The Final Good-bye

'You can only become immortal after you die’ the words where burned into Amelia’s mind, it echoed through her as she stared at the lifeless body in front of her.
’If that’s true then why doesn’t one rise from the dead?’ she thought to herself. Remorse filled her as she placed the name tag back on the body. Looking around the clearing she saw more people, like herself, looking for someone they loved who had been left dead from the war.

Sobbing could be heard from everywhere, tears mixed with the blood that had pooled and soaked into the ground.
“They could have at least cleaned them off a bit” she muttered to herself as she moved to the next body. Her heart beat in her ears as she reached for the name tag on the lifeless figure. As Amelia wiped grit and blood from the name tag she read the name. Sorrow filled her as she learnt of another human who had suffered in the face of defeat. She looked at her reflection in the dead man’s fully covered helmet. Her stone cold features betrayed none of the rollercoaster like emotions she was going through. Amelia looked again at the man, imagining the pain he must have gone through.

Amelia moved to the next body, once again her heart raced as she wiped the blood away from the name tag. Tears blurred her vision as she stared at the name ‘Daniel Jacobs’ the corpse of her brother. Daniel’s helmet had somehow managed to come off and he lay face down in the dirt. With tears streaming down Amelia’s face she turned him over so that he could lie on his back.

She gently pulled the AK-47 out of his cold stiff hands and laid it beside him, the tears where now dripping onto the bloodied ground as she searched for his helmet. After laying it beside the riffle she wiped the tears away so that she could see Daniel clearly. After finding the fatal wound Amelia lay next to him, like they had used to when they were young. She looked up into the cloudless blue sky
‘Traitor’ she thought to herself. It seemed as if everything, even the sky, found pleasure in all the sorrow.

‘You can only become immortal after you die’ she whispered to herself, looking at her brother who had first told her that. ‘But how?’ a younger Amelia had asked. He had chuckled, ‘because, silly, when you die, your memory lives forever in the hearts of those who love you.’

She looked at her brother’s face, suddenly the pain was gone. A sad smile broke through the tears.
‘You will always be immortal’ Amelia whispered before standing up to leave. Looking back it was as if she could see him waving a final goodbye.