blondexhurricane:

soldierheartcd:

“Why, so you can sit here and
feel sorry for yourself all night,
too?”

Delia opened her mouth to argue her point but
ended up closing it shut before any words had
a chance to form. Teddy had never spoken to
her so harshly before, and as hard as she tried
to convince herself that her mother would want
to take everything back by the next day, it didn’t
mean it all hurt any less. “Ugh, you don’t know
that, though. You don’t know anything, because
you won’t even try.” Her voice was barely even
above a whisper now, her normally bright eyes
 filled with nothing but disappointment. Maybe
it was because she was nothing more than an
innocent bystander, or maybe she really was a
little too optimistic for her own good. Either way,
Delia still didn’t understand why Teddy was so
willing to give up the  f i g h t  already.

“I know that there are people who sustained  injuries
like mine; I’ve seen them. An d to  this  day,  they’re
all  sitting  in wheelchairs or lying in bed,  living  out
the  rest  of  their  lives  on  a stupid veteran’s pay. I
don’t  want to be  them  —  if  that’s  what  my  life’s 
become after everything I sacrificed for this country,
I want  o u t .  Screw  their physical therapy and lies
about my quality of life,” Teddy spat, barely sparing
Delia  a  glance.  There  were   no   bounds   to   her
bitterness; if she couldn’t do the job she loved,  she
no  longer  wanted  to  be  a  soldier.  She no longer
wanted  to  be  a mother if it meant that Delia would
grow up to hate her.  “They’re  not the ones stuck in
this stupid chair  day  in  and  day  out.  They  don’t
know the first  d a m n thing about my life, and they
can go stick themselves for all I care.”