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NORTHERN IRAQ

"INCOMING!" Jack screamed as the machine gun fire rang out down the alley.

Jack and his platoon scrambled to contain the shooter, but they soon found themselves caught in a ambush.

Shooters were coming at them from all sides, AK-47s blazing.

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Jack woke up with tears in his eyes. He tried putting on a brave face, lest he worry Ali (who was lying in bed next to him).

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Jack rolled over on his back. His chest heaved with exhaustion.

"Jack," said a soft feminine voice.

Jack followed the voice. Ali was now wide awake. She put a delicate hand on Jack's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," said Jack as he put his hand on Ali's.

"The war?" Ali asked.

Jack nodded.

"I was there too," said Ali.

"You haven't seen what I've seen," said Jack.

"I am over twenty-three-hundred years old," said Ali. "I have seen war.

"I have seen war, blood, death, and suffering on a scale that you cannot begin to imagine."

"How do you stay sane after all that?" Jack asked.

"All things fade in time," said Ali. "Everyone I have ever known has been dead for centuries ... millennia, even."

"Can you ... take this away?" Jack asked.

"I do not wish to hurt YOU," Ali replied. "Are you willing to throw away your nearest and dearest friends?

"There will come a time when memories will be all that remains of a person.

"There ARE ways of dealing with this without blotting out your memories of your friends," said Ali. "I could take it away, but it would leave a gaping hole in YOUR memory.

"I want to help you ... in whatever HUMAN way I can."

Jack rolled over on his stomach. Ali put her arm around Jack's shoulder.

THE END