In The Trenches

by Aidan O'Neill

"Get down, get down!" the soldiers cried to one and other. In the muddy trenches, they kneeled down, steadying their guns. I had never hurt anyone before and I didn't want to either. All I knew was, if I did hurt somebody, I would hurt them badly. "Are you ready, soldiers? Aim fire!" The seconds dragged on, to me it felt like days, but the soldiers clung on to every last minute. Their hearts pounded like a kick-drum. They readied themselves for what was about to come. "Nicholas, NOO!!" One of the soldiers leapt out of the trenches and sprinted towards the enemy, hoping to kill a few soldiers. In less than a millisecond, the unfortunate soldier was shot down violently in a blaze of bullets, he laid there lifeless on the battlefield. It was a harsh time.

All I could do now was wait. I witnessed the enemy, desperately trying to get to cover. One man attempted climbing over a barbed-wire fence, however, when he was climbing over his shirt got caught on the wire making a deep cut in his arm, He was instantly the soldier was pelted with bullets until he dropped to the ground. Every single one of the soldiers in the trenches knew that today could be their very last day on planet earth and this was going to be all because of me. Because of me, a man would no longer exist. He would lose his family, his friends and everyone surrounding him.

"READY?!" The soldiers braced themselves. "FIRE!" All of a sudden I was released into the open. It all happened so gradually, the whole world seemed to spin around me like a gigantic hoola-hoop. I could see a soldier's head directly in front of me. We were making eye-contact, we were staring right at each other. He knew exactly what was coming. I felt sorry for him, he had been dragged into this horrific war by the Germans and he was just following his instructions.

I was getting closer, I was only a few metres away.

Five metres...
Three metres...
One metre...

Centimetres, millimetres, nanometres... I touched the skin of his forehead and I felt it crumple and wrinkle as I entered his skull. All of a sudden, the world went pitch black as if somebody had just flicked off a light. Everything had vanished from sight. Just a moment later, I felt a thud. The man, who I had killed, had fell to the floor. There was no life left in him, nor was there me, I would stay here forever in the soldier's head. I was the bullet and his name was written all over me.