HEY Y'ALL,

This is my second time writing something on this site but last time, i kinda did it willy nilly.

This time i have thought it over and made a story i am quite proud of. Hope you guys like it. I have written 7 chapters so far and depending on the reception i will try my best to improve.

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26- August-1914

Here in Spain, no one could imagine this beautiful vista invaded with guns, tanks and such fierce personalities. It has been exactly three months since the fighting began in the neighbouring countries. In the beginning, there wasn’t much conflict between Austria and Serbia however, this calm did not last long as political tensions escalated like no one had predicted. On the 26th of last month, this plague of death introduced itself to the entire world. They were calling it ‘the war to end all wars’, but nobody believed that then. Now, everyone wants to fight, and make their parents proud and stand out in a crowd. Over here, in Manzanares, we don’t hear much of the news but what we do hear, makes people cry. Over the past few weeks, more parents have been mourning rather than celebrating their son’s decisions. Sixteen of my friends made their decision to go and fight in this war. It was only in the maiden night of last week that I saw the coffins arrive on their front porches, sadly all sixteen of them.

10-September-1914

That was about two weeks ago. If you ask me, everything was much better then. I used to think everything involving physical violence was bad. It was simply the way I was brought up. Now I know from experience that all of that was a lie. There are other ways to hurt people, all much worse than just straightforward pain.

It wasn’t blood and guts that changed my mind; rather, it was my father’s actions. He had spent his whole life supporting others in their hard times and seemed content too, but when it got to making money, he gave up his dream of a disease free world for a high paying military job that almost made him kill us, kill his own family. After that incident, he was always rude in the house, made mother cry all the time and hell, he even kicked us out onto the streets for another woman. I hated him ever since that day, the day when he came home drunk with a rifle in his hands. I wanted to rip him apart limb-by-limb. I vowed that day never to become like him, a disloyal son of a bitch…

12-November-1914

I lie here motionless in thoughts as the evening sun slowly slides to the edge of the horizon. The leaves dance in the semi twilight and the graceful breeze, shaded by the ever-so-thin canopy of the Spanish moss. Following countless dips and mounds, this forest valley seems to continue until eternity. The view is so picturesque that it almost seems unreal. Sitting on one of these mounds, overlooking the enemy infested rift right in front of me makes me regret every second of joining this blasted profession, seeing my friends, my best of friends get massacred in front of me made me despise this world. I could not save anyone.

Wounded and alone, I lie helpless on this damp moss against a rotting tree trunk. The grim reality is now clear to me. The German infantry are now setting camp here for the night. There seems to be too many to keep count. Mingling amongst themselves, they look like little bees in a nest, quick with their actions and organised in their task. I, on the other hand, lie against this tree with a gunshot in my leg, without any provisions or ammunition. I am absolutely certain that I will not survive my maiden night. They are bound to find me on one of their patrols. And when that happens, without any way of resistance, I will either have to turn sides or die with pride.

Ha!!! What pride? I joined up for this expecting a share in the payroll. Hell, I didn’t even know what I would be doing. It sounded like an easy task from what the advertiser told me, but as a wise man had once said on the battlefield, “All war is deception.”

Now, I truly regret my enlisting for the military. It is due to this that I have seen things, things that are not normal occurrences for an 18 year old. And now, it is hard to think that this lush, green foliage may be my last to see.

18-September-1914

This was the hardest week of my life…so far.

On Monday, when father kicked us out of the house, mother, sister and I took refuge in the outskirts of this town. One of the farmers there was kind enough to lend us a bed for the night. Packed with only 6 hours, that was the longest night for all three of us. There was a poetic and gentle breeze, yet all we could share amongst ourselves was what little confidence we had left. This experience was new we were all very uncomfortable with. It took me a while to realize that I could not just walk back home the next day and resume my normal lifestyle.

31 October 1914

Finally, after weeks of working relentlessly in multiple jobs, I have found the one profession that will surely finance everything.

There is one drawback however; this war that everyone has been going to, I will have to enlist in it as well. This morning, I was approached by an advertiser on the street who told me that the Western Powers or simply put, countries on the western side of the world, were in desperate need of new recruits and the payroll they offered in return was great. In fact, it was more rewarding than all the jobs I had done so far, combined. This is not going to be easy though. Mother has forbidden me to do “anything irrational regardless the pay”. I will just have to lie to her, as this much money does not come by everyday and I am sure that it will go a long way to put a permanent roof over our heads. I shall go the recruiting tent first thing tomorrow morning.

1 November 1914

They told me that I have only eleven more days before I have to leave, leave mother and from what they told me, leave this world behind. In their briefing, the officials told us new recruits exactly what was happening out there in the battlefields. I have to say it was surprising and unexpected. However, due to logical reasons, I will not inscribe what I learnt, as if this diary was discovered, it would start a town wide panic, ruining the government’s reputation.

After the briefing, everyone got assigned their respective missions, some in units of three and some on their own. I was one of those ‘on their own’. My mission is to scout the last outpost on the east and survey the enemy advancements. This seems near impossible as I am going to hold a rifle for the first time in my life and they want me to travel past possible enemy fortifications to the last outpost, which is probably already overrun by the Nazis.

