She Loves Me

There was only one goal. There was no turning point. He had burned his bridges to get back across to the safe water. And so had everyone else. White was draping the mountain peak and oxygen seemed to have packed its bags and left. But all that he could see was crimson, crimson all around. He himself couldn’t be seen though, with his uniform having been changed to white to perfectly match the surroundings. The only thing that could give him away was crimson. He had way too much blood on his hands.

The same song was playing in the background. The one that played every time the national flag was hoisted. The one he had left his home with. His mother had cried that night even though he knew that she was proud of him. His lover couldn’t even bear to say the last goodbye. But he had not one drop of tear in his shining black eyes. With his hair short, his shoulders wide and his head held high, he had walked out of his childhood home and into the heart of the house he had vowed to protect. He had flown out of his nest and into the air, to protect her who had always loved him with no expectations. She was the one everyone belonged to. His motherland.

Out on the bloody snow, he picked up the bodies of the others in his platoon and pushed them home, across the border. Now they would dissolve in his own mud, in her mud. She would take care of them like how she had promised to take care of him. As he looked away from his mother, he could see the figures on the other side. There were only five left of the hundred who had killed his men. But he knew that he was enough for them all. He charged forward with not one thought, not one feeling, but only determination. He lunged on his prey with the same song playing in his head and only these words in his heart, “I will return your love mother, on behalf of everyone you have given birth too. I am your soldier.”