The Soldier

The Soldier

His lips were charred from a shotgun that blew a chunk of his face off. Teeth were non-existent. His bald head portrayed scars from pins and branding that were so bad no hair roots were left. Three fingers were missing on his left hand. They were sawed off by a dull butter knife as a form of punishment. His right leg had been completely amputated due to the violent grenade that killed the two soldiers with him.

His eyes motionless, expressionless, sunken, empty. There was no feeling to this man. He lay in bed wondering about nothing, just staring at the ceiling and walls. He prayed in his mind. To pray out loud was impossible. He could hear a nurse in the adjacent room talking to another patient. This patient could talk, and walk, and was going to leave this place soon. He cried empty tears to himself for he knew he was already dead.

The television was on and the whole time he tried to cry out, tried to move, but it was useless. He could not respond to anything. He could not say a word. He could hear and listen but no one could hear him. He felt miserable as if the world didn't care anymore. He saw the small box with the button on it connected to the wire laying right by his hand. Just an inch away. But no. He could not lift his finger. Not even an inch.

The pain shot down his left arm, his breathing became shallow, he started to sweat and the tears streamed down his face, yet he could not move. Through all his agony he managed to catch a glimpse of a shadowy figure in the corner of the room. It stood about six feet tall but was just a mere shadow. His eyes met with what seemed to be the eyes of it. His eyes started focusing and became aware of what it was,

As if a great miracle had happened, he rose from his bed in a normal fashion and walked to the balcony of his third story hospital room. He looked back only once as sort of a reassurance and sprung back a quick "thank you" glance. He opened the sliding door and walked out. As he approached the railing he regretted nothing. He climbed up and stood with arms raised. All of his pain was gone in the instant he fell into the air. His heart stopped, his body died, his stress fell away. His physical form had disappeared.

The nurse came into the room and saw the bed completely empty, tubes and IV's everywhere. She started to panic. The only sound was that of the green flat line on the black screen and the faint breeze through the sliding door. She saw a note lying on the bed. She hesitated, but picked it up. It read:

"I screamed
and no one helped
I cried out
and no one listened."

She took the note and went to the open balcony but there was no trace of the soldier.