The War That Cannot be Won

Prologue

The last thing I saw was his eyes, and then I never saw him again. Search every city in this hopeless world, and you will never find one like him, never. I close the journal, cradle my head in my hands and cry. People told me writing it all down would help. Nothing can help. They told me time would heal me. It's been three years. Three years since they took him, to fight in a war that cannot be won. He told me he would come back. He promised he would come back. But he hasn't, no one has. I told them to take me with them, I would fight if I could stay with him. But he wouldn't let me. I remember his hands in my hair, his lips against my ear, the last thing he said to me "Never forget me, Ava." I remember the chills up my spine as I realized that he didn't really think he was coming back. He only ever tried to keep me safe, keep me happy. And now he's gone. I still walk through town expecting to see him. I don't. But yet, I do. I see him in the red bricks on the high school, I see him in every word of every book, I see him in little drops of rain on a window, and I want him back.