John, Peter and Rose

Chapter Seventeen

Once again Rose and John were left shocked at the sight in front of them. They never really went out much and if they did they preferred to stay in areas with few people but this was something completely different. The land was filled with hundreds of people. Most of them had no idea who the person they were dancing beside was. The crowd consisted of every gender, age, shape, race, etc. But today those differences held no matter because they were all huddled close together dancing from the same music and drinking the same beer. And the dj was the one gluing them all together. The one who played the music and made sure that everyone was having a good time. Of course the drinks were another glue. Who cared who they were drinking with as long as they were both going to be black out drunk by the end of the night.

John and Rose wanted to join them and so they both got themselves a beer and headed towards the dance floor where they let loose completely. They danced to the music like there was no one else there. They had no thought in their heads. They weren't thinking about money, stress, Peter, work, war, etc all they thought about was the feeling of each others bodies. They were moving to the rhythm of the music jumping when the music was fast and swaying when the music was slow but no matter the song they were always touching; Rose's hands were on his neck and his on her waist when a song was slow, their hands were linked together when they were jumping to an up-beat song and the whole of Rose's back body was pressed against the front of John's when the song felt more risky. That's where they spent the next hour. Dancing together as one.

It was approaching one in the morning which is when the fire works were going to go off. To John's surprise Rose has actually never seen fireworks before. John had never been to a festival or party but they would be visible from anywhere in the city on holidays so he thought it was impossible for someone to have not seen it at least once in their lives. But Rose had grown up in the country far away from any celebrations. Far away from any view of fire works. She would read time and time again romantic scenes where the couple kiss with fireworks going off behind them and it has always been her dream to experience that at least once before she dies and she wanted a good view of it. Therefore, they headed towards the edge of the area which had a railing looking out towards the water. The fireworks would be showcased over the top of the water and therefore this was the best view.

The fireworks finally went off and for Rose it was magical. She couldn't look away from the multitude of different colours being painted across the sky. Red, blue and white were all being mixed together to create an amazing show. Rose even enjoyed the noise that came with it. It added a certain intensity to the show case and would really grab all of your attention. All the dancing drunk people around her were completely drowned out leaving her focus solely on the powerful display being shot across the sky.

John, on the other hand, was not enjoying it as much as Rose. He saw fireworks multiple times as a kid and thought it was as magical as Rose did. It was like being immersed into another world. But this is the first time seeing fireworks ever since working in the military and he never thought that this would be how he would react. The sounds of fireworks sounded like guns. Every fire work that shot triggered another series of horrible flashbacks to John's mind. He would see men after men of the other team being shot by the people around them. He would see his own men being shot down beside him as he tries to defend them but simply isn't strong enough. He would see himself killing men after men who were doing nothing but trying to defend their country.

The final set of fireworks triggered the worst flashback of all. John and Peter had created themselves a small group of friends throughout their time at war. There was Michael. He was incredibly tall and muscled and he seemed to be born for this type of work. Apart from Peter who volunteered in order to help John he was the only person out of the group who chose to be in the military. He actually enjoyed fighting for his country even if it meant killing people in order to do it which honestly made John a bit scared of him. There was Kevin who was quit short and skinny and was definitely not built for this type of life. He was a lot like John in which he mostly kept to himself and would rather listen to the others talk than talk himself. There was Josh who was tall and very athletic. He was actually in all of the sport teams with Peter which made the both of them pretty close throughout that time. They weren't as comfortable with this life as Michael but they were brave and strong and wanted to protect the weaker ones. And then there was Isaac a tall skinny brunette who would make jokes every day. He was definitely the joker of the team. No matter what was going on around them he always tried to lift up the mood. He would never let someone be depressed about what they were having to suffer through just for their country's safety which is why it hurt so much more when John did what he had to. It was one of their last day before coming home, and they were walking through a field trying to get to the next safe place when suddenly one of their steps triggered a bomb. Luckily that person was the last one in line and very few people were close enough to be killed. Everyone were trying to find a safe path out in order not to trigger another bomb when John saw Isaac. He wasn't dead, not yet, but both of his legs had been blown off. Nothing was left but blood pouring out fast. Sam looked up at him and all he needed to say was please for John to know what he had to do. As much as it pained him more than anything he shot him and watched the life go out of his eyes.