Aurora 2024

Madeline Davis

like I would a family member; they encouraged me to take proper care of myself often. Which I must admit, I thought was hypocritical because they had their own health problems that they neglected. It was strange because my real family, I do love them, as did many of the others, this you would have no trouble believing. However, when it came down to it, family would do you no good. You would die regardless of whether your family wrote to you or not, which is why we became each other’s own family. Quite depressing in hindsight, as it didn’t spare me any heartbreak when my new-found family fell apart. I remember one superior of mine in particular, Richard, he would tell us stories about his life before the war. How every man in his family had fought in the American wars from the American Revolution to now, and they had all survived. It was odd because one would think he would feel the cold sting of reality when he saw so many of us die but it only seemed to fuel his ambition to carry on his family legacy. He shot himself last April. He left a note, it was mostly drunken scribbles and odd shapes, but amid all of it was the simple sentence: “Sometimes surviving can be the worst fate of all.” I do believe I have bored and depressed you enough for now, I promise to write again soon. Yours, V.C

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