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Monday, May 2, 2016

"THE DAY THAT NEVER COMES" By Davis Larsen


     I remember the war. I remember every second of it. I remember it at night, when I try to
shut out the world. I used to think sleep was an escape, but now sleep haunts me with
memories of the war. Memories of the lives I took, memories of the fire raining down
from the sky, memories of everything. Every night since I came back, this has
happened, and I have been home for only a month. Sure, all of this haunts me, but not
nearly as much as my own family. Am I supposed to feel comfortable around these
people? I feel like a stranger in the house that I bought, that I share with my wife, where
I raise my son and daughter. Every time the microwave goes off I remember the bombs,
the glorious explosions. The bombs represented finality, if you saw it over you, that's it.
Two more months pass by, I feel like a zombie, walking lifelessly through my daily
routine. My kids stare at my like I am some strange creature from another world, I am
too scared to do too much with them. Every night since I came home, my 12 year old
daughter asks me to read a book to her before she falls asleep. Every night I say no
because I am too tired. Too tired to read a book to my own daughter, who was heart
broken every night. Too tired to play catch with my 8 year old boy. Too tired to love my
wife, the woman that I should feel most comfortable with. My wife, she looks at me like I
am a bomb, one that could go off at any moment. How could they ever understand what
I went through? How could anyone? A couple more months go by, I begin to miss my
friends in my special operations team. I miss the times we shared and how they
understood. They understood why I stayed in the war. I wish they were still alive. I wish
they weren’t gunned down like nothing. After awhile I begin to miss the war itself, the
feeling of a gun in my hand, the power to take a life, I miss the combat, I miss feeling
something. Back home I get a job as a dishwasher at a well known mob restaurant
called The Kitchen Irish. I used to hold the power of life and death in my hands, now on
some nights I take out the trash. One night, the head of the Irish mob is eating dinner
and boasting about his recent scores of drugs and money. I ignore it as I clear the
tables and take out the trash, then I get this old and familiar feeling. The feeling before
an ambush. A rival gang came to attack the mob, I could have walked away, but never
again. So I stopped those men, they probably would have been in the hospital, if the
Irish didn’t kill them. The leader offered me a job as a hitman, of course I refused. But
then they began to antagonize me. They found the truth about me, about who I was
during the war, they threatened my family. They threatened to take my family. I couldn’t
just let that happen so I roughed up one of their guys and ended up taking the job.
However, I thought that if I was sneaky enough I could kill the leader and the gang, I
was so close to pulling that trigger, so close to freeing myself of this evil man.
Something stopped me, maybe I wanted to keep myself out of jail, or maybe I wanted to
keep my family away from who I truly am. The next day, the news is talking about how
the Kitchen Irish was taken out by some rogue team. I slept better that night, knowing
that me and my family was safe from them. Or so I thought. I decided to take my family
to the park for a day out. I finally felt at home, I finally felt like my old self. I was no
longer a man of war, a killer, but a family man. I was happy. If I wasn’t so caught up in
happiness I might have sensed it. Sensed the ambush. In a split second, bullets were
flying everywhere. I almost missed it. My family was taken from me, gunned down like
animals right in front of my eyes. I have never felt so horrified. I saw where my son’s
face used to be, my daughter with a look of terror in her eyes. And my wife, she didn’t
even see it coming. Then I got hit by a bullet. I’ve been through worse. I woke up in the
hospital the next day, in shambles. My family is dead and I am alive. So I left the
hospital and decided something that would change my life forever. I would track down
the people that took my family from me and I would punish them. I would punish any
criminal that walked away unscathed by justice. I would make it my duty and my
responsibility to eliminate those people. That was twenty years ago. I stand out in front
of my old and abandoned home for the first time in forever. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.
I’m sorry and maybe one day, I might be able to forgive myself for letting them take you
away from me. I guess I am writing this letter to no one, to try and remember our lives
together.
I miss you guys.

15 comments:

  1. Davis, wow I love this story. I love that you told about the main characters experiences and what he went through in the war. I love how you explained how his war enemies tracked him down and his family and how you described his emotion and mental state after the war. I enjoyed reading this and I think you did an amazing job!

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  2. Oh my gosh I just want to cry this is so sad. I liked this story a lot and the main character. What goes through his mind makes it seem like he's a bad person but he's not isn't everyone that way? You never know what's someone's thinking if they're a good person or not you will never understand what that person went through unless you went through it too so I love the way how you put that in there it's seems like everyone is asking that question “,How could they ever understand what u went through.” Amazing Story.

