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Lifes a Lesson by Michael Leverenz

Page history last edited by Michael L 14 years, 5 months ago

          Bang!  He hit the ground from a sharp pain from his leg, looking down he couldn’t see anything for his eyes were hazed from the smoke and the chaos going on all around.  Searching for the spot the pain generated from, he cringed as he felt the warm blood oozing slowly across his leg.  Cries rang out as his friends frantically searched for him.  As soon as it had happened it ended, everything went black.

            He woke the next day, oblivious of the past day’s events.  Petrified as he realized his whereabouts as well as he should.  He was currently located in the hospital, or lack thereof is more like it.  More like the gateway to hell filled with men barely holding on to life, waiting for their turn to pass through the sweltering gate into an ever eternity of pain and torture.  The room itself was swarming with nurses and doctors trying to care for the ever-increasing number of patients.  All you could hear in the small and gloomy, three windowed room was the patter of the nurses’ feet as they tried to care for the soldiers, and the earsplitting cries of the soldiers in agony begging for God to take them from this hell hole.

            “I have to get myself out of here,” he said to himself as a nurse walked up to him with a curious look on her face.  “How are you doing?” she said.  

“Sore,” he said shortly “what happened to me?”

 “How much pain are you enduring?” she asked. 

“A LOT,” he said “but what happened to my leg!”  

“Alright we’ll raise your meds amount, and you have been shot in the leg” she said.  “How bad is it?” he asked tentatively. 

“Well the bullet shattered your tibia,” she informed him gloomingly.

 “How long?” he asked. 

“’Till what?” she asked. 

He looked at her dumbfounded and replied “Until I can get back into the fight.” 

“Sorry to say but, never,” she said, “you’re getting sent home as soon as possible.”

            As his flight pulled in and he got off the plane in his wheel chair in D.C., he wondered where he was supposed to go.  Not knowing where to go he followed the other injured soldiers.  They were escorted into a cold lifeless train, empty besides for the party of people he was with; just now noticing the conditions of the three other people.  Of which two others were in wheel chairs and the other with a patch over his right eye and part of his arm gone.  That’s when he asked the person leading them “Where are we going?”

“Rehab, in North Dakota,” she said with a snappy voice and walked toward the front of the train to tell the conductor they were ready to go.  Looking over at the other men he noticed that the man who had the eye patch was weeping so he went over and asked curiously “why are you weeping.”

To that the man replied “I’m happy I finally get to see my family again.” 

            That left him thinking, “What do I have to look forward to?”  Nothing could come to his mind, both his parents had died back when he was a kid so moving from foster house to house he never really became close to anyone.  This made him dull and inactive over the rest of the train ride.  The military was his life and he had nothing left to live for now that he was discharged from the service.  Finally, they reached the rehab center in North Dakota. 

            Nothing changed for him though he did all his activities with the lowest concern of his own being.  Days led to weeks and weeks led to months, until he was almost ready to get out of rehab.  This attitude stayed the same. 

As he was just starting to walk again one of the nurses came up to him and told him “I’m happy to tell you that you are going to be able to be released from here in the next couple of days.” 

“Thanks” he said with no excitement. 

            As the nurse walked away, he recognized one of the people in the wheel chairs from the plane rolling up to him. 

“Congratulations” said the man in the wheel chair. 

“What’s there to be happy about?”

“You get to go home and see all your family and loved ones.”

“I have no one, so there is no reason for me to live.”

“I wouldn’t say that, even if you believe you have no one there for you, that doesn’t mean there isn’t.  Besides, you do not know the great impact you could have on someone’s life in the future.  If there’s one thing the military has taught me it’s ‘be all you can be.’  I don’t think spending your life without people is being all you could be.  When you’re not out with people,  that means you will never meet that special someone and you will not just ruin your life but that of the one you could love.”  The man then proceeded to roll away in his wheel chair.

He really took this to heart and with a smirk on his face the day he left, making a vow to himself to be all he could be.

The man in the wheel chair was right, three years later he had a found that special someone and had many friends to celebrate the greatest day of his life with.

 

Comments (2)

Linda said

at 8:41 pm on Oct 21, 2009

I liked the imagery you used. You can work on conventions like putting commas at places like: Looking over at the other men(,) he noticed that the man who had the eye patch was weeping so he went over and asked curiously “why are you weeping.” That's about it though, good story! :]

Sigrid Brunet said

at 10:58 pm on Nov 1, 2009

Glows:
You grab us at the start
Word choice (hazed, petrified, sweltering)
Description of hospital (“More like the gateway to hell filled with men barely holding on to life, waiting for their turn to pass through the sweltering gate into an ever eternity of pain and torture. The room itself was swarming with nurses and doctors trying to care for the ever-increasing number of patients.”)
“a cold lifeless train”

Grows:
Some things unclear (“Petrified as he realized his whereabouts as well as he should”)
Gloomingly should be gloomily
Show us, don’t tell us. I thought the think the wheelchair’s speech was too cheery, and since we don’t see your main character actually change, it doesn’t ring true to me

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