Gallipoli

• Felicity Myers, Grade 7, Cheltenham Girls High School
• Short Story
• 2015

Finalist in the 'The Write Track 2015' competition

I sat in the trenches with my mates. It was 3:00am in the morning and no one could sleep after yesterday's encounter with the enemy. Johnny Turk us ANZACS called them.
It started yesterday at six in the morning, just as the sun was slowly awakening along the horizon. We were all sitting in our trenches, listening to the first calls of the birds in the trees. That was definitely my favourite time of the day, sitting half in the dark, listening to the birds sing their merry song, just as the sun begins to rise.
So, I was sitting there, listening to the birds as they sang to their hearts content, when suddenly a loud BANG sounded from the distance. Everyone sat up with a start as a shiver ran down our backs. We grabbed our rifles and waited anxiously for the signal to shoot. The enemy was upon us!
BANG! We heard it again, but this time it was much louder and clearer than before. BANG! BANG! The sound was getting louder and louder. BANG! A scream and then silence was heard from a nearby trench. There was no doubt that the enemy was nearing the trenches.
BANG! BANG! BANG! The sound was now so deafening that I couldn’t even hear my mates breathing heavily beside me. We were waiting, rifle in hand, ready for the signal to fight for our lives.
The signal sounded! The attack had begun.
The gruesome, bloody, life draining fight lasted all day and continued throughout most of the night. Whether it was us or the enemy who surrendered, it does not matter to me. It was over and I survived. I began the long, tiring walk back to what was left of the trenches. Pile after pile of lifeless bodies were lying everywhere, as far the eye could see. Life is a continuous war between good and evil, I thought to myself. Whether you are good or evil, it doesn’t matter as there is no difference in this world and all us ANZACS know it. Why so much blood has to be shed for the stupidity of it all, I don’t know. Whether we win the war or lose it, death and mourning will always defeat us and we will never be at peace.
I climbed down into the trench and sat there loathing man and its evil, waiting for yet another encounter with the enemy.