Ryder
“Alright, men,” began the Sargent. “Today you will all start with your new teams. Again we just want to bring to remembrance of our fellow brothers who passed on the mission. May God be with them all, they were amazing men.” Sargent gave a slight pause before continuing his little speech. You all know because of our mission we could have practically started World War Three! When we’re out in the field your partners are what you need to be focused on helping, you understand?” “Well, that subject changed quickly,” I thought. “We can’t afford for another mission to fail like this or we’re all going to die. With your new teams I need you to be at the top of your game! All of you need to be ready!” I could see he was very frustrated with us all. We had messed up badly and I know I wasn’t the only one who realized it. “You’re all dismissed,” said Sargent.
We all walked out of our meeting feeling sorrowful. Being at war was such a difficult task. Everything you do needs to be done precisely when you’re out on the field. If you mess up or do something wrong then the consequences could be great. In my team’s case, our consequence was the loss of men. When you fought beside them it hurts even more because you know that it could’ve been your fault. As I continued to walk out of the room I knew my group was being sent to our new team section. Everyone went to retrieve their belongings before heading out to the truck. Apparently, our new team section was located about a mile away from here. If I had to be honest I wasn’t really all excited to meet a ton of new soldiers after we had just lost some, it’s not my decision though.
Attempting to enjoy the view, everyone else in the truck sat in conversation. All of them speaking of home as usual. I began to listen to their conversations of their families and tales of back home. David, my partner, began to tell his stories saying,
“You all should see my two little girls. The oldest is eight and the youngest is six. Both of ‘em love art. My little eight year old just submitted her art work to an art competition. Whoever wins gets their art work published in a magazine. My little baby girl is gonna win it for sure. She has amazing skills,” he said with a smile. Everyone around him all gave him nice smiles. “What about you Bobby, tell us about back home. How is it down south?”
“Fine,” he replied with his southern accent. “My little boy is headin’ off to college pretty soon. I’m hopin’ I’ll get to see him before he takes off,” he said while forcing a smile. David gave him a slap on the shoulder trying to comfort him. Everyone else just stared off into a different direction for a moment until we all reached our destination; our new home.
Miracle
There were the trucks full of the new soldiers. Was I glad they were here? Yes. More people so I would be less afraid. They were my team’s new companions and friends. When the door flung open out came a long line of soldiers with all of their things. We were to salute to them showing our respect and welcoming them to our “home.” They all did the same in return and then they were all giving their location for their resting area. When they all walked passed my team I got a good glance at a couple of their faces. Most of them kept a serious face expression; others showed that they were bit more enthusiastic about being here. The last person I saw was a boy; he looked a lot like he was around my age, maybe a bit older. He was one of the people who seemed upset about staying. Maybe he had lost someone in his last mission, maybe he was similar to me, and maybe he just didn’t want to be here at all like some of the others. Whatever was bothering him really showed through his body action.
As all of the new recruits passed us up my team went back to mess hall to eat lunch. That was our chance to get and meet the new soldiers that would be joining our team. New names, new personalities, new stories, I was very excited for all of it.
Ryder
As soon as we got here we put our things away in our new resting area and went straight to the mess hall for lunch. Honestly, I wasn’t all that excited to eat; I wasn’t really in the mood. Of course, I knew other soldiers were going to attempt to speak with us. Was I to try and expose myself to many other people when I didn’t really want to? Waiting in line, there wasn’t much conversation going on at all. Whenever one of the lunch ladies questioned me for food, I only nodded to tell them yes or no. When I had my food the space for seats was very limited. Constantly, I kept searching around the mess hall for a seat. All the way in the back corner I noticed an open seat. The only problem was that it was next to two other soldiers that were from this area, two girls. I couldn’t see their faces, only the back of their heads. I was very hesitant to walk towards them knowing that they would want to speak to me. Slowly, I paced myself towards them, when I noticed that someone else spotted the seat I began to quicken my pace. Just beat them to it. When I got to the table I just gestured my head towards it and one of the girls nodded her head yes.
Sitting down, I began to look over the two girls. The one who nodded her head towards me had shoulder length, auburn, curly hair. Her large eyes gave her a sweet, childish complexion. She seemed like she was nineteen or twenty years old, so were around the same age. Only a few times she glanced up at me as I slowly picked at my food. When I read he name tag on her uniform it said T. C. Arvydas. All I had to figure out was her first name. The girl sitting next to her was too busy eating like she hadn’t noticed me or something. After a couple of minutes she finally looked up towards me and began to speak. She told me something but I just tuned her out. This soldier was beautiful. Her long, dark brown hair accented her beautiful hazel eyes. She kept staring at me like I was a crazy person.
“So,” she questioned me calmly. My eyes widened as I was snapped back to reality. “Do you like it here so far,” she asked once more. I just glanced back down at my food and lifted my shoulders. “So, so, don’t worry you’ll get used to it here,” she told me in a playful tone. I gave her a slight smile showing my appreciation. When I got a chance, I glanced at her name tag which read; M. S. Kirk. “Interesting,” I thought to myself.
“Let him eat, M,” soldier Arvydas told her. M, I take it that was her nick name, I liked it.

