Tag: war
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THE HANGING ROOM
Somewhere in the rural midwestern USA, after the war has ended. ‘Why bomb a barn way out here? They’ve blown the roof right off. ‘Never had a roof. Was meant to be like this.’ ‘Why have a barn with no roof. What was it for?’ ‘Hangings.’ ‘Really?’ ‘Yeah. Could get about ten on each bar.…
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FOR OUR OWN GOOD
The bars appeared overnight. We didn’t notice until Bill left the house for work and walked smack into them outside the front door. The Presidential decree came soon after. Lockdown again, only this one enforced by steel cages. A strong rebuke: until we could all learn to behave for the greater good, we’ll remain behind…
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COLD TEARS
They huddled closer together as the roar passed overhead. The stone walls of the barn did little to protect them from the frost outside. Their breaths formed white clouds in the air, their cold tears stung their faces. They heard an explosion in the distance. Then a series of cracks like gunfire. They had come…
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DEAD ROSES
Dead roses in winter, withered and defeated. The Grand Armée reduced to an icy hell. The villages they entered had nothing to offer. They had stripped them bare of what little they had on their way to Moscow. Starving, frost-bitten and dog-tired, he stumbled on. To drop now meant certain death. No comrade would burden…
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THE SNITCH
‘All you have to do is tell them exactly what I told you.’ It was easy for him to say. I was a snitch, everyone knew I was a snitch, that’s why they were using me, but I liked to think I was an honest snitch. I didn’t tell the detective anything that wasn’t true.…
Iain Kelly 