Jeremiah's Dog Tags
By Hallie
My name is Madison. I'm thirty-three years old now with no husband or children. Only my widow mother. My father died in Iraq when I was thirteen years old, so I ended my pain by pronouncing him dead. Anyway, I'm on my way to a retirement center where I speak to a man by the name of Jeremiah Whitley. He's a elderly senior diagnosed with Alzheimer's who has no family at all. He forgot his family they disappeared.
I knock on his door, gently so he can hear it but it's not loud.
"Come in!" He says with a kind voice. I smile and wave as I walk inside. He immediately sits up cheerfully.
"Madison, Madison, I have a story for you that you might want to hear! It's about my days in the military." He said smiling. I sit down beside him on the hospital bed.
"Okay Jeremiah let's hear it. You know that I've loved your stories since I was a teenager." I reply.
"When I was thirty-eight, I joined the military and left my wife and daughter alone at my home. I was terrified that I would never come back but I made a promise to myself that I would join. We flew to Iraq to rescue those in need of saving from the suicide bombers. However, when I was rescuing a young girl about six or seven, a bomb went off and killed her but left me here no memory. I forgot my family, where I lived, who I was and more! I couldn't cry about missing my family because I didn't know I had one. When I returned here to Kentucky and was placed in a retirement center I gradually remembered them by photographs. My daughter was so beautiful, strong, and independent. I was so happy when she came to see me. I tell her my stories so that she knows how much I love her and that I didn't mean to hurt her but that I couldn't remember her." He said with tears in his eyes.
I wiped away my tears and smiled sympathetically as he took a letter out from his pocket.
"I enjoy her time so much but, my time is abruptly coming to an end so I figured I could tell her goodbye one last time. Here, Madison this is for you." He said. I was confused as I took the letter in my hands. He smiled and payed back on the bed.
"Open it just in case you find her I want you to read it first." He says with a soft voice.
I open it and read...there's six words in the middle of the page.
Madison I Love You- Dad
I pick up the dog tags with the name Jeremiah Whitley on them. I start crying then look up to see my father laying there peacefully gone. He changed his last regret, leaving mother and I.
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