Written in Silver

2 - Dream turn Memory

Joel Rogers POV

A few hours later...

We sat there for hours. Drifting between silence, light conversation and tears. Soon she cried herself to sleep on the couch. I wouldn't be able to lift her, so I grabbed a blanket and draped it over her.

I sat back in my chair and just watched my sweet little sister as she slept. Memories of when we were younger played through my mind. I slowly began to drift asleep while listening to her steady breathing.

***

Flashback - April 26th 1918

I was in the trenches with Joseph, my sister's husband. The 107th infantry had all been quiet for the past hour, but the battlefield was anything other than silent. I could hear guns, explosions and the faint noise of a dying man coming from up top.

Joseph passed me a water canteen silently. I took a small sip and then tried to pass it back. He didn't take it.

"Take my share too, I'll survive." He said while looking at his gun.

"I'm not telling my sister that you died of dehydration because you were too much of a nice guy to drink when you should." I nudged him with the canteen. "You never know when just a sip could mean you don't die later."

"Well, I'm not telling my wife that I let her 'baby' twin brother die on my watch." He said with a smirk in his voice.

"You know I'm older than her right." I quipped back.

"Don't seem like it most time Joel and you know it." He chuckled.

"Yeah. Yeah." I waved him off, nudging him with the canteen more firmly.

He relented and took an even smaller sip of water than I had. He recapped it and put it back in his bag. Then he pulled out extra socks and passed them to me.

"Nope. Keep your damn socks. Stop treating me like a kid, you're not that much older than me." I said, throwing the socks in his face. He huffed, placed his hand over his heart and made the most dramatic declaration.

"You are my brother-in-law and my brother-in-arms, the very bonds we share go deeper than these trenches. You will not die on my watch. I will do everything within my power to keep you alive, especially since my wife would never speak to me if I didn't."

"Yeah, well she'd sock me if I let her idiotic husband die." I laughed.

An explosion going off close by halted my laughter. Every time one went off too close, every man in the infantry would go still. Every scary thought would come rushing in and the fear would fall like a dark cloud.

"If I do..." Joseph began. "If I do die-"

"Don't." I didn't want to hear it.

"If I do, take care of her for me. Be there if I can't." He whispered solemnly.

"You will if you don't die of dehydration," I replied trying to lighten the mood.

"Just promise me, Joel. Promise you'll be there if I can't. Teach my kid all the things I would have, like how to spend their first penny at the shop or how to tie their shoes. I need to know that you'll be there for Sarah and help her stay afloat." Joseph says as his voice starts to break.

"I promise Joe if you promise to not go down without a fight. Got it?"

He laughs. "I could do this all day."

"Yeah, well can you do it all night too because I'll need you for watch duty tonight?"

Joseph groaned and I chuckled, but it was all soon drowned out by gunfire and explosions.

***

[4/5/24] Reupload.