[ WP ] The slow descent of a decent person with good , consistent morals who was pushed too far and forced into doing something he/she would never have dreamed of doing .

`` You will never go anywhere. And I want more.'' 
 
 Those were the words she spoke as she left him standing alone in a bowling alley parking lot. She left for college the next day; he put in his two week notice at the mill and drove two towns over. The posters in the shopping mall window showed bereted soldiers with square jaws and smiling sailors with crisp white uniforms. He walked through the door with worn out shoes and baggy pants and walked out with the promise of a future. 
 
 He worked hard. Harder than most. And as he crawled through the muck and slugged through the mire of basic training, he thought about her and the college campus where she studied. He would work hard, and get through basic. He would learn his trade and do his job, and he would be out. He would get his degree and make something of his life. He would go somewhere. 
 
 He made it through basic with the most important lesson learned: he was at the mercy of the army. When the opening for his specialty closed, he accepted it. When he was reassigned 11-Bravo, he accepted it. The infantry would still get him in college. 
 
 He went through his training with top marks. He thought of her less. And when the opportunity arose for a trip home, he went, but returned early. She was there, and she was happy with her new guy. He accepted it. 
 
 There was a `` ramping up'' of military operations overseas. He thought to sign up for online classes and get a head start on college. Instead he volunteered for a unit going `` over there.'' They sent him to the sandbox, and he asked for it. 
 
 War was... boring. The supposed enemy failed to materialize, and the itchiness of first patrols turned to the complacency of regularity. And then they took the hit. 
 
 When the hornets hummed overhead and the echo of small arms sounded nearby, he accepted it. He squeezed his triggers as the shadows darted by, and when they fell at his recoil he moved to the next. And when the men around him fell, he took their ammunition and continued to fight. What were minutes were hours, and the hours were days. As the helicopters dropped shells overhead and the boom of armor shredded resistance, he stood among the fallen and he thought of nothing. 
 
 They pinned the medal to his chest, and he accepted it. And he volunteered for a unit going overseas. Another tour and another medal. And another chance to volunteer. 
 
 Then. He could n't go again. Injuries sustained meant release from service. He thought of the college campus which she had long left behind, and he thought of her but she was just a shadow. He went home, and there was no home to be found. There was only the shadows. 
 
 He did n't know where to go; he did n't know what he wanted. And he stood alone in a bowling alley parking lot. A shadow.
