Close call

It was closer than all the rest. Much closer than when we went out with EOD that time. It just came out of nowhere – fast. Just a flash, no sound. No whoosh or anything to let you know it was coming, just a silent white flash. It was very bright, more so even by the fact that it was dark out. Spots of color in my eyes, like when you look right at the light bulb too long. I suppose that just added to my confusion, that, and the silence. Where was the sound?

Then it came, slowly building. KAAAA-WRRRUUMPPPP!!!!. Loud, maybe even the loudest sound I have ever heard. My ears hurt. Louder than any other noise in the world. I could feel it wash over me, through me. It sounded just like those really, really, loud fire works right at the end of the show, but louder. I even thought it then, just like a firework, but without the colorful starburst because by then the flash had been gone for seconds, minutes, years. Detroit, Spain, Jack… It all came so fast. I wasn’t afraid, now, but moving in water, running in slow motion. I remember thinking, how ironic, with only three days to go before my leave starts.

The gray smoke was billowing up and out, drifting into the darkened sky. Someone shouted “don’t just stand there, get under cover!” but by then it was over. Sometime the explosions come in threes, but there were no more blasts, just that one. For some reason I looked at my watch and it was just past 2000 - the most dangerous part of the night. Later I realized that that was the closest that I had ever been to something like that. Not quite what I’d call a real close call, but close enough.