This is a story where each sentence starts with the next letter of the alphabet. It is a restrictive, yet interesting, way to write a short story.
Girl of the Dream
A nervous expression covered his face. Betraying his normally cool, calm demeanor, Zak stumbled forward a few steps. Could this girl really be the one? Dreams of a girl, strange dreams, haunted him nightly. Every night for the past two years it had been the same. Falling from the sky in his dream was a girl wearing a blank expression on her face. Garbed in flowing white cloth with green borders, she would make her decent nightly. “How could this girl be the one from my dreams”, Zak pondered. “I’ve never actually seen her, so there is no way I could know…”
Just then, as Zak stood dumbstruck, the girl moved closer. Kissing Zak on the cheek, the girl locked onto his eyes and told him: “It makes me so happy to finally meet you.”
“Likewise,” Zak responded without even realizing what he had said.
“My name is Xavier, and I am so glad to have the chance to meet you, the one who will take my life.”
Never one to handle unexpected situations with grace, Zak stood still with his hands at his side. Only one phrase left his lips: “One to take your life?” Passing as soon as she came, the girl vanished into the chilled night air. Questioning his state of consciousness, Zak squeezed his arm hard enough to make blood rush to the skin’s surface.
Rifle fire awakened Zak, filling him with profound disappointment as he recalled his surroundings. Somehow this dream seemed so real, but now he was sitting in his bunker holding his rifle, as bullets screamed overhead. The Third World War had called Zak, and most other men his age, into a place where dreams were almost a necessary escape to maintain sanity. Until now, he had always been able to tell his dreams from reality, making this last dream one that burned into his mind constantly, even as he frantically returned fire to the enemy. Veiling his vision completely, the enemy filled the air with a sulfuric smoke, ready to begin their final attack.
With a last attempt to save himself and his comrades, Private Zak Thompson sprayed his remaining bullets into the black night.
Xavier, the girl who had been at the center of Zak Thompson's only dream for these last two years, lie dead, protecting a child under her chest.
“You knew.”
Zak wept as the enemy surrounded his squad.
