...And All Those Left Behind Vol. III

My biggest regret was losing hope
Watching the tears, the forlorn looks;
off to the front.
It was an easy thing to lose
in the face of the inevitable

In a hopeless fight was I wrong to lose hope?
We all knew what was coming
I was the only one who didn't deny it to myself.

But... that nagging feeling.
We were the only ones still fighting
Everyone else had given in
long ago.

Why us?
Was there a reason we still stood?
Surely...
I didn't want to question it.
But it was already too late.

When the time came for him to go
He asked me to wait for him
He wanted something to come back to,
cling to when the terror rose inside

What I said was the truth.
I spoke from my heart; heavy without hope.
Saw the flicker of life extinguish in his eyes.
I already knew he was going to his death.


Now we both knew.


He would have died anyway, of course.
They virtually all did.

But the ones who came back.
in Victory...
The most unlikely of victories...
They told a story of belief,
of hope so powerful it enveloped them
united them
drove them

We celebrated, sure.
Long, hard, with delirious joy.

my heart wasn't in it.
It had left along with the young soldier.
They both died on the front that winter.

My biggest regret was losing hope.
Especially in the face of the inevitable



It's been a while since I've tried to write a fictional piece. Basically since year 12. This isn't exactly like what I used to write though. Here I tried to create a mood, a feeling. I had the general idea, but wasn't sure how to write it. What usually happens with me is I get the opening sentence and then everything flows from there. That's how I wrote news stories, and it seems to be how I write creative stuff too. Writing it from a woman's point of view was something different. I could see how it would be easy for someone left behind, waiting for news, to lose hope in their survival.

Anyway, let me know what you think! And I'm getting started on the ideas that have been suggested to me - thanks guys!