Photographed: Kim Ainslie – Center Director Explore Horizons Garland, Bailey Vinson – YWA 2016 Winner, Dr Joy Bell – Principal Firewheel Christian Academy.
The Last Goodbye
It was a rainy day when I was called to serve again. They called when me and my wife were eating. I had finally gotten a break. A chance to see her beautiful face again. Then I had to tell her.
First came the crying, then the yelling. Deep down in my heart I knew she would be ok, but I didn’t like seeing her this way.
“I’ll be ok. Just go pack,” Pamela said.
She was shutting me out again. She did it every time I left. I had promised her a month and she got 3 days, so I couldn’t blame her.
I went to our room and started packing. She came to bed and layed down. I couldn’t fall asleep because of the tears I could see on her face.
—————————————–5 days later—————————————–
I stepped into my room at the Barracks in Afghanistan. My drill sergeant started giving me orders. I went to my bunk and put a picture of Pamela in my pillow.
It was lunchtime and as soon as I tasted the food, I knew I had missed her cooking. My sergeant came to me and told me they needed me a few towns away for a kidnapping. A bad one apparently. We went out to the trucks and loaded in. We got to the town and got our guns locked and loaded.
Me and my men sneaked to the building and split up. I could sense the danger. We walked past a dead body his chest covered in red velvet blood.
And then, BAM! One of my men fell to the ground his head swarming with blood. There was nothing to do.
“You guys take cover and I’ll wrap his head,” I said.
They rushed off and I wrapped up his head. I heard more shots and more cries for help. I heard someone coming up behind me…but I didn’t move fast enough.
I felt the bullet pushing its way through my chest. All I could think of was Pamela’s face. Her beautiful eyes and luscious brown hair. My heart slowly stopped, but I knew I would see her again. Not in this world, but someday, in a much better place.
By Bailey Vinson, age 12, Firewheel Christian Academy
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