— But, Ashley, what are you afraid of?
— Mostly of having life suddenly become too real.
I do mind, very much, the loss of the beauty of the old life I loved. And I am fitted for nothing in this world, for the world I belonged in has gone. When the war came, life as it really is thrust itself against me. I saw my boyhood friends blown to bits and heard dying horses scream and learned the sickeningly horrible feeling of seeing men crumple up and spit blood when I shot them. Scarlett, before the war, life was beautiful.
And now it is gone and I am out of place in this new life, and I am afraid.