The Soldier Who Taught Her to Love

The Soldier who taught me to Love.   Prologue The giant oak tree stood in the centre of the park, underneath the lush green branches that created a canopy of shade from the heat of the mid-day sun, sat couples enjoying their time together, some kissing and cuddling, others just enjoying some quiet time. Small children looking up at the large tree in awe and wonder whilst others wish to climb its over hanging branches, another lady sat reading in solitude enjoying the peaceful feeling of nature as she loses herself in the world of romance and a promise of happy ever after. The green leaves serve as a reminder of the fullness of life, but, if you looked closely, you could see just at the tips of the bright green leaves a slight discolouration, the earliest indication that soon everything would change, and this season would turn colder in the blink of an eye.  The lush green leaves would change into a multitude of dark reads, browns, orange, and golden leaves, before falling to the ground creating a carpet of colour, as the children would change their play from climbing the branches, instead wanting to run kicking the leaves, or picking them up and throwing them upwards with screeches of delight as they fall back to the ground. Soon after the branches would become void of cover or any other colour other than a light grey, the spindly twigs fragile against the thick old trunk that had rooted in place hundreds of years before. The tree would appear to be dead, feeling naked, cold, no longer able to offer the shelter under its canopy of green leaves. Finally, after three long months the season would change once again, and small green shoots would appear as new life explodes into pretty white blossom indicating a rebirth and a precursor for the happiness of the hot summer months. Each year the tree would change with the seasons steadfastly going through the process of the life it would live watching over the generations of mankind as the people change from young to old, before they disappeared from the earths gravitational pull and were no more, and others would take their place continuing the never ending circle of life. Kyla White stood watching the tree musing on its different forms as she pulled the hem of her red t-shirt down wards in a bid to cover her ever growing stomach. She related to the winter months of the tree and wondered how long her life would remain stagnant and bare. How much more time would pass when she would just exist with nothing to show for her life, when would the blossom of spring appear to her sad and mundane nothingness that had become her existence?  As she glanced over to the girls around her age of 23 years all slim perfectly toned and tanned, laughing and joking together, secure in their friendships and the object of attraction for the men who gazed upon their perfect bodies she again pulled down the t-shirt and hunching her shoulders in a desperate bid to disappear from anyone’s gaze and headed towards her home. Home that word is supposed to give you a feeling of warmth, of belonging, a safe haven, but for Kyla it only brought the dread of another day. She had left once upon a time to attend university gaining her teaching degree, but with a mountain of student debt she was left with limited options of where to live, so had returned back to this place and her ever waring parents. As she entered the large red painted wooden door into the small, terraced stone cottage, that was picture perfect from the outside looking like the perfect safe haven a home should be. The false outward appearance of her home did not reflect the constant battle for those who lived behind its striking red door. As she entered Kyla was once again confronted by shouts of anger and distaste.  Her parents were polar opposites, and argued about every living thing, apart from one, their disappointment and utter regret of bringing her their only child into this world. As a small child Kyla’s existence had been despised and one of constant regret, as time passed the dissolution of her parents increased, never more so than now. Although they begrudgingly agreed her return to the childhood home, there was always the daily comparisons made by her not so loving parents regarding Kyla’s lack of ability to purchase her own place unlike the offspring of their many fake friends who lived fake perfect lives. Constantly she failed them, why did she not have friends? her mother berated her daily, why did she eat so much making her fat and unattractive to any man? Why was she so introvert and weird? Why did they have to suffer her presence longer than is necessary, could she do nothing right? She had once thought that to become a teacher would offer them some form of pride in her academic achievements, but even that was not good enough. Teaching English was not a ‘real teacher’ unlike specialising in maths or one of the sciences’, according to her father, and only made her more likely to lose herself in her god awful romance books that would amount to nothing. Kyla was reminded daily of all her failings and shortcomings, whenever her parents drew breath long enough from fighting each other and cursing her existence.  