Miracle
There he sat the one who came in with an upset stare. He looked much better with his hat removed. He had a head full of light brown hair. His eyes were a nice chocolate, brown kind of color. He seemed like a nice guy; still he didn’t say a single word though. It kind of upset me because I hadn’t heard his voice yet. When I read his name tag it said; R. N. Jones. I wanted to try and get to know the new soldier a lot but Tess insisted that I let him eat. I suppose it was the kind thing to do. When we all finished eating lunch I began some conversation with Tess hoping the soldier would feel comfortable enough to join in. He didn’t say a single word to either of us. In fact, once we left the mess hall he just walked off into a different direction, away from everyone else. I couldn’t believe it.
“What’s that guy’s problem,” I questioned Tess.
“I have no idea but he sure was cute!” I laughed at the words that just had come out of her mouth. After our giggling died down she answered my question seriously. “Maybe he’s just if a bit shy,” she told me.
“Eh, who knows,” I replied. Leaving, Tess and I went to go take a walk around base. We hadn’t been assigned to anything lately which kind of frightened me. I wondered if the Sargent was saving a large mission for Tess and I. That’s what happened to two other soldiers. They were held back until a large mission was assigned to them because they were excellent soldiers. None of them returned. A week later they were found dead on the side of the road towards the village. Many times I’ve hoped to never be sent out like that. That was something I was scared of, I feared death.
Ryder
Walking away from those two girls, I felt pretty bad. I knew soldier Kirk was attempting to converse with me. Not saying anything just didn’t feel right even though I didn’t want to speak at first. While walking towards my bunker David came up to me. He said,
“Hey, I saw you talking with those two other soldiers.” He nudged my shoulder in a playful way as he told me. “So, did you get their names,” he questioned me. I just shook my head no but he continued to speak to me. “Why not,” he asked. I kept my head down and shrugged. “C’mon man, you’ve got to learn to let people accept you the way you are.” He grabbed my shoulder causing me to stop walking. “Look,” his voice quieted, “just because you’re mute doesn’t mean people won’t try to take the time to know you.” He had a caring tone in his voice and I knew he was right. Being mute…it just hurt. You wish you could say so much and give out your ideas, express your feeling better, but you just can’t. Sometimes, I’m just holding in things most of the time that I wish I had someone to express t to but they’re just not there yet. David, of course I trust him, but he doesn’t really understand me in the best ways. Still, I appreciated his presence though.
After he ad finished speaking to me he left me to my lonesome. I realized what he had told me and felt I should’ve apologized to the two other solders. Lucky for me, just as I was on my way to the bunkers, I spotted them both walking together. When I speed up to them I noticed their eyes widened like they were surprised to see me. I waved and slightly smiled at them hoping to begin some type of conversation.
“Hi,” said soldier Arvydas. The other soldier just pushed her hair away from her face. She only glanced at me twice and continually looked away like she was nervous about something. Hoping they understood sign language, I told them that I was sorry for not being polite and trying to “talk” to you earlier. Soldier Arvydas just stared at me blankly. I caught her tapping on soldier Kirk’s to see if she knew what I was saying. Once more, I redid my sign language. She didn’t have a clue what I was saying either. “Listen, I am so sorry. To be honest with you I don’t know one lick of sign language,” said soldier Arvydas. The second thing I tried to do was word out what I needed to say. It’s okay, I worded, slowly. “ I understand why you didn’t speak much earlier. I was beginning to think you really thought we were weird or something,” she joked. Kirk still didn’t say one word, which was strange to me. She wasn’t even looking up at me. Did she not like me already?
Miracle
He came to “speak” to us. I couldn’t believe he was mute. He tried as hard as could to slowly communicate with Tess. I was a bit nervous to speak to him only because I didn’t want to misunderstand him by accident. How would you feel if you couldn’t speak and you tried but you were frustrated because people were to stupid to understand you? . To me, I would think it make him feel bad. Right now, I didn’t feel right because I misjudged him while we were in the mess hall. It wasn’t his fault he couldn’t speak. Honestly, I wondered how he ever became mute. Silently, I stood trying to understand their conversation. He attempted to apologize for not trying to speak with us while eating. After he said that I cut in without realizing I needed to control my stupid mouth.
“It’s fine,” I said quickly. Right away, he looked towards me and gave me a surprised stare. It seemed like he was thinking, finally! She speaks! At the moment I felt pretty dumb for blurting out. Then it was like my mouth took over me once more. I felt so nervous speaking to him and my palms were sweating like a little girl’s who had their first crush. “I really don’t want you to think I’m being rude by not saying much. To be honest with you I’ve never met a mute person before.” Everything just came out without me realizing it. He gave me a strange look like my tone wasn’t a good combination with what I said. Then his facial expression changed. I could see he showed that it was fine when really I wasn’t sure he was telling the truth. “You know, I’m just going to go back to the bunkers,” I rushed the words from my mouth. Tess grabbed my hand stopping me from going anywhere. When I glanced back at her she gave me a serious look. I released my hand from her grip and said, “Don’t worry I’m sure you guys will be fine. I’m not making this any better.” As I was walking away I saw soldier Jones with a look of sympathy on his face, I just didn’t want any right now.
When I got to the bunkers only a couple of other people were down there writing, resting, or shining up their boots. I didn’t know what had gotten into me when left Tess and the soldier Jones out side. He just made me nervous. I didn’t want to say anything wrong. All I did was go and rest. It wasn’t until I was awakening from my deep sleep that I jumped from the bed. It was Tess tat had woke me up and with laughter she had done it.
“See, I told you it was funny,” she said to someone standing beside her. Quickly, I rubbed my eyes to find soldier Jones standing beside her with a look of guilt on his face. All because he was there I didn’t flip out over the situation. When I got to my feet I nudged her over playfully and forced a smile. “Well,” Tess giggled, “This is Ryder,” she said. That was him name, Ryder, I thought it was unique. Turning towards him she questioned, “Do you want to see some of my family photos?” He only nodded yes and looked back towards me. I tried to smile at him while slowly trying to keep my eyes open. When I woke up a bit more I told him,
“My name is Miracle.”

