Painted With Tears

The army marched on into a suburban town called Ypsilanti, Michigan, which was engulfed in flames. The ground was littered with lifeless bodies with soulless eyes that stared. In the midst of all the chaos of war stood a girl. Her brunette locks were captivating but she did not grace me with her face. In fact, she trembled at the very sight of anyone in a Southern Allegiance uniform on. Smalls sobs escaped her shaking body as she watched the building in front of her burn. Before I could go up to her, another boy grabs her shoulder and then pulls her away out of the smoke.

"For goodness' sake, Sal get your lazy butt out of bed. The Sargent will be here any minute for morning check-in," a stern voice groans shaking my shoulder.

My eyes flutter open to see my roommate, Will whipping the covers off the bed. "I'm up, gosh," I mumble sitting up and rubbing my eyes. "I was having the strangest dream... There was this girl and she lived in the town we are going to attack next. I was going over to her when you woke me up."

My blonde friend chuckled and elbows me," Sounds like you've got the hots for a northerner, eh?"

We burst out into laughter. "As if I'd ever stoop so low to fall in love with the scum of the North! Gosh, I was going over to kill the dang woman," I say haughtily between laughs.

The flaps of our tent were thrown open. "Enough screwing around boys. We're heading out in ten minutes," Sargent Cullen barks out.

"Yes sir," We both hum in unison as he marches off.

"Finally some action 'round this borin' tundra," Will lets out cheer wrapping his arm around my neck putting me in a loose headlock. "Maybe you'll get to see your mystery girl after all."

I shake him off with a chuckle as we gather our things. We haven't changed from our uniforms since two weeks ago. This is what we've been training for.

My armor was fireproof, but I was still hesitant to set fire to the houses. The troops made their way through the streets of Ypsilanti's suburbs. Flashes of orange, red, yellow, and occasionally blue flashed throughout the houses. Screams and sounds of weeping could be heard in every direction. Blood stained the pale sidewalks. Then I saw him... It's the boy from my dream. Maybe I should follow him... For research sake? I ran to the blazing house to hear him calling out frantically, "Lila, answer me. Delilah, where are you? Call out if you can hear me!"

He really needs to realize that she's probably dead. He should flee while he gets the chance. "Ol-...Oliver," a voice wheezes out.

He ran over to the figure lying on the ground and scooped her up. I only caught a glimpse of the brunette cradled in Oliver's arms. Her face was littered with soot, but there she was. The girl in my dream... A girl named Delilah.

My stomach began to hurt as I realized what we were actually doing to these people as I heard these words slip out of Delilah's ashen face," I got West out, but mom... She-"

The blackness was now clearing with the water that cascaded down her cheeks. The more clear patches now revealed dried blood. I tripped as I tried to hear more of the conversation. As soon as I was spotted, Oliver bolted in the opposite direction. I aimed my gun at him, but he disappeared into the woods. What exactly are we doing to these people? I mean, I just killed a girl's mother. I kinda wish that Delilah was more like the girl in my dream... Maybe, I am not on the right side of this war. Funny, who would have thought it would take a reality check for me to realize it, and it was all because of a northerner...

It was a short torching session, but I was exhausted me. Will met me back at the spot where we had set up again. He was telling me about how awesome it was to use his flamethrower and such. "Hey, do you ever think that we're on the wrong side of this war?" I ask turning away from him.

"Of course not, why on earth would you ask such an obscure question?" he replies a bit more serious now. "We're fighting for the rights and citizens of the South!"

"Yeah," I laugh bitterly," I was just pullin' your chain."

He joins in with me chuckling, "Then ya got me good."