Was she not grateful for the sacrifice they had made? Was she not the reason they were stuck together all these years? yet despite this perceived kindness they had offered her, she still failed to achieve anything more than a mundane existence not spectacular in anyway, Kyla was nothing to be proud of. Kyla had long come to terms with the undeniable fact that she was nothing, would achieve nothing, and would live forever lonely and as desolate as that tree during the winter months, that the spring blossom would never appear in her life and so she would remain in this half dead half living existence. Sighing she walked up the narrow staircase, ignoring the screams of her mother and the shouts of her father, along with the crashing sounds of breaking crockery, and sat down at her small work desk, pulling out her year 11 marking that she needed to complete before tomorrow morning. As she worked her way through the multiple assignments she sighed, wondering if anything she had said in her previous lesson had sunk into the minds of the hormonal 16 year olds whom she taught. Kyla took out the paper of Stacey Pulmer, the glamourous girl with her long blonde hair, warm smile and tall slim body. The queen bee of year 11, popular and worshiped by everyone. She was the girl who every other girl wanted to befriend and every hormonal teenage boy within a fifty mile radius wanted nothing more than to bask in the glory of her giving them even the smallest piece of her attention. Stacey was kind and warm hearted, and just the right side of ditsy to make her adorable rather than annoying, and not attract the attention of bullies and teasing. Kyla looked down at the young girls assignment wondering what she had gleaned from the lesson. ONOMATOPOEIA A word that sounds the same as the noise it makes, Examples, Splash, Bang, and Spoon. Kyla rolled her eyes, wondering why spoon? She smiled to herself, yes, this girl was the adorable side of ditzy, and her future would be brighter than Kyla can ever hope for herself even if she thought spoon, was an onomatopoeia. Her years at school were in stark contrast to the Stacey Pulmer’s of this worlds experience. Kyla had been subject to teasing before turning into the full onslaught of bullying due to her unusual violet eye colour.  It had been a birth defect, one to be sneered at, it was a throwback to her albino great grandfather, on her father’s side however Kyla had brown hair, eyebrows, and lashes, with a pale skin tone that held some colour to her cheekbones. Kyla sighed; she had even failed at being a full albino. The taunts from her peers through her teenage years, and constant battles between her parents had caused her to eat her emotions, and then her weight began to sky rocket, making her the fat weird eyed girl who never spoke, compounding the problem and encouraging more viscous bullying that had plagued her teenage existence.    Kyla though had wanted to help those children who sat on the side lines, who did not fit in, who felt unloved and unwanted, and teaching seemed like the best way to achieve her goal. After four years of university last year, she secured her first full time teaching position back in her old school. She had not wanted to return to that specific school, far from it, as the memories of having her head flushed down the toilet multiple times a day, still haunted her dreams, but with no other application bearing fruit and the need to work, so that she might pay off the student debt and save enough money for a deposit on her own home, had forced her into reluctantly accepted the position, and so she had re-entered the lion’s den that had partly caused her current miserable life. Finished with marking homework assignments, Kyla settled on her bed, and turned on the TV pulling out a batch of krispy kream doughnuts she had bought from her bag, she began to eat, allowing the sweet taste and sugar rush to improve her melancholic mood and bring some relief and a small amount of pleasure to her life. As she flicked through the channels, she happened upon a reality show, ““Special Forces; Have YOU Got What It Takes?” The ex special forces instructors stood shouting at civilians as they ran up some rocky path covered in shale, screaming into their ears commanding, they “Move” or “hand in your arm band” as they beasted them mercilessly to see which of the contestants would crack before they embarked on yet another dangerous and seemingly torturous exercise, finding out which of these men or woman could pass the selection process that any special forces solider must endure.  As Kyla watched she stuffed another doughnut into her mouth, wondering why anyone would put themselves through that amount of pain and suffering willingly. The program continued, and Kyla found herself invested in the process, and as they pulled a contestant into a stark room, to account for their lack of effort during one of the days activity’s the instructors began to delve into what had brought them to the show.  Kyla listened, and watched as the man of around thirty four years, explained how he had never felt good enough, and had always failed at everything, but recently had gone on a health kick and dropped a 100 pounds in weight, and wanted to find out more about who he really is as a person. The man’s story sounded similar to her own, and as she listened, Kyla decided right there and then to make a change.  She placed the last of the box of 6 doughnuts she had devoured into her bin, and proceeded to her laptop, purchasing items she never thought she would willingly and excitedly spend money on. Gym Clothes, and a sports bra, that was two sizes to small for her larger than large bust but was the biggest one she could find. Then with her heart racing and ignoring the doubts that filled her mind signed up for her local gym paying upfront the £400 joining fee.  The man had inspired her, and she found that a small amount of positivity that she could achieve at least a healthier lifestyle started to take root in her mind.