Ryder
Miracle, it was perfect.
“Look,” she cut off my thoughts, “I’m very sorry about earlier. I was just being stupid and couldn’t control my tongue.” She looked down at her legs while sitting upwards on her bed. What she said earlier didn’t offend me. I’ve been told worse. Understanding that she has never met a mute person, I forgave her. She seemed like a sweet person down inside, pass all of the confusion and silence. All I could see in her eyes was fear of something, but I wasn’t sure of what. All I know was that she was letting it get to her. Quickly, I tapped her on the shoulder. She glanced up at me curious to know what I had to “say.” As I opened my mouth to word something Tess had come back with her photos. She showed me pictures of her two brothers, three sisters, and her parents. No kids, no husband, it worried me. I believed she was good looking and all but I wasn’t feeling that type of attachment! While I stared at her lovely pictures she told me the story behind almost all of them. Meanwhile, Miracle just remade her bed and then went searching for something under it. By that time Tess had stopped speaking because she saw David walking up behind her. Both of them began to speak together for a while. I had introduced them to each other after Miracle left us. Since then it’s like they’ve become best buds.
When Miracle’s hand came out from under the bed so did a notebook and a pen. She opened the notebook to the first blank page and handed it to me. I gave Miracle a quizzical brow and she said,
“You can write if you’d like instead of trying to word everything out,” she said. “I wouldn’t want you to keep doing that especially considering the fact that some words I’m not the strongest at reading from people’s mouth.” I appreciated it and formed my lips into a small smile then sat next to her on the bed. I figured since David and Tess bonded so well, why shouldn’t I give it a shot with Miracle. Right away, I used the writing supplies she handed me and wrote so….When she read it she gave me an awkward kind of stare. “So,” she said. “Um,” I noticed she was trying to something to speak about. “Do you have any siblings back home?” I could tell she wanted to get to know me a lot better as I wanted to do with her. I wrote my answer in the notebook; yes, one brother and two sisters. One of them passed away though in a car accident. When she read it I knew she felt bad for asking. “I’m sorry to hear that,” she told me. Rapidly, I picked up the notebook and pen once more and wrote; how about you? She gave a soft sigh and looked back down at the floor. I regretted asking. Something major could’ve happened and now she was going to tell me. Honestly, I didn’t really want to know anymore. “Well,” she began. “My parents were shot when someone broke into my house. Never, have I had any siblings, I was the only child,” she told me with an unhappy face. She tried to smile at me towards the end of her explanation.
After she told me this though, I began to get much more curious. There were many things I wanted to question her about. Who did she stay with at home? Did she have any other family to help her out and support her? Boldly, I wrote down one question in the notebook; Are you alone when you return home? When she read it I could tell she was a bit uncomfortable about speaking on this topic. Especially speaking to me, we had just met I felt I being to forward. Surprisingly, she answered the question. “I…well…yes, I guess you could say that. That’s why I’m here. My dad had always said that I should try to help as many people as possible. Being out here, I’m helping my country and those who wish to fight but can’t. I love it here because there are many people around me to keep me company. Meeting others I feel less afraid. When at home, loneliness and fear is all that’s there with me. Fear…fear…fear… That’s all that was running through my mind. She was lonely and afraid. How was I to try and comfort her when she had already been used to that atmosphere, except when she was here. Simply, I just began to write in the notebook; it’s not good to be used to going home and expecting that. Fear is only a shadow. It’s trying to trick you into thinking you’re lonely when really you’re not. You’re probably just afraid of losing someone else closer to you, or you’re just afraid that the same thing could happen to you again. Don’t be.
By the time I finished writing David said that we were called by the Sargent for something. Slowly, I put down the notebook and pen and gave Miracle a slight smile. She waved goodbye to me and said that it was nice to meet me. Tess, already becoming much attached gave me a quick hug before I left. Before leaving the bunkers I glanced back at Miracle and found her reading the small passage I wrote for her. The last thing I saw was a serious, sad, type of look form on her face while reading. I turned back around and followed David unsure of what she thought of me while reading the passage.

