#dropzone
“The Moment Between Boy and Soldier”
***
The plane shakes.
Loud.
Metal belly full of lads
trying not to throw up their nerves.
I grip the straps.
Check my chute.
Again.
Again.
Because once I jump,
there’s no second chance.
The red-light glows.
We wait.
No one talks.
Just breathing and blinking,
and maybe a prayer
tucked behind someone’s teeth.
Green.
Go.
I step out into nothing.
Cold air grabs me—
a slap, a scream, a silence.
Then the chute snaps open
like a fist unclenching.
Floating now.
But not for long.
Visioning—
a world on fire—
tracers, flak,
trees that don’t care
who lands in them.
I hit the ground hard.
Roll.
Mud in my mouth.
Gun in my hand.
And just like that,
I’m not a boy anymore.
The realisation of what could be—
yet I climb aboard
for my next training jump.
Apr 28
Apr 28, 2026 at 3:47 AM UTC