1 In the Hospital

"Father!" I cried out, yelling at the top of my lungs while frantically running through the town. "Father! Mother! Where are you?! Don't leave me! " I screamed. "Please don't leave me!"

Following my regular path, I ran towards my house. I ran, and I ran, and I ran. I just kept on running. I ran through the tall grass, the mud with sweat dripping down my cheeks and back, panting like a run-down hare. 'Mother! Father!' I screamed, but the words couldn't come out of my mouth. Feeling something warm dripping down my face, my fingers reached up to my face. Looking down at my hands, I saw the mesmerizing blood. So beautiful, so majestic, so holy. Staring at my hands, I—

I groaned and yawned in my bed with my hair, and tear & sweat-stained sheets around me, slowly blinking out the tears in my eyes. Staring at the creaky ceiling blankly, I laid on my bed for a bit before getting up. As the sun rose and the sky changed colours, I left food on the table and walked out to town. Walking to the hospital, I passed by the church to pray and give in our family's weekly levy.

Running through the old cramped halls and rushing through rooms nursing patients, I knew I was happier than I would ever be at home. "Agh!" Someone screamed, waking me up from my daze as I looked over my shoulder to see a soldier. A soldier who came back from the frontlines, with a broken nose and a grotesque scar from the top right of his forehead down to his chin, narrowly missing his eye and marring his whole face. His arms kept on twitching, and he scratched or growled at anyone that tried to get close to him. A circle of nurses surrounded him, trying to get close enough to restrain the live ticking bomb, his aggression slowly rising. The other soldiers were similar. Some couldn't walk, some had spasms, and others that were way more serious. I felt sympathy and disgust at the same time for the soldiers who fight for the country. But, I seem to have grown a soft side because of father.

"Don't you pity those poor souls?" A nurse asked, suddenly serious.

"They're soldiers," I replied coldly, 'so they should act like it', I left the second part unsaid.

"But that doesn't mean that they don't get hurt!" the nurse said, watching with tears in her eyes.

"I mean, you should know what it's like. That day, you came here bawling your eyes out with your dad. You were so much cuter then." She muttered quietly, reminiscing the "good ol' days".

Suddenly, the soldier looked me in the eye, glaring at me like he could see through me. I looked away instantly, heart pounding and hands shaking slightly, shocked. The soldier shakily got up with his crutches and walked towards me. Slowly hobbling closer, he reached out his hand at me. I backed up a few steps and froze in place, not knowing what to do. About to scream, I opened m-

"Y-you look s-so m-much… like her… s-so…"

His expression was as cold as ice, but his eyes were different. His eyes were glazed over and something inside of me shook as I looked him in the eye. We stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity before the soldier lowered his hand, slightly shaking and bowing to say, "H-hello, miss, nice t-to m-meet you. I'm Gunth-ther." That was my first encounter with the war.