GARNET 2012 49
heading in your direction.” “What? I haven’t talked to my wife since he was shot. He will die if I don’t keep going!” She began to reply, but Josh threw the phone across the car. “Damn it, don’t worry Nate. I’m going on.” As the word “on” left his lips, the passenger side door flew open; Josh reached out but Nate’s shirt tore from his grip and Nate rolled out onto the asphalt below going 80 mph. Stunned for a split second, Josh continued on before ripping the emergency brake up and turning around. Nate lay motionless on the road before him. As he threw open his car door, Josh saw Nate’s head jerk around and scream, “You don’t understand! I can’t go there! They’ll keep us forever!” He contorted his body back to normal and threw himself up from the pavement. He crouched for a second, only to jerk up and dash towards the woods surrounding the side of the road. Josh followed after, but Nate’s training had paid off as he quickly gained distance away from him. And then Josh was alone. He walked, each step cracking the leaves beneath his feet and echoing off the surrounding canopy. His own heart pounding, as if his chest were a drum that beat to the night and to the darkness that surrounded and engulfed him. He never felt so alone and cold. A faint chuckle came from behind and the words dripped from the leaves above and covered him; “You thought you were different, Josh. You kicked me out of your life and ignored my letters, but now we’re together again. Mary says I’m not good for you; look at us! We’re unstoppable. You thought I was back from war, but the war has just begun. We are all conflicted—at war with our thoughts, our decisions, and our beliefs. How can you trust Mary if you can’t trust yourself? The mind is a terrible thing to waste and you have a gift: the gift of creation. You are a God among men and you suppress it; you let them control you. How can a gift be useful if the gifted denies it? You have the capability to be uncontained and I can’t let you deny me my rights.” One last screeching howl came from the woods before the night returned to a state of pure serenity. An hour later, Mary pulled into the driveway and slammed the brakes. What little hope she had left was lost when she came to the front door. She found the front door open and ripped from the hinges. Inside, the living room was wrecked: old newspapers were scattered across the floor with headlines following the war. Frantically, she raced to the garage door and threw it open to find Josh’s car missing, but his old 1340cc Evolution motorcycle still sitting in the corner covered in dust from disuse over the years. When she returned to the kitchen, she found Josh’s pills scattered across the floor. She knew he hated the medication, but thought he had learned the necessity of it. As she picked them up, she realized he had neglected to take them for the past week. As tears streamed down her face, she looked over and sitting on the counter was a note. As she read it, she slumped to the floor in overwhelming pain: Mary, I’ve gone to War. Nate and I will always love you. Keep on singin’ baby, keep on singin’. Love always, Josh