Lone Soldier - Oliver Brewer
Lone Soldier by Oliver Brewer was the First Place Winner of the 2023 Murrumbidgee Short Story Competition in the Under 12 Category.
The blinding sun disturbed my slumber. As I awoke, violent and dramatic memories began flooding through my head. My mates, my friends, my soldiers lying astray across the blood-torn field. My limbs felt numb. Bones shattered due to the absolute catastrophe that had tarnished these lands. I shed a single valiant tear, flowing down my battered cheek, glistening in the beautiful ray of daylight.
Judging by the rocky seashore and the large, damp deciduous trees, I found myself in the coastline of Gallipoli. I silently whispered to myself. I plucked off the badge of my wrecked uniform. ‘Sergeant Joel Pinbury’ the name card scribed.
“Is that me?”
As that occurred, several additional sorrowful memories withered my mind once more. Although, I pushed through this traumatic barrage of sadness and sorrow and moved further onward.
It was a long and painful trek down the coarse mountain trail lying ahead. I reached the rugged stone peak and scoped the area below. Many lifeless bodies, hundreds upon hundreds of my comrades, strewn cold across the grassy passage, their eyes a vast, empty abyss.
Although the sight was truly horrifying, it is a soldier’s solemn duty to respect and honour those that have fallen. I rested my hand on my forehead and truly paid silence to those soldiers. MY soldiers. Birds sang their beautiful morning melody; the gentle breeze ruffled the luscious autumn leaves.
Suddenly, it felt as if my heartbeat had already began fluttering away. A devastating headache pounded my head. As I grasped the air, desperate for survival, there was silence. Genuine silence. No birds singing their melody. No rustling of the leaves. Soon, I had lost all sense of reality. I was now staring at the nightmarish sight of death itself.
From all sides, a thick, pitch-black mist closed in on me. The crooked silhouette of death drew closer and closer until… I was blinded by a radiant gleam of light. I slowly opened my eyes and realised I had regained my senses. I got up off the bottomless plane of existence and walked toward what seemed to be the light’s source, my legs staggering with fear.
Unexpectedly, the light began dissipating into dust, before reappearing in the shadow of hundreds of young men, their faces weirdly filled to the brim with happiness.
“Welcome, Sergeant,” said one of them, a brilliant smile stretching from cheek to cheek.
“M-m-m-my C-c-c-comrades!” A river of tears streamed down.
“MY COMRAAAAAAAAAAAAADES!”
We were finally ‘at peace’.