Miracle
My eyes followed each word along the page slowly. At first I couldn’t believe I was expressing myself that well to someone I had just met. It felt good though. Now, I was very glad Tess brought him down here for me to meet. If it wasn’t for her annoying the crap out of me then I don’t know where I’d be right now. After I finished reading the passage I saw that Ryder had already left with his partner, David.
“So,” Tess began. “I noticed you and Ryder over there getting to know each other a little better, eh?” I just looked back at her with a straight face. “Oh c’mon, I know you like him,” she nudged at my shoulder.
“I just met him,” I argued back.
“So, there is a thing called love at first sight you know. He is pretty cool and so is his friend David,” she informed me.
“That’s nice,” I said sarcastically.
“Whatever, M, I know you have something for Ryder.”
“Me, please. You’re the one who hugged him before he left. You were practically flirting with David the rest of the time.”
“They’ll be here tomorrow again,” she said, her voice trailing off as she put her photos away.
“You invited them to come hang out,” I questioned.
“Yeah, sure. I don’t see what the big deal is. Having a wedding here wouldn’t be so bad, right?” My head jolted up towards Tess. When she looked back at me she burst with laughter. I just rolled my eyes in disbelief.
“I hope you’re talking about-”
“-Nope, I’m talking about you and Ryder,” she teased.
“Whatever,” I said, trying to ignore her.
Later that night, Tess was speaking to me about how odd it was because we weren’t given any task today.
“You know what I also wonder,” she began once more. “What ever happened to Ryder and David? I haven’t heard them at all.”
“Yeah, let’s just hope they didn’t die,” I said sarcastically.
“What you want them to die,” Tess said offensively. Then she went on to laughter. I continued to stare at Tess’s bed above me thinking about the passage written by Ryder. Did he really mean what he wrote? Was I just allowing fear to get to me? Was I truly letting it mess with my mind? I couldn’t really think straight and so I went to sleep.
Nightmares. That’s what I had all night and my peaceful sleep turned into a long, stressful night.
Ryder
“C’mon,” said David, “Time to get up.” Slowly, I rose from exhaustion. Yesterday’s mission was a nightmare. It turns out that there were people killing the crap out of others in the village. We had to take care of it of course. The men wouldn’t back down and it was our job to kill all of them. Sometimes, it’s just sad to watch people go crazy and shoot out, kill, steal, and destroy because you know it’s your job to kill them. Realistically, it’s not them; it’s whatever triggered it off in them. Knowing that, though, it’s the reason I’m not afraid because I’m going against something I can’t necessarily see, which is whatever took over the person.
Thinking about it, David interrupted by questioning, “Hey, I know you’re coming to see Tess and Miracle, right?” At first, I was hesitant to answer only because I didn’t want him to think I had something for Miracle. Even though I had just met her, I could see that she needed help. Somewhere inside I knew there was joy and happiness. I just had to help her dig it up.
I nodded yes to David and then the both of us continued to get ready for the day. Once we were done David and I went to talk with Tess and Miracle. Nowhere, could we find them in the bunkers. Outside, David and I searched for the both of them and I felt like we practically searched around most of the base. It wasn’t until I spotted Tess walking past the bunker entrance that I began to get excited. Right away, I tapped David on the shoulder a million times before he turned around and noticed Tess. When we walked by her it was like she knew what we were going to ask.
“If you’re wondering where Miracle is,” she began with a worried tone. “They’re doing tests on her.” I was curious to know what she meant but David questioned her before I could signal anything. “She was being tested because she…apparently was going crazy,” Tess said. It worried me; the words that came from her mouth. When we got Miracle’s location I went to search for her right away.
There she was, holding herself while sitting up on a bed. She seemed afraid like something had possessed her. Sweat ran down both sides of her cheeks but it also seemed like she was also shivering, and her eyes were very wide. Slowly, I walked up to her unsure of what she would do. She only slightly raised her head to find me there. I just gave a small wave and it was like she came back to normal. When I sat next to her she just leaned back on the bed. At that moment I tapped on her arm and she got up again. This time there wasn’t any paper and pen for me to write with. I had to word everything out. You feeling okay, I tried to word slowly. Her shivers calmly slowed down and she nodded yes to me. Right beside her sat a pen. When one of the nurses came by I asked for a piece of paper. Once I had that I felt much more comfortable with giving advice to Miracle. By that time she was freaking out a bit less.

