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Starath — Scars
Published: 2006-02-05 21:59:15 +0000 UTC; Views: 107; Favourites: 0; Downloads: 13
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Scars“Mitchell?”
He jumped, startled, and snapped his head around. Just Holly.
“Oh. Hi, honey.” He forced a smile.
“Hey,” She sat down next to him at the kitchen table and leaned on his shoulder. “You’ve been sitting here looking out the window for almost two hours. What are you looking at?”
He almost asked, “I have?” in surprise, but didn’t. He’d been so lost in his thoughts he hadn’t realized how long he’d been staring out the window. It was so quiet here at home but he kept hearing the artillery fire and exploding grenades…
“I was just watching the world, hon. It’s been over two years since I’ve watched the seasons change from here.”
“Oh…” Holly smiled sweetly at him, deciding not to point out that all he’d been doing since he got home was “watching the seasons.” “Dear, you know you can tell me about it, right? In case anything’s bothering you…”
“I’m fine. Just glad to be home with you and the kids.” He snuggled her closer, “It feels great to have left the battlefield.”
Just then a loud BANG! came from behind. In a lightning reaction Mitchell threw himself to the floor and pulled Holly down with him.
“Another one’s coming,” he roared, “They always come in twos!”
“Mitchell— let GO!” Holly tried to pull away from him but couldn’t break his strong grip.
“No, we have to stay down or we’ll—”
“Daddy?” Jayne’s curious face appeared underneath the kitchen table. “What are you doing under here? Can I play?”
Confusion at seeing his daughter on the front line flashed across his face until reality returned. He released Holly’s arm. She immediately stood and distanced herself from her husband. She gave him a frightened glance before turning her attention to Jayne.
“Honey, do you know what made that loud noise?”
The six-year-old rolled her eyes and sighed in disgust. “Nathan’s throwing his bouncy-balls at the walls again. I told him not to ‘cause you said so but he never listens to me.”
“What??” Mitchell arose from under the table and bellowed, “NATHAN!”
A sandy-haired boy peeked around the kitchen door.
“What, Dad?”
“Come here this INSTANT!”
The boy came, but slowly with worried eyes.
“Under no circumstances should you EVER do that again! One more mistake like that soldier, and—”
“MITCHELL!” cried Holly, putting herself between Nathan and her husband. “You’re not at war anymore, remember?”
There was a heavy moment of silence that was broken when Nathan started to cry. Jayne sniffled as she began to cry too. Neither had seen their father so angry before. They ran to their mother for comfort and clung to her. Mitchell watched them, dumbfounded, then finally snapped back to complete reality.
“Oh no… no…” He saw the pained expression on Holly’s face and flinched. He’d done it again.
“I’m… so sorry… Oh God kids, please don’t cry…” He went to hug them but they pulled away and hid behind their mother. Tears sprung from his eyes and ran down his scarred face.
“I’m so sorry… I can’t help it… The war just won’t leave me…”
“No,” said Holly quietly. “It seems like you won’t leave the war.”
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Comments: 2
Very poignant. Post-war neurotics and the like is something that's always both interested and saddened me. You did a very good job of describing how if can affect a person and his family, even years later. It's awful how many soldiers experience it, and for the longest time it went untreated and was misunderstood. People might be more aware of it now (at least in thr western world) but that still doesn't change how it puts so much strain on the individual and those closest to him. Might I ask what inspired this piece, or was it just something you were thinking about and decided to write on?
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This came from a writing prompt out of one of our textbooks, the "Gotham Handbook for Writing Fiction", or something like that. The prompt, if I remember correctly, was to write about a soldier who had come home from war. I wrote this with the current war in Iraq in mind because I do NOT support that war, but I do support the soldiers, and, in my opinion, unless people have relatives/loved ones who ARE soldiers, they do not truly know what war does to the mind and body.
For some reason it grabbed my attention (most of the writing prompts in that book SUCKED) and this came out. The psychological trauma soldiers experience after being in war is also something that's interested me, especially since one of my favorite Beast Warriors is someone who's faced mental issues after hunting someone for so long.
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