Irena Karpa

“War is a drug,” he says. It’s already the third one for him. “And it’s unlike either of the previous ones.” He mentioned drugs when she asked him how people reach the same level of emotion, tension, and adrenaline after. In normal, post-war life, that is. It’s a rhetorical question about PTSD. He says he’s used to it from his past experiences and that he’d learned to enjoy life after it’s over. Those who haven’t served before have a harder time “melting” from the heat.

After three weeks of working around the clock and barely sleeping, my nervous system gave in. My French husband grabbed me by the earlobe and dragged me off somewhere with plenty of trees and the opportunity to ride our bikes around. This “somewhere” was a two-hour drive from Paris, the city where I have lived for the past six years with our two children and a dog. My quiet life of writing books and running literary courses ended on February 24. As it did for everyone else.