Miracle
I was scared because I had let fear get to me. Realizing it now, it’s like it was to strong and it took over. Now Ryder was here and he was writing to me. He was trying to comfort me. Calmer, that’s what I felt. I didn’t feel like I was going mad, like I didn’t have to worry anymore. When he finished writing the letter I could see he hesitated to give it to me. He kept it. I just stared at him waiting to see what he needed to let me know. That’s when I noticed he began to word things out to me. Don’t be scared, he said. You’re not alone because I am here, he continued. Nightmares, that’s what took me a while to understand from his lips.
“Yes,” I built up enough strength to say. “This time worse than a couple of other nights,” I told him with tears beginning to form in my eyes. He slowly put his arm around me. It amazed me how he was the only one here to comfort me. I know Tess worried but she wasn’t with me and trying to make me feel better like Ryder was. When I looked up towards him he wasn’t facing me anymore, instead he was looking up. David, that’s who Ryder was looking at.
“Listen, we need to go,” he told Ryder. He only gave David an odd stare. “The Sargent needs us,” he said. When Ryder rose it was like I was falling apart all over again. You will be okay, I noticed him try to say. I only nodded with tears flowing down my cheeks and closed my eyes. When I opened them, both David and Ryder were gone.
It had been two days since I’ve spoken to Ryder and I hadn’t seen him around. After the incident it was like he disappeared. Now I was feeling much better, though, all I needed was him. Since I was alone just sitting in the bunkers, I decided to clean up my boots. Tess was out in the mess hall but I just wasn’t in the mood to really eat anything. Just as I began to clean my boots I was called out by another soldier, I had been told to see the Sargent.
Ryder

