Like bogus notes excusing him from P.E. in high school, forging his mother’s signature on enlistment papers was simple. When he left, taking little more than a change of clothes and all the money he saved that summer, everyone believed he ran away and was up to no good.
Months later, watching news coverage of the fighting in Afghanistan, his cousin Ralph kept saying he saw him aboard one of the carriers in the Gulf of Oman.
His grave, at a depth of 4,600 meters, was a few feet deeper than his mother told him he’d end up one day.
The 100 Word Challenge, a writing prompt created by Velvet Verbosity, takes a single theme to tell a story in only 100 words ~ no more, no less. This week’s theme is ‘Depth.’
Rows of white granite
Aligned in sharp formation
Shadows lengthening
* Haiku Friday is hosted by Lou at LouCeeL.
Thin spiral notebook 
Ugh, heartbreaking. As I said to you on twitter, your writing is definitely getting stronger. 🙂
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Loved this. Heart-wrenching. real.
And I agree: if you’re going to use cold, hard facts in your fiction you should still look it up!
AWESOME job.
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I read this several times before I was finally able to comment…I like it very, very much! Its perfect. The last few lines change the whole angle of the story and…it really is very perfect.
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This makes me want to know more about the character and everything that happened leading up to his death. Very poignant.
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Chilling.
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Wow. I just…am at a loss for words. Speechless. This one grabbed me, shook me and tossed me aside.
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Made my heart ache.
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