The Blessing: A Second Chance

The Blessing: A Second Chance Chapter 4: Is This Death?

Authors note:  the three periods after each line represent John's thoughts being fragmented.  He's hit his head and he can't think in solid sentences.  Please forgive me for any inconvenience.  Also the periods in a line by themselves represent John blacking out.

I remember…

I remember the helicopter going down…

I remember the faces of my daughters flashing before my eyes…

I remember the flames…

The impact, my head hit something…

Thunder…

I remember thunder…

Suddenly it feels like we’re back in the air, still going down though…

Is this death?  Your memories of your last moments repeating themselves like a broken record?

Another impact…

I feel my body start to crack in several places, no pain though…

I feel the chopper hit something…

Something else…

Another…

No, not something, somethings…

The chopper has stopped moving…

I can feel pain…

It’s in my…

Everywhere…

I feel pain everywhere…

………

It’s dark…

All I can hear is my heartbeat…

Slow, struggling…

Thump-thump…thump-thump

……….

Voices…

I hear voices…

Metal is shrieking…

Thump-thump…thump-thump

My eyes feel like they’re being stabbed…

Light…

I feel sunlight on my face…

Thump-thump…thump-thump

I struggle to open my eyes, and they obey…

Mostly anyhow, they only open halfway…

I see the other marines…

Thump-thump…thump-thump

They’re all just a multicolored blob at my feet…

They’re dead… I know it…

Life robbed from them before they have even had time to sample its fruits…

Thump-thump…thump-thump

My eyes roll in their sockets without my permission…

Two more blobs… One orange… One blue…

Hadgi must have a hell of a fashion statement to make…

Thump-thump…thump-thump

One blob…

The orange one…

It’s moving towards me…

Thump-thump…thump-thump

I try to move, try to fight…

But the pain stops me…

It’s searing, blinding, electrifying…

Thump-thump…thump-thump

I’m powerless to resist it…

I relax and wait for the inevitable…

The reporting bark of a weapon…

Thump-thump…thump-thump

But none comes…

I hear a voice…

“Makins John…

Thump-thump…thump-thump

My heartbeat cuts off the rest…

I heard a woman, with a rich mid-western drawl…

She leans forward and I see her eyes…

…

My heartbeat stalls as I see them…

Big, beautiful, emerald green eyes…

I look into them and suddenly my pain is gone…

Suddenly, I know it’s going to be all right, one way or another…

Thump--thump………thump--thump

The darkness comes again and I let it take me…

I let the comforting folds of unconsciousness wrap me in their embrace…

Thump--thump…………………thump--thump

No, I was wrong…

This is death…

Thump---thump……………………………thump---thump

Not a flash…

Not a memory…

Thump----thump………………………………………thump----thump

Just…

Release…

Thump…......