Young Writers Society

The sky, a pale blue mass that seemed to stretch on forever with small bits of cloud dotting throughout it, the birds soared through it with ease as if they weighed nothing.

The sky was in direct contrast with the earth. Trenches ran deep across the land like scars that will never heal. A cloud of heavy smoke filled the air, blocking my vision. I could see no more than ten feet in front of my body. I could not see the enemy, though they could not see me. Even as the battle still raged on around me and the howling of bullets filled the air I felt at peace for a moment, the sound of battle pierced my ears but it felt quiet, like nothing in the world mattered.

My vision blurred as the sounds faded from my ears. I was drifting, floating throughout the world, soaring through the sky, and over the oceans. I flew up to the highest stars, and down to the lowest of valleys, even the highest peaks of unscalable mountains were like stepping stones to me, I saw it all and some more. The golden fields of grain, the frigid arctic, the deserts, like an ocean of sand. I felt free.

My vision began to focus and my hearing returned but I did not see the mutilated battlefield nor did I hear the bullets and the screams of death and agony. I was at home, my brother ran around the kitchen table with endless energy while my parents tried to calm him down and get him ready for bed. The lazy cat lay on the couch taking up as much space as possible as if to claim it as its own. This scene looked all too familiar though I had never seen it. When I left my little brother was still in my mother’s womb, which was five years ago. I still remember the looks on my parent’s faces when the news of the war had reached our small hometown. I remember them telling me not to worry that it would be long over by the time I would be old enough to get drafted into it, the war had been raging on for nine years now, and it showed no sign of stopping soon. All thoughts of the war left my mind as my vision blurred once again.

When my vision returned I was met with a more familiar sight, there I sat, on a rough carpet surrounded by my family, we were all faced towards a tall tree positioned in the center of the room. Lights were strung all around it and ornaments of glass and cheap plastic alike hung from its branches, at the top, a star, its artificial light shone all about the room giving it a faint, warm glow. I felt like a young child again, back when nothing mattered to me, the world could’ve been in ruins then and I would not have cared in the slightest. I felt peaceful, and every dreadful thought that had ever crossed my mind seemed to drain from my body. The sickening nervous feeling in my stomach that had remained there for months faded away as I looked at my family, together, admiring the tree. The very air in the room felt happy and full of excitement, everyone had smiles on their faces, and that’s what made me happier than anything else in the room. I looked at the tree once again and smiled, holding back my own tears.

It had been so long since I beheld a sight like this and for some time I doubted I would ever see it again, but here I am, surrounded by my loved ones, I felt truly happy again, I felt at home. Slowly, the room began to fade away and I was confronted by a different scene.

I lay with my back against the fine sand of the earth, it was soft, almost comfortable, I could fall asleep right here, right now, but instead, I lay there wide awake staring up at the heavens. The heavy night sky was laden with stars, each looked to be the size of a grain of rice with its own beautiful glisten. The moon, A large pearl, slowly rolling across the night sky. The very sight I beheld was calming, It made all other worries fade into dust, It made me feel as if the only thing that matters is this moment right now, and nothing else will ever compare to it.

“It’s beautiful, all of it,” said a quiet voice, no more than ten feet away from me, I turned to my side and saw my best friend, a man I had known since before I could count to the number ten, a man who had always been there for me. He was drafted into the war too, I hope he is alive, but at this rate, I don’t find it likely. I looked back towards the skies, the stars slowly began to die, one by one their light disappeared from the heavens, leaving a hole in the night sky, a void that will never be filled.

The dark sky began wrapping itself around me, covering me in darkness, filling my soul with an empty, agonizing feeling, every warm feeling I had ever felt seemed to fade from existence as my eyes began to shut. Was I dying? Is this the end? I am not ready to die, I want to go home, I want to see my family, I wanted to make more memories.

Just as the last ounce of hope left my body something cut through the darkness like a knife through butter. The next thing I knew I was in a sweet, warm embrace, that filled my body with hope and joy, then a voice spoke to me, my mother’s voice “Come home, we miss you”. Though it was a short and simple sentence it restored the flame in my soul that had been quenched by the horrors of war. My vision blurred one last time and I was returned to the earth.

There my body lay in the mud, covered in dirt and grime the last time I had bathed was longer ago than I can remember, I stood up with my rifle in hand, my boots sunk several inches into the mud making a squashing noise as I moved. While the noises of battle were still heard they sounded distant, I was alone.

My legs felt leaden, it took all my strength to lift them out of the mud, my breathing was heavy and rough and my arms had barely enough strength left to carry my rifle. I collapsed onto my knees, sending mud spraying in every direction, I felt lightheaded, my throat was dry and I had no water. The thought of home crossed my mind once again and a newfound strength coursed through my veins, I stood up and took another step forward, when I heard yelling not too far of a distance away.

Dread filled my body, the very warmth was stolen from my blood as I felt my throat close up. My body froze and I could not move forward. My thoughts began to race I choked on my own spit. I heard another shout, this time it was clear, just over the nearby hill not even twenty feet away, It was a foreign language I couldn’t understand, the enemy, I heard their footsteps as they crossed over the crest of the hill, it was two young men probably my age, with their own families waiting for them at home. For some reason that thought restricted my body from moving. My eyes met with one of them as they raised a pistol, pointing it toward my head.

A gunshot rang out across a bloodstained battlefield, no one paid any notice to it, it was only one of many gunshots, and at the receiving end was only one of the millions who will never be able to make the journey homeward.