A Second Chance
Death escapes me, but does life find me again?
Only we two are standing. My entire garrison has been slaughtered by the outnumbering enemy. I desperately try to fee with my compatriot over a frozen lake, but a bullet catches him on the back of his head and his blood stains the ice floor I scamper on. I am managing to outrun them — I feel their steps weakening as I pick up my speed. My lungs are fit to burst, and my dry throat burns as I run for my life, but I shall live to see another day if I succeed.
I see the forest — it’s coming nearer to me. Just a couple more steps and I shall be back in the territory of my own nation. My mind leaps up with joy and I see the happy faces of my wife and children when they see me. Bruised, but alive.
Yet, seeing their tears of joy, I hear a shot fire in the distance. I suppose it’s our troops who are trying to rescue me, but before I could think otherwise, I feel a sharp pain in my back and I topple over, as if hit by a boulder from behind. I land face down upon the ice floor and the light slowly fades out of my eyes. Yet, I can hear a scuffle in my vicinity as I hear more shots being fired and then a counter-volley of fire.
“This is it.” I think. “So much for reaching the frontier alone. I would have received a medal of honor, seen their happy faces and life would just be normal. Yet, boy I am the last who is cheated of life in this bloodbath.”
I feel something warm spread out over my back, and I realize that I must be bleeding a lot. I feel tired. I wish to go home and just sleep for a day or two. I imagine how life would return to normal when I return — me working in my old job, sending kids to school and tending to my wife. How did I end up here? Am I truly never going to return again? Is this the end for me?
A panic grips me as I come to accept the possibility that I am dying. I am only 38, how can I die so soon? No. Somebody will surely come to rescue me. I begin to ebb in and out of consciousness and as the last light fades out of my once fiery eyes, I see myself fallen over this very snow, dead and lifeless.
A pain hits my back as I open my eyes. I feel having entered a new world — a new being brought to life. Upon opening my eyes, I curiously look around to see where am I like a newborn. Turns out, I am in a hospital with IV drips attached to my hands and a nurse looking gently at me.
“How are you, Captain?” She asks me.
“Relieved about not having lost my memory as of now.” I answer. It’s true — if I had lost all memory, I couldn’t have spoken English surely.
“Well Sir, you may have had a short-term memory loss. Do you recall what happened before you blacked out.”
“My garrison was asked to covertly attack the enemy stronghold. Yet, it obviously failed as I am here whereas I should be fighting.
“But do you know how you got injured?”
I get this faint memory, almost like the last light that had once faded out of my eyes. I only remember me being hit in the back while walking across the ice. Yet, my mind is as foggy as the snow ought to have been. I concede to her that I don’t know anything else.
“Sir, do you recall having a wife and two children?”
Ah yes! I do recall them. I have lived 7 years as a family and their smiles come back to me. I groan in nostalgia, thinking of how I could be safely sleeping in my house. I nod to my nurse who smiles immediately.
“Perfect. You will gain greater clarity on your close brush with death after having rested well. I am going to ask field surgeon to fill out your application of discharge. I hope your wife nurses you back to full health and allow her.” She smiles and goes away.
And all of a sudden, life seems to be rather idyllic again.
Thank you to my editor Ravyne Hawke
