Judge This Week: TBD
Word Count: 300 max
How: Submit your stories as a comment to this post, along with your name, word count, and title (and Twitter handle or blog if you've got 'em!). One entry per person.
Deadline: Sunday 8/20 at 4 AM PDT
Results announced: Next Wednesday afternoon.
Remember: Your entry must begin with the prompt! The prompt can be mutilated, but not beyond recognition. (Pictures do not need to be incorporated into your stories; they're for inspiration (and amusement).)
Prompt
I dropped my shield.
300 Spartan words
ReplyDelete@billmelaterplea
www.engleson.ca
From the Diary of Insolentus Backus, Somewhere in Gaul, Maybe 45 BC
“I dropped my shield,” the old warrior running beside me cries out the incredibly obvious as he stumbles.
Boo hoo, I think, but keep that cheeky thought to myself. If you can’t even hang on to your shield, what’s next…your sword?
I rear up, extend a hand, and help him to his feet.
I confess, I was a little winded too. It was almost time for our wine break. We get two five-minute breaks a battle. Lunch, well, you eat when there is a spare moment, eh! In olden times, before the King created the Warriors Union, you could go days without a break. Blood; battle; crazy yelps…a lot of stress. So even though it is a Company Union, we managed to squeak out a few perks. And get this this, the King supplies the wine. That counts for quite a lot.
I guide the clumsy old trooper into a small depression where we can sit down, kick back, and sip our grape juice.
“Whew,” he wheezes out, “I sure needed this break. Thanks, laddie.”
“No skin off my nose, soldier. It was break time anyways.”
He stretches back into the dirt bank and closes his eyes.
“No time for sleeping, soldier,” I remind him. “Snoring can easily give away our position.”
“Just restin’ my eyes. You know, back in the day, we never got a break like this. It’s such a joy.”
He’s right, of course. But it was unfortunate that the key issue of pensions was scrapped. A pension plan would have maybe kept these old farts out of our way. War is for the young.
“Well,” he rises, “back to the grind.”
“Get a good grip on that shield, eh!” I say.
He looks sheepish. “Won’t happen again, laddie. Leastwise, not today.”
There’s always tomorrow, I think.
Good story
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Name: Keya Jadav
ReplyDeleteWord count: 300 words
Title: Die as a hero
I dropped my shield. I could feel my tears well up but they were too dry to roll down. I couldn't take it anymore. Spending those endless unforgettable nights, owning unforgivable sins, my soul had been washed and whacked in the darkest corner. All I ever did was for him, just to let that wide smile spread across his face. It was enough to light up my whole life.
You lay still in front of me, scathed with blood and bullet marks. The words I ever wishes to tell you remained stuck at the bottom of my throat, willing to find a way out. You once came up to me and announced his wish to die as a hero. Even after so many objections being raised, you stepped into the battlefield.
Why brother why? Just to compel our eyes to look at your corpse one day? Just so we could live with your crumbled memories and the ache of your absence.
I was there the whole time, fighting behind you. How couldn't have I noticed the man approaching? How could have I let him jab you from behind? You yelled the last time with so much pain. But yes brother, you died like a hero. You passed your last bullet through his heart, but at the cost of your life.
I am sitting beside you know, my shield far away from me. Even it can't protect me from the scar you've given. My hands are bathing in your blood. I close your eyes like a gentleman should.
Mom didn't shed a tear when she heard the misshapen. She didn't speak for days, her face drenched in nothing but bleakness. It took her a whole week to finally utter a word but all she said was -
"I am proud of him"