On my spare time I went to the bunkers knowing Miracle would be there. Luckily, I found her peacefully shining her boots with no one else around. When she glanced up I waved and gave her a lovely smile. She returned the smile then continued polishing her boots. Walking towards her I noticed she had a notebook and a pen sitting right beside her like she knew I was coming. Slowly, I picked up my writing supplies and wrote how’s it going? When she finished reading the notebook she said,
“Fine.” My eyes widened because she had never given me that short of an answer before. I began to wonder if it was because I hadn’t seen her for a couple days. I picked up the notebook and pen once more and wrote down a question; Are you okay? When she read it I noticed she hesitated to find an answer to give me. I continued to stare at her as she didn’t respond to me yet. When I tapped her on the shoulder she glanced up at me and gave me a small sigh. That’s when I sat down next to her longing to know what was bothering her. When she looked up at me I worded out to her, what’s wrong?

“The Sargent wants to see you,” she said. I was guessing that she found out about some mission that was serious. Slowly, I nodded my head and began walking out of the bunkers to see the Sargent. A nervous feeling hit my body as I exited. I could feel Miracle staring at me with a worried look. Honestly, I didn’t really want to know what the Sargent had to say to me.

I entered the Sargent’s “office” slowly, with a curious look.

“Ah, soldier Jones,” he said sounding a bit worried. “I need you and your partner, to go to town. There’s been a mishap that has taken place. I need you both to go and check it out. I’ve already gathered another set of two partners to join you; soldiers Tess Arvydas and Miracle Kirk. I hope that’s ok with you,” he said. I nodded my head yes feeling worried inside. At first I was a bit excited because I’d be working with Miracle. Then I realized that something could go wrong or be too dangerous. I wouldn’t want to witness her getting hurt; she meant the world to me.

When I returned back to base I got ready for the task that was assigned to me. Preparing, I ran into Tess and she began to speak to me.

“Hey, do you know what went on in the village,” she questioned. I slowly nodded my head no and continued grabbing weapons for our mission. I knew that Miracle knew though. “That’s strange, well I guess we’ll find out when we get there,” she said with a careless tone. It’s like she assumed this task was going to be pretty simple. If she wasn’t worrying then why should I?

Miracle

Each of our trucks rode along the dusty path towards the village into the enemy’s territory. Constantly, I was reminded of the soldiers that hadn’t returned and were killed. Tess and I both rode behind Ryder and David. They drove like two old ladies that were falling asleep on the road.

“Can they drive any slower than this,” I questioned Tess with a sarcastic tone.

“I know right,” she replied back with a small laugh following it. We both giggled away making fun of David’s slow driving. When the laughing died down I noticed Ryder’s truck begin to speed up a bit more.

“Thank God,” I said. Tess didn’t hesitate to drive a bit quicker than what we were. Faster and faster David began to drive and Tess followed. “Now they’re going a bit too fast, Tess, don’t you think so? That’s pretty strange.”

“Don’t freak out, M. David’s finally realizing that he needed to pick up the pace a bit. Have a little fun why don’t you,” Tess said with an adventurous tone. I noticed we were driving very wildly, car accident wild. It began to worry me. At that moment I looked back and noticed that no one was following us. After that I observed our surroundings to the right and saw nothing. When I looked towards the left of me I saw what they were attempting to escape from. Out in the distance came a large tank trying to aim towards us and it wasn’t on our team. On the side of the tank there was a little sign that alarmed us it belonged to our enemy’s.

“Quickly, Tess, go! Go,” I demanded.

“Now that’s the spirit,” she said. Tess put her foot down on the pedal full force before I could inform her about the enemy’s tank.

“C’mon, Tess,” I told her. At that moment I tapped her shoulder quickly and pointed towards the large, black tank. I noticed her eyes widened at the sight of it. Fear struck my body and I was trying to think of only things to cheer me up like Ryder had explained to me. It seemed like nothing was working, though. I could see Tess was afraid too. Speeding up, I tried to climb to the top of our truck to get to the machine gun.

