Why I Don 't Know

Living by myself, I was the ruler for our city. We had strong protection behind us, may walls and a huge army to fight off invaders. No one ever feared for their safety. There were no criminals and no thieves. Everyone got along with one another. Neighboring towns never competed with us or tried to hurt anyone, up until now. I was fast asleep when I heard the ground start to rumble. I looked out my window in disbelief. I thought I was still dreaming. Huge tanks lined up by the dozens outside our mighty walls, and people started to pour out by the hundreds. For the first time in my life I felt unsafe. My army wasn’t ready, and my people were frantic as could be. I sat still hopeless, trying to think of any possible solution. The fleet of intruders started to pour in. There was no other way we could survive. We had to abandon our city. We were now in the middle of a war, whether we liked it or

I hear a BANG!!! and I’m up out of bed. It’s that sergeant firing blanks again, I think. I’m so used to routine that I’m firing at the Germans before I know it. I feel like I’ve shot this gun so many times my arm is numb instead of sore. I’m standing there and looking around, I see my fellow soldiers, mud, sandbags, and water. I throw a grenade at them. I wipe sweat from my forehead. The smell of rotting flesh is as worse as ever in this heat. I’m gonna hurl,I think.

It was March 23rd, 2013 when I was boarding the plane that would take me to Afghanistan on my first deployment. I only remember the date because on my birthday, two days later, I would be sitting in a V-22 Osprey flying into the volatile city of Sangin, a known Taliban hot spot. It was during one of my first few days there, that I found myself guarding the sole entrance to my company’s operating base. Suddenly a van, old and rusting, turned the corner and came screaming towards my position. Wary of a vehicle-borne suicide bomb, I quickly raised my rifle and began a slow, steady squeeze on the trigger, as I’d been trained to. Just before the hammer would fall, sending bullets racing to end the driver’s life, the van screeched to a halt. A

Four Union soldiers barged in. Each had their gun raised. The first soldier barked at Oscar. But he didn’t respond. Oscar just stood there with his hands raised above his head. He looked the first soldier dead in the eyes. I watched the first soldier squint his eyes into tiny slits. The other three soldiers were searching the bunker but I couldn’t keep my eyes off Oscar. I was so focused on Oscar that I didn’t see one of the soldiers coming toward the bookshelf. He grabbed me by the arm and threw me onto the ground, hard. I turned my body to look at Oscar. The first soldier raised his gun and spoke again, but I wasn’t listening to what he said.

I open my eyes and the soldiers look like there frozen in time the bullets are suspended in the air. But simultaneously I can hear their bones crack blood pouring out of every possible hole in their bodies. Time starts again the General looks at me and says,

I watch as the golden crescent of a sun rises over the foggy field, making the Lobsterbacks coats look more like blood than fabric. A sign in the distance says that we are in Concord, Massachusetts. I watch the opposing soldiers, they stand straight and still, attentive and alert. It reminds me of how Tim and I used to act when we played soldier. When we still had time to play. We would command each other to “straighten your spine” or “shoot like you mean it”, but back then it was all pretend. None of it mattered. Now it does. Now it’s for real.

The Iraqi national team arrived and a group of loud, boisterous, smiling boys piled onto the bus we took to the camp every day. Loudly joking and full of unceasing energy, they broke the silence of training that I had become used to. After an unusually fun practice we returned to the hotel exhausted and ready for bed. I plugged in my earbuds, turned on my playlist to drown out the noise of the city and closed my eyes. I had been asleep for a few hours when there was a sudden commotion outside. I could hear feet slapping on the floor outside my room, banging on hotel doors and some language being yelled that I couldn’t understand. I left my room to find the Iraqi fencers dancing through the halls of the hotel and the rest of the foreign fencers groggily opening their

We felt an immediate connection. Whether we were stacking the jingo blocks, throwing the bean bags back in forth, or sticking stickers on each other; we played together for almost two hours while he waited to finish his screening. His name was Yang Jan Chao. He was only three years old, but this was not his first surgery. This time Yang was receiving surgery for a lip scar revision and a unilateral nose repair. His procedure was not as major or critical as some others but it was still very important to him and his family. As screening day finished up, I said goodbye to Yang and his family. I had learned that he traveled to Wenshan with his mother and grandmother, his primary caretaker, from a small town an hour away.

