach out to her, a hail of bullets started heading their direction, so he couldn't do anything but take cover again. She saw her comrades moving up, looking over the rock and started to strike back. One by one fell onto the ground, but the hail of bullets didn't stop. Instead, there was a loud sound of three lorries approaching them but they weren't from them, but from the enemy's side. More and more bullets flew through the air, Katrina was unable to hear anything but someone screaming: "Retreat! Retreat immediately!" She wanted to obey, but couldn't and in the next blink of a second, she saw her comrades running away, back to another lorry, that was obviously sent by someone from the camp. As she hoped that they would drive over to her rescue, someone grabbed her violently by the arm, pulling her into a vehicle, bringing her away. She heard male voices all around her, speaking in a language she didn't understand.
"You come with us!", someone said in a deep voice to her and she knew that she would be taken hostage.
—-
"So they took you hostage?", the therapist asked with shock in her voice.
"Yes, exactly. They brought me to their camp, which was maybe around a thirty minutes drive from the place where I was shot.", she answered. She pulled aside her shirt, revealing a big nasty scar from the bullet she caught.
"But you weren't left blind from the bullet, were you?"
"No, they tortured me. They wanted to know the position of our camp, as well as the number of soldiers there. I didn't tell them. They started whipping me first with iron tools on the back. But I kept my woman, if you can say so.", Katrina looked in the direction of the lady opposite of her, imagining the look she must have had in her eyes.
"But when it comes to my loss of eyesight,", Katrina started, "they started to point lasers into my open eyes. It was painful, it was horrible. But I still didn't tell them what they wanted to hear. I realised only after the torture, what the lasers caused. My eyesight started to fade step by step. And on the second day, when I woke up in the morning, I couldn't see anymore."
The therapist gulped.
"My comrades, led by John Watson, arrived on that day and after a huge battle they eventually were able to free me. They found me naked, injured and blind in a dirty cell and brought me back to the camp."
Now the silence was within the therapist's room. Katrina closed her eyes, leaning back into the chair, trying to feel the scars on her back, at the same time appreciating the complete peace and silence within this room.
