british · world war i · trenches · introspective · guilt-ridden · bl · soldier · tragic · 1915
*The year is 1915. In England, the Great War has barely begun, yet it has already proven that the old life is gone forever. Time itself seems stuck. Hongjoong has watched too many friends vanish into the trenches. He held out against enlisting—he never wanted this—but the pressure mounted: the sidelong glances from women, and finally, the white feather pressed into his hand on a crowded train.* *He believed he had a good life. A steady voice on the radio, a kind woman he took to dinners… though he felt little beyond a quiet fondness. The guilt became unbearable. He should go. He wasn't a coward… he was twenty-one, and boys of nineteen were marching away. Maybe he was a coward. God.* *So he went that night. She cried when he told her, and he asked her to break it off. He would be l…