by James Tow
us—laughing.
“Prepare for a war,” I told him. “And I promise…you will lose.”
“You will suffer and die by our hand,” Gabriel added.
Everyone laughed. “How will you manage that?” Vergil asked.
“Watch for our flag, and The Army that stands behind it,” Gabriel said.
“Look to the skies, and the shadow that we will cast upon you,” I said.
“We gave you true freedom. Freedom to do anything you wanted, and you spat in our faces,” Vergil said.
“You’re a damn fool if you think what you have created is true freedom,” Gabriel said.
“Enough of this!” Pollick screamed and fired.
Gabriel stumbled back, and began to fall.
“GABR…!” I screamed and tried to catch him, but another shot was fired and I felt the bullet tear into my back. I fell to my knees, and Gabriel fell on his back. Gasping, and using all my strength, I crawled to his side. His breathing was spluttered and fast. I picked up his body and rested it in my lap. He looked up at me and smiled. I tried to smile, but the pain seared through my body.
“What do you want to do before you die?” I choked.
He looked passed me, into the sky, and said, “To see the sun, one more time.”
I turned around, and looked up. The clouds moved fast, and the sun appeared from the heavens. I looked back down to Gabriel, who was smiling.
“It doesn’t hurt so much anymore,” he croaked.
Then he asked, “What do you want to do before you die?”
I looked at Gabriel and said, “I want to make sure, I’m standing at my brother’s side when I do.”
Tears formed in his eyes as I could feel the life leave his body. He grabbed the back of my head, and brought my forehead to his. “Forever and always,” he said.
I picked him up, slowly bringing him to his feet, as I got to mine. I stood at his side, proud of where I am. Vergil and Pollick walked up to us—taking aim.
“Paul.” Gabriel said from my side.
“Yes Gabriel?”
“Thank you,” he said and he fell backward just before the trigger was pulled.
Various explosions erupt throughout the stadium and nearly turn it into a firestorm. The edges of the stadium began to collapse and the soldiers scurried about like a bunch of ants whose mound were compromised. As I watched this going on, I notice I can’t hear anything. I stare off in a trance and watch as everything falls in silence. Soldiers dying, faction members appearing at the stadium entrance, everyone is shooting…but I can only see it. I peer down to look at my dead brother’s body and I fall to my knees. I begin to speak to him as I slowly bring his body on my lap.
“C’mon Gabriel…get up,” I tell him. “You always get up…get up.” Then I feel my body shake as I cough blood on his face. Even though his eyes were closed, I could feel him staring at me.
“This is like those moments in your life when you go through copious amounts of pain, and you remember it forever. You will remember it whenever you see a similar setting. You will remember it when you get shot again. You will remember it whenever you see Pollick and Vergil again…” Bullets and explosion continued to bombard our immediate area, but I do not flinch. “You will remember this Gabriel. For the rest of your life…you will remember this.”
He did not respond.
I look up and a wall of familiar faces stares back at me. Tears streamed down their faces. I stare up into the darkened sky. Blackness surrounds my sight and I welcome the oblivion.
Anna
I turned off the video just before I see Paul fall against his brother’s body. I threw the remote at the television, and realized tears were coursing down my face. I can’t show this to the students and keep it together.
“I need some fresh air,” I said to myself and walked out of my office and out of the building. I mindlessly walked—letting my feet carry me to wherever they led.
I stopped in front of the stadium—the site of infamy.
I walked onto the field to see an old man standing by the south end goal post.
“Still come out here from time to time?” I asked him when I approached.
“Same time, every day,” he said. He looked at me, smiling but then frowned when he caught wind of my red, tear-filled, eyes.
“You can’t do this to yourself,” he said, wiping a single tear from my cheek. I just stared out to the field.
“We did what they did so you wouldn’t have to shed anymore tears,” he reassured.
“I wish I knew him like you did dad,” I sobbed. He wrapped his massive arm around my shoulders.
“You do know him,” he said and I looked at him confused. “You may look exactly like your mother, and your personality is just like mine. But in a lot of ways, you’re just like he was. Before he started to lose it, that is.” I felt a sense of pride run through me. “He was one of a kind…they both were,” he added.
We stared out, in silence. The moonlight beamed down from the sky as clouds shifted out of sight.
“Why do you come out here?” I asked him.
He sighed, a long and deep sigh, and said, “It never fails to give me a sense of hope.” He smiled at me and held out his arm. I wrapped mine around his.
“Let’s go catch a movie,” he insisted.
“Yes. There’s that new movie out, Batman. I want to see that,” I proposed.
“You know that’s a remake,” he stated. “It was actually remade…several times.”
“Really? Well it looks good.”
Paul
The room was empty for several hours. Nobody knew I was awake. But I did not care. I stared at the ceiling as I lay on the uncomfortable cot. I replayed the last scenes and continued to debate whether they were real or not. I expected him to walk through the tent to greet me and call me a pussy for being unconscious for so long. But I knew that was not going to happen. He would be sitting at my bed side if he was still alive…but he wasn’t. The lone chair that stood next to me was empty. Whenever I thought about him, I was close to tears.
Someone slowly walked to the tent and shuffled to the chair. “Everyone is going to be excited to hear you’re still alive,” Chris sighed with relief.
I didn’t say anything. I continued to stare at the ceiling. I was determined to stay put until he came into the tent.
“What now…?” Chris asked.
I continued to stare.
“Most of the soldiers escaped,” he said. “Including Pollick and Vergil.”
A surge of pain rang through my soul. This…feeling…it echoed throughout my every thought and every molecule in my body. I gritted my teeth as it progressed.
Several minutes had passed before Chris spoke again. “Are you going to keep fighting?”
Through a clenched jaw, I managed to respond, “Forever and always.”