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  3. This story seems realistic. A Marine's actual life after being sent home from war. Scarred for life and tramatized with the noises of guns. It's sad for the main character have to do what he refused to do just for his family. Great job!

    Ricky Martin
    Per.4

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  4. Damn man, that was breathtaking. The sense of visual imagery built within the piece created a motion picture recalling every detail of what had happened within this tale. Sentences that were terse, to the point and as crisp as the air wisping around the bullets that killed the family, leaving the audience engaged as to what would occur next. Awesome job boss!

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  5. This was really intense and oddly relatable. With your imagery and details I was able to place myself in that man's situation and feel the pain, anxiety, sadness, and stress he had felt. The ending was heartbreaking but not all stories end happily. Thank you for sharing this piece, great work.
    Jessica Perez
    Per.3

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  6. Your piece was so detailed, the intense images it created made it so wonderful to read. The expression of all the different emotions the main character shows make it so much more powerful . I love how engaging this story is!!!!!

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  7. What a roller coaster ride ever since I read the first line! This is one of the best pieces I've read. It was suspenseful, interactive, confusing, emotional, satisfying yet heart breaking and then it repeats WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME haha, but that just means it was one hell of a story. The first thing I want to applaud you on, is the way your structured and organized the story line of this piece; you started with post war monologue and its dreadful effects, the imagery and diction you used to convey the painful tone of the harm of war to the human mind, and to the life of a soldier on themselves and their families, but then you relieve your audience with the scene in the park, how everything was happier and life was worth living, until you ended with the very last scene. A scene that would cause a character like this to decide life in meaningless and insignificant, which is what makes this piece so moving! You revealed the inner thoughts of a man who has lived life with nothing but agony, depression, and battle for the war, for his health and for his family. David Larsen I truly applaud you for this awesome piece, and happy graduation!!
    -Samar Elshekh P.3

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  8. Davis, this is incredibly familiar to me I have no idea why. Anyways when I read this I got the feeling that this symbolized how PTSD pulls on the brain. Your use of imagery was very vivid too. Like Samar said this was a crazy roller coaster ride from all the emotions given to us by your choice of dialect and tone! Amazing work Davis!

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  9. Oh man, I remember you saying how your blog post would be like this but geez man, you knocked it out of the park! the way you made us feel for the main character (which is the Punisher for those who may have missed that very small detail) and then to suddenly say that his dear daughter and wife were killed for no real reason was genius and was super well written. This was a great read yo! Nice job yo!
    -Antonio Barron P: 3

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  10. Outstanding use of detail and imagery Davis! This short story was so suspenseful yet disheartening at the same time. It practically made me feel what Punisher was going through during this time. Anyways good job on writing an excellent story. I must say those comic books you read during SSR came in handy for this.

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  11. What great piece Davis! I loved the personality of the soldier, how in some of his recollections of the war sounded like a blissful time. Granted he does admit to missing the feel, but you feel the teetering of his emotions in your heart too. The story itself I want to say was comic book inspired, the road of a hero, or possibly a villain, a vigilante! You can take the elements and create a whole movie from this, excellent work.

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  12. That was deep. You made me feel sorry for what he has gone through. Great development of the character to intrigue the reader. Loved the story. I would love to see this as a film.

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  13. I saw the awesome Metallica song title and thought this might be about music but wow this was truly as good as most short stories get; there was so much told in here I felt like you could make it into a movie. It is so hard to lose people you love, and this offers a perspective of how some deal with it. Very nice job!
    Taylor Sandoval
    p.5

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  14. This was such a heavy read Davis! Your choice of a first person narrative was really effective in conveying the consuming paranoia of PTSD that even I felt overwhelmed. In addition, I thought that through this you also showed how imperative that mental health issues in America are taken more seriously and should be talked about openly so that people who suffer from these illnesses don't feel ostracized in even the most familiar places like home. It was devastating the way you ended the story but I've always been really interested in reading about vigilante tails and the conflict between categorical and consequential moral reasoning.

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  15. The severity of the situation makes it hard to imagine how life would be like without our loved ones. It forces the reader to ponder how we would still continue our lives even without the simple joys we used to have. It also forces us to confront the demon of revenge and if we will let it consume our conscious or simply act as an outlet to let of the hurt and frustration from the current situation. I really enjoyed this piece. Excellent Job Davis!
    Hunter Fierro
    Period 5

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