Saying Goodbye.

It rains...

Everywhere blood rains, down from the skies and onto my skin.

It burns... oh, it burns.

The feeling of fire, it tears at your heart, rips your lungs apart.

All you feel, the rain and the fire, fire and rain. You hear their cheers, their claps, joyous as they torture you.

You used to wander free, a soldier no more. You saw your first child born, and you remember the first laugh, the first smile that spread across her face, the one you loved so dearly. You remember her first steps, the day she spoke her very first words; your name. You hear it in your ears now, replacing the laughs and the cheers around you. “Daddy,” she says, over and over, like a tape playing in the background. You long to see your daughter, to hold her in your arms. Just yesterday you promised you'd be home soon...

Your wife, her dark brown hair and her bright blue eyes. Each time you looked in them you saw a reflection of yourself; the pieces of your soul that had always been missing, until you found her. Without her you'd be incomplete. You remember the tears in her eyes the day of your wedding, the day you were finally bound; by one promise. A promise that would always be kept.

But then the happy memories fade, and flashes of the future come to your eyes. You see your daughter, confused by the news as tiny tears drip down her cheeks. You see your wife, trying to hold in the tears, trying to be strong for her daughter... the daughter she must raise on her own.

You see your mother, your father, a funeral procession and an American flag in your wife's hands. Finally she lets the tears fall, for once in her life she shows her emotions, falling from her eyes as she grieves her loss, as she sees the years ahead, ones that will be lived without you.

The fire reigns over you now, choking you. Soon the images start to fade, capturing random moments from your childhood, from the years of innocence. But you will not cry, you will not be weak.

You feel yourself slip into the darkness, and then you feel release. There is no more pain, and the fire has subsided. Instead you feel ice, soothing your wounds, destroying the flames. You feel yourself rising, and slowly you open your eyes.

You've been swept into the future. You see your wife's tears at night, see her kneeling on the floor in your room, longing for your presence but knowing she will not find it. You see your daughter, awake in the other room, hearing her mother's sobs but never knowing how to comfort her. You reach out to hold your wife's hand, reach out to make your presence known. But you watch from behind glass, a wall that cannot be crossed.

It rains....

Everywhere, tears rain, down from the skies and onto your spirit.

The feeling of loss, it tears at their hearts, rips their lungs apart.

But all you feel... is peace. You pull your hand from the glass, and you let go. You feel yourself rise, up from the ground and towards the clouds in the sky. You let go, so you can live.

She glances out her bedroom window, having just lost her husband. Her soldier. Rain falls from the sky rapidly, as her daughter sleeps in the next room. Tears drip from her eyes, and she holds a picture of the man she loved, still longing for his presence.

Then, slowly, she raises it to her lips, gives him one last kiss. Imagines the feel of his hands in hers, of his strength protecting her, keeping her just as strong.

One word fills the night then, as a spirit is lifted into the Heavens and a grieving widow weeps. One word escapes from both of their lips, as they catch their last glimpses of each other, before he escapes the world and before his picture is placed back in the drawer. One word, they both whisper.

“Goodbye.”

Reviews

[Zeitgeist Manifesto]

Powerful imagery. A story that triggers feelings of being dipped in
boiling water. You have reached a personal place inside. I know this
story all too well...but it must be told.