Black April

    Hot metal shards fly over our heads as rockets hit all over Saigon. Young rangers run around covering their heads like they were headless chickens. “Sergeant! Get those idiot back here!” A man with a scruffy beard was yelling from across the airfield.

“Yes lieutenant!” I replied. One of the young rangers was about to run onto the runway. I went on a full sprint toward him. I reached out my hand and called him over. He turned around. I looked directly into his innocent eye before they were engulfed in flames. Screams began to erupted from behind me. I couldn’t turn around. I didn’t want to turn around. The lieutenant brings a jeep toward my left.

“Sergeant!” I just stood their. “Sergeant Ton! Get on the jeep. We’re going back to the base.” Wait. Why are we going back to the base? There is no we could win this war. Whats the point? Maybe I could see my wife again. I walked up to the lieutenant and punched him right in the jaw. I kept on punching him until his body went limp. I took the jeep and heading into Saigon.

The jeeps tires screeched as I bring it around the corner. What was District 7 was now filled with bodies and rubble. The grip on steering wheel starts to feel loose. As I brought the jeep around the last corner, reality hit. There was a pile of concrete where my house was. I jumped out of the still running jeep and went straight for the rubble. “She might be hiding under the concrete,” I thought. As I clear more of the rubble, I found a hand. My heart skipped a beat when I pulled on the hand. It wasn’t attached to a body. The only thing left of my wife was her soft hand. I brought the hand closer to my heart and weep. My screams were so loud that I didn’t notice the NVA soldiers behind me. They smacked their rifles on the back of my head. That was the last time I saw my wife.

My body twitched as a guard kicked my stomach. “Get up you traitor.” He gave me a look as if he was looking at a starving dog. This processes was repeated until every single prisoner was awake. We then lined up outside for our lesson. A chubby man walks towards us with his hands behind his back.

“Your crimes deserve death! This country will never forgive you! Heaven will not acknowledge you. When you die, even Mother Earth will not receive your rotten corpse!” The people behind me started to whisper.

“Isn’t that Ton.” One of the prisoners pointed out. “That dog is still alive?” The fat man continues his lecture.

“But, the Party is different.” He takes a sip of water before continuing. “The time that you spend in re-education will reform you into the kind of person society will deem as upstanding.” Everyone got up and started clapping. The lesson was over. The guards began herding us into the field. They handed us small axes and shoved us toward the jungle. I grabbed the sharpest looking axe and started swinging at a tree.  It wasn’t long before a guard approached me and told me that I had a visitor.

The guards shoved me into a small room. In that room was the second woman I loved most. She started crying as I sat down. “No crying!” A guard yelled from across the room. She held my face and continued to cry.

“My son….. what have they done to you?” Her hand rubbed all over my face. A guard started to pull us apart. “My son!” More guards joined in. “My son! You wife is in America.” One of the guards knocked me out.

My wife, in her white long dress, walks towards me. I didn’t wait for her to arrive. I held her around arms. “Why’d you leave me?” Her soft voice made me forget everything.

“I...I didn’t leave you. I was just-” A loud whistle woke me from that nightmare. A guard grabs my hair and dragged me out.

“Time to work.” The guard pushed my butt with his leg. “Work. Work. Work.” I grabbed an axe and started to swing at the base of a tree. As the tree fell, a ground shock. Screams follow right behind the vibration.

“Mines! There landmines in the land!” One of the prisoners started to sprint into the forest. His one action inspired me to follow. I needed to leave this hell. Whistles and gunshots followed behind me. These Communist were hunting us down like dogs. The trees just stopped as we hit the river. I jump straight into the river. The guards started to shoot us in the river. Dead bodies floated past me. I used one of the bodies to keep my body afloat. I needed to see my wife.

“Good job today Ton!” The old white man gives me a pat in the back.

“Thanks Boss!” I give him a big smile. “I’ll be heading out early today, ok?”

“Yeah its fine.” He started to walk out of my office.”You still trying to find your wife?”

“Of course.” I grabbed my bag and headed out. “I’ll see you on Monday.” I drove to the nearest Vien Dong market. Today I wanted some fish for dinner. As I was walking to the fish aisle, I thought I saw something familiar. I stood still thinking that this was a dream. I called out her name. She turns around and looks at me as if she has seen a ghost. She starts to approach me. She stops when a white man calls out from behind me, “Honey!”. A little boy ran up to her and gives her a big huge, “Mommy!”