Author's Note- Why did I decide that this was a good idea to write???
Summary- Two lovers...ripped apart by war.
"I promise I'll be back soon, darling, then we can finally get married," I say to her while I wipe a tear off her cheek. She sadly smiles at me, and I gently place my lips on hers. I pull away, "I have to go now". "Be careful," she whispers. I look at her intently, attempting to take in every detail of her face and brand it into my memory. I reluctantly turn around and board the train. When the train comes alive with a roar, I wave her goodbye with pain in my heart until I can no longer see her. I find a seat, sit down with a sigh and start mentally preparing for the war that is about to come.
I startle awake when someone shakes my arm. "Hey, wake up!" I look up with sleepy eyes and my gaze meets a pair of blue eyes. "Are we there already?" I ask, sleep still audible in my voice. "No, but we have to walk from here on out," the man replies, his voice friendly. I take a deep breath and slowly get up, trying to shake the slumber from my muscles. I grab my luggage and when I turn around I find myself looking into those blue eyes once again, "You ready to go?" he asks. "Yeah, I think I've got everything," I look back at my seat and the baggage rail above my head to make sure I didn't forget anything. "Good, then let's go." I am not sure what this blue-eyed fellow wants from me, but he seems friendly enough, so I decide to follow him.
"What's your name?" my new friend asks me after we've walked for a bit.
"It's Guillaume. What's your name?"
"Serge. How old are you?"
"I'm 23. What about you?"
"I just turned 21"
We continue walking in silence and my mind starts to wander. My thoughts are soon consumed by her, I miss her so much already.
After a while Serge starts talking again and I appreciate the distraction. He talks about nothing in particular, but his ramblings are rather enjoyable. I am starting to like this guy; he keeps my mind off the hell that awaits us.
After a long and gruelling walk we finally arrive at the battlefront. I am unsure of what to do next, so I just follow Serge. We are assigned to a spot where we try to settle in as best we can. It's not exactly homely, but I am too exhausted to care.
My feet are cold, wet and painful; I hope I don't get trench foot. Many of the other soldiers already suffer from it due to the dampness. We've been in the frontline trenches for five days now, and it has been awful. The smell in the air is a combination of faeces, rotting food, blood and decaying bodies. But what's worse is the hunger, causing the muscles in my stomach to painfully contract. A lot of the soldiers around me look skeletal, and I wonder if I resemble their physique.
The rats are driving me crazy, those disgusting creatures have started nibbling on the bodies now that we are running low on food.
It's about one in the afternoon and Serge is sleeping. The action only really starts when it gets dark. During the day, most try to get some sleep, but today sleep refuses to take me, so I decide to write her a letter.
I gaze intently at the invisible enemy in the distance. "Fire!" immediately the deafening sound of machine guns being fired fills the air. "Halt," and for a minute it's frighteningly silent. My heart beats in my throat and fear rages through my soaking body. The silence doesn't last long. Shortly after our last gun is fired, the earth somewhere to my right explodes with a loud bang, making me jump. The grenade was aimed well, limbs and bodies are propelled through the air. I swallow the bile that rises up, threatening to spill out onto the soil by my feet. BANG! Another grenade, awfully close this time. I feel myself starting to panic, my heart beating painfully in my chest, I feel like I can't breathe. I try to suppress it and I take a deep breathe. I'm starting to get a grip on myself, then BANG!, louder than any of the previous ones, right next to me. An invisible force throws me back several feet, until my head collides with something hard. My vision is blurry, I see black spots growing and growing until all I see is black.
