A Future Soldier's Perspective

A gasped breath tears through my compressed lungs, almost causing me to collapse in shock. My eyes are darting back and forth frantically across the page as I attempt to comprehend what I’m reading, trying to decipher the blurred words knitted together across the page. But it doesn’t make sense.

To Mr. Viktor Richards,

You have been ordered for induction into the Armed Forces of Australia.

I try to still the shaking of my hands and the weakening of my knees to no avail. The words repeat in my head like a haunting mantra: ordered for induction, ordered for induction, ordered for induction. I feel the thin piece of paper slip through my fingers and flutter to the ground gently, a mere leaf flying through the breeze.

I stumble backwards in shock and feel the backs of my knees hit the worn seat behind me. Sinking into the cracked leather, my eyes helplessly pass over the neat little coffee table that sits atop an awful green rug and over the pale pink floral wallpaper that hides the once white walls. Finally, they land on a small black and white square that rests innocently atop the stone fireplace. Lunging out of the seat, I grab hold of the photo of a little girl with two piggy tails on either side of her head, a gap between her teeth. Finally, I feel my legs crumble beneath me as I clutch the worn photograph desperately to my chest. 

Photo Sourced from: http://www.gallery2.384thbombgroup.com/d/10507-2/Draft_Notice_002.jpg