Kabe Horsley

English 1010
04 Feb, 2021

I looked down and wiped away the tear from my son's eye, as I showed him his very own

gas mask, so he could join me to show him his mother and my spot before the war began.So, we

put on our gas masks and walked out of the bay door of our ship. As we got closer and closer to

the spot I could feel the excitement starting to brew in his mind, and he was getting jittery and

could hardly keep his voice down. I asked him

"Now Timmy, we are going into a very dangerous place and you need to keep quiet. Do

you understand?"

"Yes, father I know" he replied.

As we got closer and closer I noticed that something was different this time. Someone or

something has been tampering with the tree that they are trying to get too. As they work their

way down the decaying mountain into the toxic air, they come to the tree and notice the old

damaged gifts and flowers that had been left there from previous visits from me. As Timmy

looked at me he noticed the tears that were starting to fill my eyes. Timmy has never seen me

have any emotions at all. Now that the war was over, he has turned into an emotionless being just

blowing in the wind like a dead leaf that has just fallen off of the tree for the winter that is

approaching. As I looked at the tree I placed my hand over the heart with the initials carved into

the tree KH plus AH. As I feel the rough beaten bark of the last tree still trying to survive on this

pathetic toxic wasteland they call the earth. As I look how the tree isn't faring too well so I take

the backpack off of my back and pull out some supplies that I brought in an attempt to keep the

tree alive. I pull out the shovel, and the different tests to test the soil to see if the toxic

environment has gotten into the soil yet. As I took the test and the vial turned red, my heart just

1
Kabe Horsley
English 1010
04 Feb, 2021
sank and I just broke down and began to sob. Timmy then came over and gave me a big bear hug

and I kissed him on

the forehead and told him that the soil has been infected by the fallout. Which means that this

tree will not be able to survive, I could see the disbelief on Timmy's face as I told him the bad

news, Which got me thinking about all the wonderful memories that I have had with April, my

wife.

As I take a moment to reflect on my life with her. I immediately think of my wife

walking down the aisle. I remember her beautiful smile from ear to ear with her long gorgeous

red hair that looked like a flame of fire blowing in the wind. However, my mind was quickly

reminded of the way that she was taken from me and our son. I remember the authorities

knocking on our door, and asking for April, so I went and got her and she came to the door and

they said "April Hansen, You have been drafted to the kings army and you haven't reported so

we are here to make you report, and they slammed some handcuffs super hard around her hand.

As if they were trying to hurt her. I lost my shit and attacked the officer who then hit me with a

stun stick and knocked me unconscious. The only thing I could think of was that I wish that the

law where if the man doesn’t enlist then the woman will get drafted didn’t exist. We were too

stubborn to choose which one of us was going to go to war and which one of us was going to

stay back with Timmy. That I missed the deadline to enlist. I remember trying to hide from the

authorities so we could both stay together, but I knew that they would catch us eventually. As I

woke up April was gone and the door was wide open. I then reflected on the many nuclear

weapons which have been used and have destroyed this wonderful planet. As soon as the first

nuclear bomb went off in China I knew that she was gone. At that moment I lost all hope that I

would be able to see her again, or hear her sweet voice. I am crying extremely hard now But I am

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Kabe Horsley
English 1010
04 Feb, 2021
trying to stay strong for Timmy, so he can't see my weakness but I know that having him see the

weaker side of me might be a good thing for him. We knew that it was time to go, since our

masks are running out of clean oxygen. So we packed up all of our supplies and took our last

looks at this now sacred spot for me and him. We are going on a 15 year journey and won't be

back for some

time and I hope that the tree is still standing when we come back. I gave Timmy a big hug as we

started our climb back up out of the toxic wasteland to our ship where we will be able to breathe

without the need of a gas mask again. As we got back to the ship. Timmy turned to me and said,

“Thanks for taking me here, it really is a special place.”

I replied chuckling “ you’re welcome, but don’t ever let me cry like that again.”

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