‘We Live in a Specific Time and Place Yet, Simultaneously, We Experience an Internal Life That Is Not Limited in This Way.’
- Submitted by: youdellatsix
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- Category: English: Novels
- Date Submitted: 07/25/2016 07:35 PM
- Pages: 4
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Jim crawled like an animal across the muddy and desolate field, once it had been crowded with peasants and their crops, now it
was strewn with bodies. Every now and then dark and foreboding night sky was split by a blinding light that tore it open and was
followed by deafening cracks like thunder following lightning. Each time this happened a shiver of pure fear coursed through
Jim and he wondered if he had, in fact, died until he noticed he was still frozen cold and he was still in grained with dirt and how
could this be death? As he inched further forward, a shot rang out, startling Jim as the bullet buried itself in a corpse not far
from his position. The blackened body jumped then fell still again, the only result being the scattering of the filthy rats that had
only a moment ago been tumbling about in the dead soldier’s belly, surviving off his death.
Jim continued his crawl. He saw others in the dark like him. They barely moved, because those who moved too fast were picked
off by snipers or machine guns and never given the chance to move again. Barbed wire suddenly caught at his ankle and he tore
the mud-caked material of his uniform away from it in a hurry. The ringing sound of the wire echoed as Jim stumbled in a panic
into a shell-hole he had not even been aware of. He rolled down the side and made a splash at the bottom as the stagnant and
glinting water seeped into his clothes, stealing any last miraculous traces of heat from his body.
He suddenly heard his name and, looking up, frightened at first, his eyes clapped on Bobby Cleese and relief washed through
him. The familiar face, though tired and smeared with mud like his own, inspired a little joy in his heart, or as much joy as one
can feel when in his situation. Jim approached him and in him saw a friend, not merely another soldier.
Crouching together in the shell-hole as the sky regularly lit up and explosions sounded all around them, the two accepted that
they would need to stay...
was strewn with bodies. Every now and then dark and foreboding night sky was split by a blinding light that tore it open and was
followed by deafening cracks like thunder following lightning. Each time this happened a shiver of pure fear coursed through
Jim and he wondered if he had, in fact, died until he noticed he was still frozen cold and he was still in grained with dirt and how
could this be death? As he inched further forward, a shot rang out, startling Jim as the bullet buried itself in a corpse not far
from his position. The blackened body jumped then fell still again, the only result being the scattering of the filthy rats that had
only a moment ago been tumbling about in the dead soldier’s belly, surviving off his death.
Jim continued his crawl. He saw others in the dark like him. They barely moved, because those who moved too fast were picked
off by snipers or machine guns and never given the chance to move again. Barbed wire suddenly caught at his ankle and he tore
the mud-caked material of his uniform away from it in a hurry. The ringing sound of the wire echoed as Jim stumbled in a panic
into a shell-hole he had not even been aware of. He rolled down the side and made a splash at the bottom as the stagnant and
glinting water seeped into his clothes, stealing any last miraculous traces of heat from his body.
He suddenly heard his name and, looking up, frightened at first, his eyes clapped on Bobby Cleese and relief washed through
him. The familiar face, though tired and smeared with mud like his own, inspired a little joy in his heart, or as much joy as one
can feel when in his situation. Jim approached him and in him saw a friend, not merely another soldier.
Crouching together in the shell-hole as the sky regularly lit up and explosions sounded all around them, the two accepted that
they would need to stay...