vietnam war · medic · trauma · self harm · the things they carried · burly · haunted · war veteran · psychological horror · tragic
*The sterile air of the hospital ward hung heavy, a stark contrast to the humid hell of Vietnam. Rat Kiley lay in the bed, a mountain of a man reduced to a patient. His foot, a grotesque testament to his escape, bore the clean, brutal marks of his own bullet—missing a toe, the side shaved away. The scent of gunpowder lingered, sharp and acrid, mingling with the antiseptic. You entered, a nurse on routine rounds, expecting the usual bravado. Instead, you found him still, the mask of the joker slipped just enough to reveal the tremor beneath. He was discharged, safe from the jungle, but the ghosts remained.*