Dawn-Dusk

• Eli Ailakis, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2007

CHAPTER 1 DAWN
As the sun came up on this unending war, my men and I. were cornered in a small outpost off the coast of Russia, we were being gunned down like there would be no tomorrow or today…. but somehow we made it.
About a month past, and the war was still going on as Hitler’s man-eating armies were trying to capture our city. With a needle sharp aim, and a fast reaction, Samuel J Parker was able to get us four dog tags and some poor man’s valuables to use as barter for food that was scarce.
At home base, we had our own cigarettes and vodka, to remove the pain of the war, while at the same time people were in their homes trying to shade their children from death and endure pain for the sake of their country.
We found out via a German translator, the Halftrack’s crew were captured; inside the Halftrack were crates of rifle and tank ammo, and fuel. The captain said, “This is to help the Germans leave this land of ours”, and as he shot out all of his rounds in the rifle everybody let out a cheer.
CHAPTER 2 ENDING OF THE WAR
After the war, everybody was shipped back home, I decided to try my luck in the U.S, now there’s nothing left for me except a patch of land that’s not mine to fight for.
As we landed in the middle of the night and where dragged off to different buildings I saw her, a lady-nurse, all dressed up ready for greeting the new arrivals but one glimpse was all I got, that’s it, I never saw her again.
The next day I woke up in a warm bed and “bang!!!” Heard gunshot, so I hit the deck..... Then I picked myself up to see out of the window and saw a car and soot, and walked though the building. All I could read was “Ward 1 - Medical”, and “Hospital”. I saw Samuel reading a book, he sensed that I was there and told me to sit down. “What are we doing here Brooks” says Sam. “Don’t know, misplaced,” I reply. Sam says, “A gun fired off just now!” “No, it was just a car”, I replied.
CHAPTER 3 BLISS
Five years have past now, most of them quite blank, only learning to read, play cards, and nothing much else. I am now 51 and am an older and wiser man, to go to war and not return back home was a terrible thing, but as the time goes by I get used to being away. I get a few letters from home which tell how hard things are, so perhaps, my hardships seem ill founded.
A few years later I received my last letter from home and it said “You’re 57 years old, we have bought a ticket for you to come home, please come home, we miss you.”