Ava’s head throbbed as if a 30 foot wave was pounding against her skull. She stepped out of the building and onto the footpath in need of a break from the intensity of the office. She had recently been assigned the task of investigating a series of deaths caused by rogue drones. It was evident that there was a flaw in the manufacturing process but Ava had not yet determined what it was and with the presentation to the government looming over her she was beginning to feel as if time was a luxury she could not afford.

I don't know how long it's been since they have. I woke up, on the floor of my own home, surprisingly unharmed save for a few burns on my arms, presumably from where they touched my skin. I don't remember much, not after they arrived. I was so ready to take my stand, to fight against them for my home, for the future of my family. I’ve never been so stupid in my life. They were barely in the room before one of them let out this noise, unlike any I have ever heard. Had it come out of one of our kind then I might have thought it was some form of exclamation, not that I heard it for long. Not a moment had fully passed from when the sound pierced the air to when I lost all consciousness, only to wake here. Its dark outside, it’s easily possibly I’ve only been out a few hours, but just as possible it's been days. The silence is maddening. Is there anyone left out there? Am I the only one they spared, and if so why me?

I look around the hill to my left and see five rebels standing in a circle talking. Palmer points to the bush on the other side of the muddy grave yard and tells me to run when he says. Five minutes pass and I’m stilling waiting for Palmer to tell me to run. I peek back around the hill and see the five men approaching us. I take the AK off of my shoulder and aim it near a rebel’s foot. I fire and the rebels go scattering behind their trucks. We take off across the graveyard as my feet get sucked into the mud every step. We randomly shoot behind us and they hide behind their trucks every time.

"Bang" Bang " Oh gosh this time I'm not dreaming I am in a war zone I've come close to death a few times. I have been in worse situations than this I can survive my techniques are to stay low and fast well this is my life changing my setting everyday. Well it's time to move. With out me knowing the bullets will be inches from hitting me as I run. When I escape all of this I'm gonna move far far from here where I can start fresh. Before I get to excited I need to escape I tuck and roll behind a barrel and plant right next

We decide to run it as a group. My only shield from the bullets is my gun. I have yet to fire it. In fact, it scares me that my armor is something that takes, but does not give in return. There is no time to contemplate this, for Sergeant had already started the run. I had to sprint to keep up with the group. Just when I think that the bullets and rockets are bearable, out of nowhere, a German knocks me down. My rifle goes flying, leaving me defenseless. The German soldier reaches for his knife, but I blocked it with my hands. We roll around on the sand fighting, when I find myself picking up my rifle. I turn around and fire. I see a shocked faced of man who was about to stab me. For the first time, I get to study my opponents face. His shock transfers over to my face. This “man” is no man. He was a young boy like me. His young face is round, and his eyes startled me. They were bright blue and hardened. They were the eyes of someone who had seen too much already. The soldier fell to the ground with a thud. My rifle seemed to weigh a hundred pounds. I didn’t realize this weight was guilt.

It’s the third of August, and it’s past midnight. We’re about to infiltrate the Iraqi base outside of a Hit village that was destroyed by Al-Qaeda's army. We are working with Iraqi Police Department. We are on top of building with snipers, and have a demolition team by the wall of the base.

We walk down the street as I hear a rumbling sound. The ground between my parents and Mao and I are split with little rocks falling into the cracks. My dad immediately falls through and my mom manages to grad onto a ledge. “Mom!” I shout above the commotion. I hold out my hand and reach for hers but can’t reach far enough. “I love you Emily,” my mom says as she lets go of the ledge. A pool of tears fall from my face as I realize I’ve lost the only people who mattered in my life. Mao whimpers and jumps into my arms. I hold him tightly and as Taiwan falls into destruction and I fall into my own pit of