I stared out at the luminous light shining off of the smooth pond beside me. The moon’s reflection glistened on the smooth water in the cold chill of night. A soft wind brushed a hair across my face and sent spidery chills down my back. Though the beauty of the night was rich in its midnight wonders, it was also clouded by the vast scene of death and carnage that lay before me. It was the eerie night of their first battle. They had fought so valiantly, yet many soldiers had fallen. Besieged by our enemy’s strength, our small army of 3,500 soldiers had not been strong enough to withstand the blows of the mighty machine gun of the opposing side. Our muskets were no match for their mighty war machines. We had fought for our lives and the good of our homeland with all our might, but they were too powerful. The battle had been sore and deadly. I had seen so many of my brethren fall before my very eyes. My heart could barely contain the pain for the ones we had lost.

Anguish rushed over me as I gazed at the piles of bodies surrounding me. Tears shone clear against my blood-stained cheek. They slid down, glistening in the soft moonlight, and I was unable to keep them in. Why did this have to happen? They were all just men, fighting for the good of the people. It didn’t make sense for any of them to have to pay the price of death for our independence and freedom.

I sat up to look around at the bloody scene around me, but pained surged through my arm up to my shoulder. I winced at the extreme ache in my joints that clouded my head and vision. I looked down to see my arm devastatingly wounded, permeated with thick, red blood. I couldn’t bear to look at my own infirmity. I tried to assuage the pain by lying back down, but a strong throb panged through me. How long would I be here? Would someone rescue me, or would I receive the same fate many of my brothers already had? I slowly rested my head on the grass, despite the excruciating pain.

Though in the midst of so many other courageous soldiers, I felt somehow lonely and lost. The cold aura of the night only added to the eerie peace of the death field around me. Maybe it was the realization that I may have been the only one who survived the fight, at least that I knew of.

My heart was heavy with the heartache of the war scene around me. It seemed to pull me down to the ground, and I was unable to escape its strong grasp. Then strangely, an overwhelming peace suddenly came over me. A bright, glorious light shone above me. I was unsure of where it was coming from. I knew for certain that it was still the dead of night, though the light pierced my eyes and comforted my aching heart unlike anything I had ever felt. The sun hadn’t even peaked over the distant hill, yet the radiance was so distinct that I couldn’t have been imagining it. Warmth and stillness wrapped around my cold, frail body and poured into my thin, wispy soul. I couldn’t keep my eyelids from fluttering shut. I thought of my home, my family, and the brethren I knew I would soon see again. I smiled as the light reached out for me, and I peacefully drifted off to sleep.