“Go, quickly,” Tess said to me. Right away, I squeezed through the hole up towards the large gun. Dust from all around came hitting me in my face. Hoping this would work, I began to shoot the huge machine gun at the tank that was coming quicker at the both of us. I noticed that Ryder had also gotten out and had done the same thing. Only shooting towards the enemy made things worse for all of us, they aimed their humungous main gun at us shot. A large banging noise filled the air as their large bullet came towards us. That’s when I realized that the enemy shot ahead of us and hit Ryder’s truck. Ryder glanced back at me before his car blew up. The last thing I saw was him pointing into the opposite direction wording at us to go. Then his car exploded and I could feel the heat from the explosion hit me almost knocking me out of my position. Right away I ducked back down into the passenger seat next to Tess. “C’mon, M,” she said.

When I got down there safety and closed the top of our truck Tess was speeding out of there. She didn’t hesitate to get out of the way. Rapidly, she turned the car around and sped back towards base hoping to get there before we were hit. Looking back, I could see smoke rising from the damaged vehicle. Wanting to turn back, I felt so horrible inside knowing that I couldn’t do one single thing. Once Tess and I returned home it felt like everyone surrounded us. When we both exited the car we received many questions and statements being shot into the air.

“Where’s David and Ryder,” one of the men questioned

“We heard the large explosion,” said one of the women.

“Yeah what happened out there,” asked Bobby. Quickly, I tried to push my way through the crowd. I didn’t want to speak to anyone at the moment. Still, I was in shock of what had just happened out there. The first place I walked towards was my sleeping area. I threw myself on my bed and let tears flood from my eyes. At the moment I felt like I couldn’t live with myself. Every person who was absolutely close to me I’ve lost, except for Tess. Ryder was different from everyone else though. That’s why this hurt so much.

“Hey, M,” I heard Tess’s small voice say from behind me. “Are you alright,” she questioned me. I shook my head no still keeping my mouth shut. “Our Sargent wants to speak with us,” she told me. Slowly, I began to wipe the tears away from my eyes. “Now.”

When Tess and I walked into the Sargent’s “office” area he began to question us,

“Would anyone like to tell me what the heck went on out there? I sent you out to check on the civilians and I hear that you didn’t even make it to the village! What happened,” I heard he began to raise his voice a bit more as he was questioning us both. Tess already knew I didn’t want to speak so she answered almost every single question.

“Well, sir, both of our trucks were on our way to the village and then one of the enemy tanks appeared…” Listening to her explain the story I noticed the Sargent’s facial expression quickly change. It seemed like he couldn’t really grasp that all of this was taking place, we were losing many men. Worry hit him and I noticed he was really hurting inside. That’s when I tried to myself in his position. Imagine being the one in charge and having soldiers die under your command. When Tess finished the story he sent us out to get clean and get some rest. I didn’t hesitate to follow those orders. The rest of the evening Tess and I barely spoke to each other. When we went to bed that night there wasn’t even goodnight said to one another. Both of us were in paralyzed mode from what had taken place earlier.

Lying on my side, I stayed staring at the floor. All that was going through my mind was the explosion that took place earlier. I couldn’t stop thinking about Ryder or what I could’ve done to help. Even though he was mute I felt like he was the only one who truly understood me. That’s what made him special. I knew I had only known him for very little time but it seemed like he’s been my friend for years, he was so open with me. I wished he was here right now. I turned over and lay on my back and looked up at the bed above me. That’s when I spotted a piece of paper sitting in between the metal poles holding up Tess’s bed. Right away, I snatched the letter from its holding position. The paper read my name on top. It was what Ryder wrote for me when I was too afraid. When I flipped the note over I began to read it to myself. I couldn’t believe my eyes, the note said;

The Reality of fear
You’re not scared of the dark. You’re afraid of what’s in it. You’re not afraid of heights. You’re afraid of falling. You’re not afraid of people around you. You’re just afraid of rejection. You’re not afraid of love. You’re just afraid of not being loved back. You’re not afraid to let go. You’re just afraid to accept the reality that they’re gone. You’re not afraid to try again. You’re just afraid of getting hurt for the same reason. Don’t let fear continue to have that grasp on you because it is just a shadow, so make it let go.
When I finished reading the letter I knew Ryder was correct. The only thing that hurt was that he wasn’t around so I could tell him that if it weren’t for him, I’d probably still be afraid of something that I never should’ve let get a hold of me in the first place. This whole time I was afraid of some shadow that I never should’ve saw.
The End