Roadkill

At a checkpoint sits a four-door sedan, brown paint faded by years of unremitting sun, pitted by hundreds of sandstorms. Only bullet holes exposing fresh metal and the still-inflated tires are new. Inside, four crimson-splattered corpses: father at the wheel, forced against the seatback by the impact of tens of bullets, his eyes still fixed on the road ahead; mother's head smashed against the caved-out passenger-side window; two children riveted to the backs of the rear seats, a limp rag doll in one lap. Outside, death lives in the instant silence; hearts slowly descend from throats to resume their monotony; lungs exhale and fear-frozen fingers relax, beginning to feel again. A year and half later, in his parents' backyard on a sunny Sunday afternoon, a 23-year-old US soldier kills himself with a single bullet to the head.