The Fallen Soldier

A short story I wrote to bring awareness to PTSD

“Papa, Papa!” Yells a young girl, while tugging at a mens pant legs. Her long blonde hair pulled into pigtails, dangling at her side. The man looks at the young girl and a small smile tugs at his lips.

“Go on. I’ll be right here outside the arcade. Just scream for me if you need anything, okay sweetheart?” He says to the child and she nods her head and runs into the arcade filled with never ending games. Taking a seat on a nearby chair, he took a sip of his drink and closed his eyes. He just wanted to think about his life. How it was good. How he had a beautiful daughter and a loving wife. But those weren’t the thoughts that came to mind. The thoughts that came to mind weren’t of his loving family, but of a time he wanted to leave behind…

“Sergeant! Get the rest of your team back to the camp! Hurry!” Yells His Commanding Staff Sergeant. Bombs were going off, guns were firing, and smoke was in the air. Nobody could seem to get away. Left and Right people were dying, but that didn’t stop the soldiers valiant efforts. It didn’t stop them from risking their lives and fighting.

“Sir, there’s no way out. We’re surrounded. We just have to keep fighting.” Sergeant Johnson yells back, while shooting at a few Snipers in the building above them. Just then a grenade flies into his direction, beeping, counting down the seconds until it explodes.

Just an instant before it goes off he picks it up and throws it back in the direction it came from, exploding mid air. And just then everything goes silent. Behind Enemy lines, they begin to slowly walk forward, observing everything within sight and hearing. The dead bodies of their fellow soldiers surrounding them, with every twist and turn.

While looking at all the bodies, one of the soldiers stepped on an explosive, causing the detonator to go off. Everyone around him stopped where they were standing, and slowly turned their heads towards the soldier.

The soldier doesn’t move though. He stays standing where he is, as stiff as a board, knowing that with the slightest movement the explosive would go off, killing many people, who didn’t need to die. It was quiet and there wasn’t a single word said. One look from the soldier said exactly what needed to be said.

They needed to go while they could.

Each passing man gave him one look, before they ran off in the distance… But Sergeant Johnson stayed. He stayed and offered to take the soldier’s place… To take his brother's place. He believed his brother should live. He believed his brother was a better man than he ever was. And he knew his brother had a family to go home to and to take care of. But his brother wouldn’t let him. His brother just smiled and said, “I put myself in this problem, tell my family I love them will you?”

Sergeant Johnson let a tear fall before he nodded his head, and ran towards the rest of the group, but half there he turned back to his brother, and the next thing you know there was an explosion… right where his brother stood. And next thing he knew there were shots firing everywhere once again, men screaming at one each other then,”

“Papa, look what I got!” Exclaims the young girl, once again pulling on her father’s pant leg. Bringing him out of his nightmare of a memory, a tear once again streams down his face, while he smiles at his daughter. “What’d you get?” He asks her, and she smiles and holds up a light brown teddy bear.

“I named him Mr. Bear!” She says while holding it to her chest and the father just laughs. “I like it! Now come on we gotta get home,” He says to her, while grabbing her tiny, fragile hands.