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31_days2006-02-04 12:15 am
maajna.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2006-02-04 12:15 am
[3 February] [Original] The Boys of Summer
Title: The Boys of Summer
Day/Theme: 3 February / lemongrass summer
Series: Original
Character/Pairing: none
Rating: PG-13
Boys in summer are fickle things. Summer air like a disease; their hearts beat quicker, their flesh crawls with anticipation of the long days and balmy nights. Boys in summer race everywhere. For a boy, even his shadow is a competitor; they will be second to none. Their sneakers hammer hard on the pavement, adolescent claps of thunder storming from one place to the other, crowding sidewalks, flustering girls, rattling against picket fences, against the confines of their bodies.
They were boys, just boys, running through a thicket on a balmy night. Their hearts hammering and their skin prickled, their ears perked and their eyes open for every crack of brush, every flicker of light in the warm air. But this summer is not for playing, not now, not in war, when a firefly could be the mouth of an ambush, a crack of brush really the crack of danger sweeping soundly from above.
Their hearts hammer with fear and they are running from their lives; they are racing the shadow of death and grief and loss. They are eighteen and this is their youth, falling to their knees as a whiz of magic blazes overhead, flash bang, belly crawling through the brush, scratching their wet faces. Playing war for keeps. No timeouts. No do-overs.
They were boys, just boys, fickle things who made it out alive again –but barely. They congratulate themselves, they pretend it was a game, but their laughter is mechanical and they’re wondering how soon will it be, how soon before they’re out there again, watching their friends fall, watching their enemies fall, feeling hollow and dirty and heavy with love and hate and fear and desperation. Because it’s war now and times are desperate and they’ll cling to the nonexistent, they’ll think of memories never theirs to cherish.
Then they will go out and fight.
The boys of summer, playing for keeps.`
Day/Theme: 3 February / lemongrass summer
Series: Original
Character/Pairing: none
Rating: PG-13
Boys in summer are fickle things. Summer air like a disease; their hearts beat quicker, their flesh crawls with anticipation of the long days and balmy nights. Boys in summer race everywhere. For a boy, even his shadow is a competitor; they will be second to none. Their sneakers hammer hard on the pavement, adolescent claps of thunder storming from one place to the other, crowding sidewalks, flustering girls, rattling against picket fences, against the confines of their bodies.
They were boys, just boys, running through a thicket on a balmy night. Their hearts hammering and their skin prickled, their ears perked and their eyes open for every crack of brush, every flicker of light in the warm air. But this summer is not for playing, not now, not in war, when a firefly could be the mouth of an ambush, a crack of brush really the crack of danger sweeping soundly from above.
Their hearts hammer with fear and they are running from their lives; they are racing the shadow of death and grief and loss. They are eighteen and this is their youth, falling to their knees as a whiz of magic blazes overhead, flash bang, belly crawling through the brush, scratching their wet faces. Playing war for keeps. No timeouts. No do-overs.
They were boys, just boys, fickle things who made it out alive again –but barely. They congratulate themselves, they pretend it was a game, but their laughter is mechanical and they’re wondering how soon will it be, how soon before they’re out there again, watching their friends fall, watching their enemies fall, feeling hollow and dirty and heavy with love and hate and fear and desperation. Because it’s war now and times are desperate and they’ll cling to the nonexistent, they’ll think of memories never theirs to cherish.
Then they will go out and fight.
The boys of summer, playing for keeps.`