After finishing all the stories, I have to say that the story Blind has probably (definitely) hit me the hardest. (Slight spoilers ahead!!!)
I don’t really know why it had such an affect on me. It may be because I felt so bad for the blind man and his confusion. I think the dialogue between the nurse and the man at the end, where he is scared of being abandoned and she has to lie that she didn’t forget about him, hurts to read. Especially due to the fact that I, as the reader, also forgot about him for a split second while going through the story. So, in the end, I felt the same emotions of sadness and guilt as the nurse. Overall, I felt most moved by these two together, for whatever reason I can’t fully decipher yet.
Spot on tags, Tanner. This story destroys me.
The end of Blind made me so sad too. I think because we haven’t really gotten such a big display of emotion before from the narrator, and in the end she bursts into tears. The man just handing her coffee also hit me really hard, they’re all accepting that everything sucks and there’s not much they can do about it 🙁
I feel exactly the same! I forgot about him too as the story moved on and felt so guilty when he was calling out for her. It pushes the blade deeper when I think about the experience of the blind man and him not even realizing he’s in a hospital or surrounded by other men. Like he’s just laying there in his new, eternal darkness filled with fear and thinking he’s all alone in the world, while he’s actually in this extremely crowded hospital hut. And the nurse/Borden can’t be blamed for leaving and forgetting about him because she has a huge responsibility and is needed everywhere else. It all feels so cruel. Definitely one of the most heart-wrenching stories in The Forbidden Zone.
Blind was definitely the most hard-hitting emotionally for me in the book. The almost childlike confusion made me really upset. I think this really emphasized the theme of isolation throughout this period, as it was felt by both soldiers and medical staff.