Butterflies

I knew as soon as the first bullet passed through my chest that I was dead. I can't describe to you the feeling of being peppered with bullets, since it doesn't feel like much at all. I'm not sure what causes this, maybe something to do with nerves. I don't know. I'm just a solider. I'm not told these things, I'm just told where to go and who to hurt. Probably my fault for dropping out of school but that's what it is...

So as I was saying, I was dead. Not...you know, dead yet, but certainly getting there. And as I was sitting there, only aware of a dull sort of pain I stopped to think. I'd been to a lot of places, yeah, but I never got to enjoy them. I'd spent my entire life in ditches, dirty from head to toe, not having much in the way of comfort. I was a tool, something to be ordered around, not cared for or loved.

Heck, the only girls I had ever managed to bed were the local whores. In that last moment, I felt not...regret, per se, but perhaps a longing for more.

I'm sure my vision was pretty messed up at that point, but I had an odd sort of hallucination at that moment. Or at least, I thought it was a hallucination. See, there was this girl, sitting on my chest with this creepy mask. Somehow I knew that she had a sort of dispassionate expression, like someone looking at a hunk of meat. I tried to lift my hand, to shoo her off, forgetting that my arm had been blown off in the firefight. Finally I shouted at her, nearly jumping at the frailty of my own voice.

“Hoi! Get outta here...This is no place for a kid.”

She didn't pay me any mind, and I don't really blame her for that. I was in pretty sorry shape. In fact, instead of listening to me, she bent forward and put...something...on my chest. I'm pretty sure it was a worm, because I dimly remember something bury into me.

“...You have unfinished business...It's a shame. I can't give you your life back...But I think I can help you...see more.”

I blinked. What the hell was this creep talking about...? And...Oh gods. I could feel them. Millions of them. Worms, corpse-eaters. I'd seen them on the battlefields. Crawling inside me. Eating me up from the inside. I could see my chest squirming with them. She continued talking, almost as if she didn't notice.

“Of course...It won't be in your current form. That's a bit too far gone. But eventually those worms will become cocoons, then butterflies...Then, I suppose you can see distant lands in peace...Perhaps even bring happiness.”

I was having a lot of trouble hearing her then. It's really hard to focus when you can feel creepy-crawlies writhing under your skin. I'm pretty sure they ate out my eyes at that point, because I couldn't see anymore. And then soon after my hearing went. I remember my last wish was for peace and to be free of this odd sensation...And I got it soon enough.