Love Always Wins

This is a continuation of a #freewite challenge begun by using the prompt fire by @snook here:

https://steemit.com/freewrite/@snook/day-63-freewrite-prompt-fire

And continued using the prompt pill by @byn here:

https://steemit.com/freewrite/@byn/love-always-wins-collaborative-freewrite-w-snook

@snook's beginning of the story is here in italics:

Shit! The god damn fire went out!
Mazie! get your ass back in here and get this fire going! NOW! I said! get your lazy ASS out of bed and get that fire to a roar! I'm freezing in here!

Mazie heard all this from the other room, she was so tired of it all. The day Bud came home from the war was her happiest and worst day ever.

She had been so happy to have her loving husband back in her arms to feel his strength. To know he was safe from harm was something she had prayed for ever day he was gone.

The day he finally came home though.....he was a broken man. The war had taken everything out of him even his humanity. It had left her husband broken, for lack of a better word, so broken inside he just couldn't find the light anymore.

He stayed alone in that room all day and night just looking for nothing it seemed. She had tried to get him to talk but as soon as she spoke he.......

And now, for part 2 by @byn of the story:

She had tried to get him to talk but as soon as she spoke he just let loose with curses. She could tell that he was frustrated and angry with himself most of all, but also with her, with their life, with the fact that nothing at all was going the way they'd planned.

They'd been high school sweethearts. They'd been through some shit together. Her mom had suffered and died from cancer in their senior year of high school and he was there for her every day. Helping her with school so she didn't fail, helping her mom, even so far as to help carry her to the bathroom when it was needed. He was her hero, he always had been.

He still made her heart beat faster when she saw him, in spite of this... thing that he'd become. This angry shell of a man. She was absolutely desperate to fix him. To fix THEM, she would do anything to get their lives back.

That is what had driven her to the witch that lived in the woods. Everyone was terrified of her, but she actually found that the 'scary witch' was one of the nicest, most pleasant and peaceful people she'd ever met.

So much so, that even though she wasn't the type to hug, she'd literally fallen, sobbing, into the old woman's comforting arms as soon as she opened the door. It was crazy, yeah, but she left that hug feeling so much better about herself and actually had hope for their situation.

Now here she was, 3 days later, the pill in hand. The witch had told her very specifically to only use it on at sunset on a Thursday, so she waited. This was it. Her choice. The witch had said that this would end all of the pain, that no one would hurt anymore and that their lives would go on as they should have.

She broke the pill in half and carried both halves in on his dinner tray. She sat it down in front of him and he was surprisingly quiet for once. She she held out the pill, he didn't even try to knock it out of her hand like he usually did. He just opened his mouth to take it. He didn't even have the energy to reach for it.

She placed the pill in his mouth and then took the other half herself. A glass of water washed the pills down and she sat down beside him. His hand crept out tentatively to grip hers tight. It was the closest sign of affection she'd seen in months. A tear rolled down her face as she closed her eyes, leaned her head on his lap and waited.

This is my continuation part 3:

Mazie drifted into a dream like state. A peace she hadn't felt since her changed husband crossed over their small home's deteriorating threshold filtered through her veins like a restorative stream. Her husband's hand rested quietly on her head.

Suddenly, she saw before her a battlefield. Men in uniform running, bombs exploding around nearby burning huts, women and children wailing and bloody bodies dropping like flies in charred grass. Tears began flowing from Mazie's closed eyes. The pain so intense she heard cries... They were emitting from her own mouth. She felt her husband pulling her back.

"No, No, No!" came his urgent command. His strong arms folding her up like a child and he was crying, deep, gutteral animal sounds, as though wounded and he cradled her gently, like a baby. His lips moved but no sound came out... Then he was pleading in her ear, "Mazie, don't look, turn away, please stop!"

He shook, long hard sobs, his hand stroking her tangled, damp hair. She slowly calmed beneath his tender stroking. A new calm settled upon her. He was here. For the first time since she kissed him goodbye before he stepped smartly onto the plane in full uniform, he was really here.

She slipped into a dreamless state, safe in the arms of the man who left her so long ago. She thought fleetingly of the witch, and the pill she'd fed him and partaken of herself. She heard her husband whisper, "Mazie, I'm so sorry. I love you. I never would have told you. I'm here, Baby. We will get through this together."

Mazie slept enfolded in a soldier's grasp.

This #freewrite began with @mariannewest here:
https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/day-63-5-minute-freewrite-prompt-fire

I accepted a challenge to continue the challenge given by @byn.

I hope you enjoyed the collaborative story!

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