Random Story

Pendant From A Dead Woman

Disclaimer: the picture is not my work. It is only used as a prompt picture
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The battlefield is never a good scenery. Not before the battle, not after the battle. I whistle low as I scan the perimeter. Dust fly all around as the wind take them for a ride. The bodies of both allies and enemies scattered around. Blood taints the once-clean desert.

Noting that the coast is clear, I bring my favorite Kar98K close to my chest and jog forward. Perimeter check is an important job. The job is to check whether there's enemies lurking or allies which are incapacitated on the battlefield. The last thing we want is an enemy ambush while our troop is resting.

Then, I see something reflecting the light.

"Shit!"

I jump sideways behind a broken wall in instinct. Pushing my back against the wall, I take a deep breath. Feeling that adrenaline rush through my body as I grip my gun tighter.

But the gunshots I was expecting never come. I peek out from the other side of the wall towards the place I saw the gun. It's still there, but I realize that it's pointing upwards and doesn't seem to be moving to aim me.

After a moment of silence, I figure that the shooter is dead and jog over. I run around the three walled room and stop short.

I don't know what I was expecting, but the body of a woman in her late 30s, her lifeless eyes staring at me is definitely not it. The gun she used, a Mosin Nagant I saw from the distance, lay unused. Someone must've sneaked up on her the way I came and shot her just as she was turning around.

I see something glinting on her neck and step closer. Taking the pendant, I open it to see what's inside.

"Damn," I mutter. A married woman. Great. A man out for revenge is just the thing we need. Too bad the husband's part of the picture is shot so I don't know his face. Well, time to go back to work. I think as I start to turn around.

I contemplate for a while about what should I do with the pendant. Then I get the strangest feeling to keep the pendant. "Let's hope the husband is not around anymore," I say to myself as I pocket the pendant. What kind of man tells his wife to go to a battlefield anyway?
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"Private First Class Waller reporting. Perimeter check complete."

"Affirmative. At ease Private First Class," the Sergeant Major in front of me said. Even when he's at ease wisdom seems to roll off his whole figure in waves.

"Yes, sir," I answer, loosening my standing position and releasing a breath.

"Anything worth noting?" he asks casually.

"No, sir," I answer again.

"Alright, then. Dismissed," he orders. I was about to give him a salute when something catch my eyes.

"Sergeant, that..." I slowly say as I point at the pendant on his table.

"Hm? Ah, this?" he takes the pendant and shows me the picture inside. "It's just a picture of my wife and I," he chuckles a bit, "We're already divorced, yet here I am still trying to search for her. Seems stupid, huh?"

I stand there in silence as I look at the same picture I see in the pendant of a woman I found in the battlefield. A dead woman. How would the Sergeant Major react?

He notices me just standing in silence and asks, "What's wrong?"
"Ah, no, sir," I say, snapping out of it. I then give him a salute and turn back to the door.

As I exit the room, I reach for my pocket where a broken pendant lays.

I'm sorry, Sergeant Major.