The war has ended, hasn’t it? Bodies lie still, bones contorted and broken. The thick smell of blood is in the air, multiplied my the heat of the sun. I’m still here! I’m still alive! I want to scream it out loud. I go to walk around, surprised my leg doesn’t hurt. Wasn’t I shot earlier? Dismissing the thought, I glance around. The field is soaked red with blood. For some reason I feel a strange detachment. Like none of this is real, or happening to me. My head feels dizzy, but I shrug it off.

I’ll wake up soon enough. I’ll get through this nightmare. The thought is reassuring, and I can almost feel myself being pulled back to reality. I look down, a face stares up at me. Her brown eyes stare lifelessly up at me. The dog tag around her neck reads her name: Roslyn Geier. I can’t breathe. My eyes scan her face. This can’t be her… The body’s lips are slightly parted, blood shows where she was shot, twice in the stomach, once in the head. Rose… Oh God… Rose! I fall to the ground beside her.

She’d been my friend since High School, how could she be here? Dead? Memories flash through my head so fast I can barely see them: the time she brought in a small cake for my birthday; the time she got into a fight with someone for calling me a faggot. The times we spent the night at each others houses and the beach; finding out we were planning on going to the same college together; helping her when her dog and dad died less than two days apart; helping with homework; throwing ‘surprise’ parties for each other; dancing and singing with the music up way too loud; staying up all night for exams the next morning; entering the military and then being deployed at the same time. I’ve been staring at her face for too long. It’s her. Oh God, it’s her. I feel sick. I can’t stay here any longer. Slowly, stiffly, I stand up. My eyes are still focused on her. I tear my gaze away and run, stumbling and tripping over bodies.

I can’t look down. No more bodies, please! Please God, let this be a nightmare. God, let this be over soon. My heartbeat beats faster, but I can’t run anymore. I’m suddenly overwhelmed by fatigue. Something catches my attention, my hands are slowly fading.

They disappear completely. I’m staring through them, and then through my forearms. What the?! A body stares up from the ground, at first its nothing, just another dead person. As more of my arms disappear, my eyes focus on the face. I can feel myself pale. Everything seems far away. The face is mine. I can feel a sensation in my legs, and then I can’t feel them. What happened?

Is that me?

That can’t be me…

Is it?
The sensation and numbness follow up to my stomach and ribs.

How?

Why?

But I’m not dead…
The feeling crawls up my chest. My vision starts to blur and things fade.

But…
I can’t feel most of my body.

I’m…
My neck disappears.

Alive…
I slip away into oblivion.