The person who personally assigned me this task was Rolon. He is the same person that offered the high-paying job to my father. The same father who nearly took his family’s lives. The same darn person who abused his new income to go in scandalous affairs and then finally, marry someone else after kicking out his own family in his drunken state of mind.

I hate that man and father the same. Yet in this position, I am forced to stand ground as if I back out of the recruitment now, the others would suspect me for a spy and definitely kill me for treason. I finally realize their scheme now. Our own government is luring in vulnerable men and then sending them to missions which are ‘too suicidal’ in nature for their trained soldiers. They are using us as a ‘plaything’. And now I doubt that the payroll they promised is even real because it’s not like they are expecting us to return from our assigned missions.

12 November 1914

As I watched the morning sunrise beyond the skyline of this town, it occurred to me that this might be my last one. After that ponderous moment, everything else was routine. I groomed myself and left mother with a confident goodbye. Even though she looked confused, I felt a lot better leaving her with a comforting memory.

We gathered there in the front compound surrounded by light rifles and a few barrels of gunpowder. We were instructed to pick what we liked but it made no difference, as all the guns looked the same. At the final hour, we were given a map respectful to our different missions.

At 4 o’clock in the morning, we marched out in the barren streets. When we all separated on our different paths, I headed towards the Far East side of the town and tried my best to encompass the new feeling of danger.

As I walked the lush and unbeaten paths of the forest floor, I couldn’t help but think what would happen to mother and sister if I died here today. It was too grim a feeling that I diverted my attention to the green all around me now. There were trees as high as the sky and through the holes in their canopies, light fell in trickles to the forest floor. The birds seemed to deliver their morning songs from beyond. That fresh morning scent hung solidly in the humid air. As I tracked the forest, following my map, I noticed that these surroundings had seen better days. There were abandoned camps scattered every two to three kilometers. The surfaces of tree trunks bore holes and bullet tracks.

It seemed like the allied infantry units were settled in. And I only say this because of the gruesome number of corpses I saw afterwards. They were mangled and drenched with running blood. Just imagine the number of parents and siblings who would not hear from these men ever again. Imagine the sorrow of these parents who would not know what happened or be able to bury their son or give him his final rights.

It looked like someone had dragged the dead bodies and made a collective mound out of any visitor’s sight. It should have looked like a trap but my untrained reasoning did not even see the blood smears contrasting on the green floor. Suddenly the facade looked dangerous and unforgiving. I could scream but no one would hear me… except the Germans. And that is exactly what I shouldn’t have done as the second I pumped air into my lungs, I saw flashes of light all throughout the low-lying shrubs on this moss-covered floor.

They say your whole life flashes before your eyes when you are about to die…

But that was just a theory as this height advantage averted most of the incoming assault. I wish I could say the same for my leg. As soon as that projectile hit, nails of pain shot through my entire leg and I dropped almost instantaneously. I knew that I could not just stay here, out in the open. So to prevent the Germans from advancing, I tried my best at cover fire. I was taught the concept in that briefing but this was my first time applying it. I think I shot three people but I felt more sorrow every time one of them fell to the floor. Then, all the noise spontaneously dispersed and I could hear the birds chirping again. I thought they must have retreated to cover.

That is exactly what I shouldn’t have thought as from my blind cover fire; I had managed to kill all three of the Germans. This, I discovered too late as I was partially blinded by the pain in my lower thigh. I had never felt such agony before. I tried my best after that to keep moving and finally, take cover.

13 November 1914

As the last streaks of light were fading away last night, a whole unit of German infantry set up camp in the same rift from where I was previously attacked. They lit their gas lanterns and added contrast to the stark black. In the night-time, I slowly edged away from the lights. I could not remember the way back and could not see the map due to the lack of light. I don’t remember where exactly I went, but what I do remember is that I went to sleep and then today, I used the map to go back to Manzanares. It seems like everyone had already known of the incoming attack, and left. I tried to go home but then I remembered again what had happened. Then, as I approached the gates, I crossed a pontoon bridge and on the other side, I saw an old man, nestled in the danger that was about to march out from the forest, this old man made me realize the true reason I had joined this blasted profession, I have to fight for my country, my family and my friends. If an old man, by the looks of it a general, could march out into this battlefield, I could, I could change the tide of this war, I could become something of a savior, and I could make a difference.

15 November 1914

I lie here motionless blood, flowing out of my stomach wound, thick, abstract strokes of it, oozing onto the thick foliage of grass underneath me, it is quite alluring actually; I thought to myself about the past 6 hours, the general and I had managed to sneak into the enemy’s camp. The Germans didn't know what hit them; we had armed all of their mines and placed them in their own camp, but unfortunately got massacred by a few before we could get away….

I regret nothing though….

That's a lie, I regret not being able to make my mother smile ever since that son of a bitch kicked us out, I regret never having a wife to look after and love.

I slowly close my eyes but before I could feel lady death take my, soul away I saw it, a bright light, a light that was extremely resplendent but failed to hurt my eyes in the least. It was gentle and calming, the likes of which one would experience when seeing the face of a loved one, and then I saw her, the face of the most beautiful woman I had ever seen…