Rated T due to violence. (In other words, if this offends you, just don't read my story.)
Helpless
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Written by Robert W.
[ Shaden ]
I kneeled over in a puddle of mud, tears flowing down my beat red face as I choked back another sob. My hand was wrapped so tightly around a metallic badge, which listed my name and troop number, that my knuckles were throbbing white. I pulled it close to my face, hands trembling, and kissed the necklace. My lips barely touched it as I wept and let my hand fall back to the ground. I inched forwards a bit, my body sloshing in the water which was running downhill into a new formed pond - even in the shadows of night I could see the dark red taint of blood filling it. I looked up, my body shaking uncontrollably and water droplets blinding my vision. Before me lie a woman, her eyes were still as she stared lifelessly into the heavens. I trailed my hand over to her skin and rubbed my knuckles softly down the side of her cheek. Her skin was icy to the touch.
I sobbed again and slid closer to her unmoving body, letting my head fall nearer to her own. “Why?” I whispered, my lips falling against hers. It felt like minutes had gone by when I pried myself away from her. I cursed in between wheezes, trying to let all my anger out, but to no avail.
Thunder rolled by vainly, followed by a twinkle of violet lightning. The rain seemed to fall only harder now, as if that was even possible. I dragged myself to my feet and wobbled over to a combat rifle one of the enemy soldiers had dropped. I rose to my knees and locked my fingers around it, slowly pulling the weapon up against my chest.
“Why?” I said out to the heavens again, followed by a stream of blood from my mouth as I reeled over in pain. The rifle began sliding from my grip but I pulled my last bits of strength and stood up with the weapon at arms and faced a battalion of foreign soldiers who were lining up several other townspeople against a wall. With all my remaining stamina, I pulled the trigger and roared loudly. Several soldiers spun to look at me, some taking cover, expecting bullets to come soaring out of the gun. However, just a soft click emerged, which was drowned by the shouts of some unfamiliar commands. I let the gun fall to the ground and sobbed once more as a soldier approached me and put the frosty barrel of a rifle to my skull.
I took one last look at all the innocent people lined against the wall, knowing of their fate. “Freedom will-” I was cut off by the sound of bullets ripping through the air though. At that moment, everything went black and I fell face first, unmoving, into the earth.
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Author's Notes: Well, this is a rather depressing thing I whipped up tonight while listening to a piece of music my friend composed. Rather disheartening, but I found it to be quite good when reading it over. I tried to put you in the shoes of the man, feeling how he felt. I'm not sure how well I captured that due to my lack of emotion throughout, and just focusing on actions... but lemme know what you think!