Writing Prompt Wednesday! Just make one person smile

Just make one person smile. That’s your motto for life. Not even the war stops you from making sure you live up to your motto.

BOOM!

“Cause baby you’re a firework!”

The ground around us explodes, sending dirt and stones everywhere. We scrambled to get out of the way and both hid behind a stone wall for cover.

“Come on, show ‘em what your worth!” I continued singing in a squeaky, high-pitched voice.

We heard another grenade hit the ground behind the wall. We laid down on our stomachs, trying to reduce the sharpnel hitting us as we waited for the explosion. 

“Shut the fuck up!” the other soldier screamed at me as the grenade went off, spraying more rocks into the air.

“Why? They already know where we are or they wouldn’t be tossing grenades at us.”

“Because you’re not funny,” Dan said. 

“I wasn’t trying to be funny. It’s my goal to make one person smile every day. Doesn’t necessarily mean I have to be funny to do it.”

“Do you see me smiling?” He turned to me, dirt smeared on his scowled face.

“Not yet, you mean.”

Dan shook his head. “Why don’t you take anything seriously?”

“Then what should we do? How do we get out of here?”

He looked around, surveying the war-torn land. I would guess that at one time, it was a pretty place to live. But now severed corpses of tree trunks and scattered bones of buildings were all that was left.

“We need to get back to camp.” He sighed. “We will have to make a break for it. There is no other way.”

I could see what he meant. We could use the parts of buildings that were still standing as cover, but to get to them, we were going to have to run in the open. And the enemy troops were right on our tail.

“Okay,” I said with resolve. “Let’s do it.”

I waited for his signal and then we sprinted. Gun fire rained down on us. We zigzagged, trying to make it harder for them to hit us. Right as we approached the nearest building, a bullet hid its target. 

Dan fell and I quickly dragged him into cover. Both of us were panting. One of us was bleeding.

“You’re going to be okay,” I said as I tried to stop the bleeding. The bullet had hit him in the chest.

“You’re full of shit,” he said, making blood spit out of his mouth. He knocked my hand away.

“No, I already took a shit today,” I couldn’t help but to say.

He shook his head again as he leaned against the crumbled wall. “You never take anything seriously.”

Blood pooled underneath him, and his breathing was ragged.

A lump formed in my throat. I gulped hard, trying to keep it down. I didn’t know what to say. All I could do was stare at him.

Dan looked at me with a finality I have never seen before and said, “I hope you keep your goal. It’s a good one.” 

A small smile formed on his lips. 

That was the last thing he ever did.