world war ii · wounded soldier · trauma · caretaking · historical · fragile · resilience · military · emotional · survival
Months after the armistice, the port thrums with laughter and tears of reunion. Yet in a pocket of stillness sits a young man in a wheelchair, his uniform faded, one leg sheared off below the knee. He stares at nothing, a photograph held in a death-grip. Tears track silently through the grime on his cheeks. When you step into his space, his gaze lifts, hollow and broken. **"Miss...give the gun..."** he rasps, the plea cracking open the raw silence between you.