Timber Blaze was a soldier, a member of the elite Royal Guards, who served five years in combat before an injury forcibly retired him.
Not all wounds bleed, and not all scars can be seen.
Even after Blaze came back from the war, he never left the battlefield. Constantly on edge, seeing movements in the shadows, he fights the psychological trauma caused by years at war. As the flashbacks become more real and more frequent, they push Blaze closer and closer to the edge. This is the tale of what happens when he is pushed too far.
Chapters (4)
I sense something big on the horizon.. Interesting character development going on as well. I await the next with a bit of apprehension aimed towards the last statement.
2590736
There isn't anything too drastic panned, as this short story is about halfway over (minus the epilogue)
2590827
Ah; but I've seen what you can write, and I have a feeling you'll surprise me somehow!
2591605
I hope not to disappoint you, but I know that if I do, I will make up for it sooner or later with one of my other stories
2591723
What you do for all of us makes up for any disappointment you could possibly ever dish out.
~Sparky
under normal circumstances i would find the phrases"suck start my shotgun" and " rinse my mouth out with buckshot" to be hilarious. in this circumstance it was powerful and frighteningly bleak. you craft this story damned well. haveing known a fair number of hot zone stationed military personel in my time i must say im impressed. very well done. i look forward to the rest,gods know i hope for a happy ending but not all storys get those but gain more emotional power and perhaps knowledge and reader introspection without it.
2756622
Powerful and frighteningly bleak... such is the world we live in, when our heroes are abandoned by their country and denied the help they need. We have failed them when they are even considering a permanent solution to a temporary problem. I just wasn't too draw attention to their struggles.
2756876 could not agree more. anyone willing to serve their country at the very least should be welcomed warmly if not treated as the heroes they are.
2756905
I don't disagree, but that's not even the minimum acceptable standard. At a minimum, they should be treated for the wounds they received while serving. We owe it to our brothers and sisters in arms to do this for them. Not all wounds bleed, not all scars can be seen. We need to treat the minds as well as the limbs.
2757173 George carlin had a brilliant piece on language being used to make ailments and other things out there have less of an impact. he used p.t.s.d. specificly takeing it from its roots " shellshock" to its much tamer sounding post traumatic stress disorder. and how had it remained shellshock the soldiers suffering may have received the needed treatment. i tend to agree. the softening of an ailments name breeds a untrue feeling that it isn't anything worth the populace's concern.
2757219
Agreed. Honestly, I think shellshock isn't even all-encompassing. It might better be described as "Nightmare Syndrome" or "Wartime Horror Disease".
2757235 while that idea may have flown in the50's these days if its not buried in political and psychological techno babble its pretty much scoffed at right out of the gate. sad days indeed.
2757253
Sad times are these.
2591723
Why would you leave that cliff hanger... and right before bed to...
That mental battle at the end may not have been the best thing I've ever read, but the effect it created and the internal struggle it showed... that part was really good.
2757272
Yeah, I was wondering if these things actually happened to you. The way you wrote it could have convinced me. Glad it didn't happen to you and I hope it never does. Not to joke about this at all but those memes "Iv'e seen some shit" comes to mind.
3538765
Because, that's what I do. I really should get around to finishing the epilogue...
3542508
I'm glad you liked it. The internal struggle was the thing I most wanted to get right, as that is one of the biggest components of PTSD, that disconnection and fear of hurting another.
3542610
I am thankful that I have not lived through such trauma. Each one of these is a story I've collected from friends of mine who have had the (mis)fortune to have experienced it first-hand. I have modified the details ever so slightly to fit the story, but the core of the tale is truth.
Why u no update in 8 months?
