Prompt Set #66: Someone Weep With Me

After he's washed the blood off his hands, written the appropriate letters to loved ones, and discharged his necessary duties as captain, the reality of the past 24 hours hits him. He knows it's coming, like a terrible tide, but he holds it at bay until there is nothing left that requires his coherent thought and attention. Only then does he crawl into his quarters, to exhale the grief he's not allowed to express in the presence of his crew. A captain must show no weakness.

He doesn't cry. At least not on the outside. He sits at his desk but the words on the screen seem fuzzy. He's read the same paragraph three times now, he realizes. So he lets it fade to black. He doesn't recall calling up the music but at some point it's just playing. Blaring. Drowning out the memory of their faces, their names, the relationships he's built with them over the years. He tries to forget they all died to protect him, regardless of whether that protection was wanted or needed. He closes his eyes and bleeds. The music swells until the choir is all he can hear. It builds until the drums are all he can feel. He prays the instrumental veil never ends.


Prompt: - "Something else is hurting you - that’s why you need pot or whiskey, or screaming music turned so fucking loud you can’t think." – Charles Bukowski.
Title: From the poem "O Fortuna"
Music: (Quite possibly the most awesome music ever) " O Fortuna" by Carl Orff from Carmina Burana