Chapter 2: The Warrior Beneath the Silence
Chapter 1: The Ghosts He Carried
The laughter echoed through the military cemetery.
Derek Mason wiped tears from his eyes from laughing too hard as Jack Sullivan slowly pushed himself off the wet grass. The bouquet lay scattered beside the white tombstone. Red drops of blood slid from Jack's forehead onto the polished marble.
For a long moment, the old man said nothing.
His weathered hand picked up the fallen flowers one by one.
Only then did he look at Derek.
"You boys have no idea where you're standing," Jack said quietly.
Derek smirked.
"We're standing in a graveyard. What are you going to do about it, Grandpa?"
His friends burst into laughter again.
Jack brushed dirt from his jacket and placed the repaired bouquet back against the headstone.
The inscription read:
Lieutenant Michael Sullivan. Beloved Son. Fallen Hero.
Michael had been Jack's only child.
Three years earlier, Michael had died saving his team during an overseas mission. Since then, Jack had visited this cemetery every Sunday without fail.
Derek noticed the name.
"So that's who you're crying over?" he sneered. "Guess heroes die just like everyone else."
Something changed.
Jack's jaw tightened.
Not with rage.
With heartbreak.
He had survived wars, bullets, and explosions.
But hearing his son's sacrifice mocked by boys young enough to be Michael's friends hurt in a way no enemy ever had.
"You should leave," Jack said.
Derek stepped closer.
"Or what?"
Jack looked directly into his eyes.
"Or you'll force an old man to remember things he has spent years trying to forget."
May you like
The warning meant nothing to them.
Derek swung first.
