It's not an easy thing to turn your back on the ones you love.858Please respect copyright.PENANA44lA9D4yew
They say it's something that cowards do, and they couldn't be more wrong.858Please respect copyright.PENANA49v40uuMm0
It's an act of courage. To overstep those boundaries of trust, to go against the irrationality of emotion for the greater good.858Please respect copyright.PENANARPohCWvy5I
I tell myself this as I walk down the road, fields passing by and their cries fading away, but it doesn't stop their tears from stinging more than mine.
Death awaits me in a carriage, with a uniform and a mustache. On his wrist, a watch that my family and I would never be able to afford with a lifetime of savings, counting down the hours until I die. It may be just twenty four. It may be over a thousand. Little metal hands clicking clockwise eternally, but eventually even their cold insides will rust and grind to a halt.858Please respect copyright.PENANAnswjY28nm8
Some other boys who are joining with me seep slowly out of their houses. Their families, too, are saved.858Please respect copyright.PENANAQzoUmbqM5B
Their friends, too, are condemned.858Please respect copyright.PENANAq4exrtyPsd
Solemn glares all round, no greetings or banter now. We've come to fight against our own country in return for our family's safety. 858Please respect copyright.PENANAyMu6BtSmqT
They say that we are the spineless, but when you have to walk past the people that may die by the hands of the army you join, no one can say that we lacked the moral fiber to look them in the eyes.858Please respect copyright.PENANAMO4fg6fPmd
Eyes that scream, filth.858Please respect copyright.PENANAF6py24FeTg
Down the road, a broken promise awaits.858Please respect copyright.PENANAPHA0cR0ygT
You said our families would be safe.858Please respect copyright.PENANAeWW47xwVWm
But the watch hands keep ticking, the wheels keep rolling, and the lone hearts keep breaking, because since when was a coward's promise kept?