The Field

In 1861, Aleki reluctantly joined the Union Army by the wishes of Abraham Lincoln. He took a horse from Washington DC to Virginia. When Aleki arrived he disembarked his horse, and let it run free, while he walked the rest of the way to the battlefield. He came across a foggy field, and he squinted his eyes as figures moved through the fog and disembodied screams filled the air. From the left of him, he heard footsteps and he looked out the corner of his eye to see, a young confederate soldier, who had short brown hair and blood all over his uniform that was not his own. The two men stood in silence as another disembodied scream broke it. Aleki looked to the soldier and asked slowly, “Is the battle near here?” The soldier slowly shook his head, “No, the battle is 2 miles North from here.” Aleki looked at the field and then back at the soldier, “What was that scream we heard?” The soldier was silent for a moment and he spoke solemnly, “That was the screams of fathers’ who lost their sons on this battlefield, turned grave yard.” Aleki asked, “What do you mean by that?” The soldier continued, “I was in a battalion of 30 men, and we were looking for the enemy, b-but there was also a regiment of 30 boys that came through this field as well. I-It was foggy, and we saw movement and we opened fired, and the opposing regiment fired back. When the smoke cleared, I realized that it was friendly fire and I was the only one left standing. But when I went to survey the land...” Aleki took a deep breath, and placed the palm of his hand to the bridge, “You realized that the enemy wasn’t your enemy but the regiment of boys, some of them sons of your battalion.” The soldier screamed, “I KILLED MY SON, WE KILLED OUR SONS, AND WE SCREAMED TO THE HEAVENS TO TAKE IT BACK.” He calmed down and continued, “This war has destroyed my family, and I’m only in this war because of my father’s beliefs. We are fighting for a race of people that we stole, to continue to work for us, even though they shouldn’t have been stolen in the first place. Do not let this war destroy you or your family. I hope my son forgives me.” The soldier raised his musket that was covered in blood, “ I cannot undo what I’ve done. It is etched into my soul and burned into behind my eyelids” He slammed the butt of the rifle to the dirt, and smashed his head on the bayonet of it. He fell to his knees, body twitching, and fell to the left. Aleki stared at the soldier’s body and he bowed his head, “May you and your son find peace.” Aleki walked through the fog and a few yards later he stumbled, and when he looked down their was a small hand. The sun came out from behind it’s cloudy prison and burned through some of the fog and Aleki’s eyes widened as bodies of boys with faces twisted with pain and anguish littered the field. Aleki walked over the bodies, deeper into the fog but stopped to the sound of footsteps approaching slowly, and then they sped up. He saw a shimmer of light and smiled, “Bayonet Run.” When the enemy came closer, Aleki grabbed the the bayonet with his left hand, and turned it out to the left, and he grabbed a blade from his right hip, with his right hand and slit the attacker’s throat. The sun began to burn all the fog away, and Aleki walked closer to his attaclear, and he screamed, “NOOOOO! ELIJAH WHY ARE YOU HERE?” Elijah gargled on his blood, “F-F-FATHER.” Aleki stood up and screamed in utter pain and his screams became one of the disembodied screams of fathers’ who lost their sons on that field.