A.N. This is really short, I wrote it for my creative writing class. We had to write a story that was only about two hundred and fifty words long. This is what I came up with.

Goodbye

She didn't want to say goodbye, and she didn't want to watch him leave. It's only for a little while he had told her. He wasn't supposed to be gone long, but she didn't want to wait. She didn't want to read his letters and pray that it wouldn't be the last one she ever got. She didn't want to talk to him on the phone praying it wouldn't be the last time she ever heard his voice. She didn't want to face the fear of one day telling her son how his father died. She didn't want to watch him drive off in his uniform. She didn't want to leave and fight what would mostly be a faceless enemy in a distant country. She stood watching with tears filling her eyes as he said goodbye to their small son and then turned to her.

"It's just for a little while," he said softly looking at her. "I'll be home soon."

She nodded and choked back a sob and smiled at him. She didn't want to say goodbye, and but she knew she had to. She had to watch him drive away. She had no choice; he was going to leave for war anyway. If she couldn't say goodbye for herself, then she had to do it for her son. She had to be strong for him. She would let go, just for a little while, she could let go, so long as he came back to her safe and sound from war.

"Goodbye," she said softly and he smiled at her before walking off towards his small car.