War

• Bridie Magann, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2022

My body felt stiff as my numb fingers clenched the trigger. I couldn't believe it! I was about to kill people, but it was justified. It was for my country! My breath stopped when I heard gunshots, a lot of gunshots. I wanted to run away when I saw people around me begin dropping like flies. I desperately pressed my finger down hard. I knew once that trigger was pulled, there was no going back. In the distance, a person slumped to the ground. Did I do that? Did I really just shoot somebody?
That person probably had a family! Did I actually just take somebody's life? My thoughts stopped dead when somebody grabbed my hand and pulled me down into the ice cold shadows. At first I was confused but then I saw a bullet hole in the ice, right behind where I was standing, that should have gone through me. Before I could say a word, the mysterious person was gone. I raised my eyes above the edge of the ice and saw more soldiers dropping from planes, but it wasn’t just soldiers falling. It was bombs as well!
It felt like this moment in time stood still. Around me, people were running, shooting, and dying. Bombs were falling, it was overwhelming. I thought about Pa, how proud he would be if he found out was risking my life for Australia, just as he had. Suddenly, I was back to reality. No time to reminisce. I was there to fight! I lifted the gun up to eye level and shot, but missed. Before I could press the trigger again, I felt a sharp burning pain in my stomach. I fell to the ground, scrambling, trying to get back up, to fight some more, but it was no use. As I looked down to see the awful hole in my stomach, the world slowly faded away…
I opened my eyes to the face of a kind lady. She told me gently that I'd been shot, but I would be okay. My head flopped back onto a soft pillow. I looked down to see a thick layer of gauze and bandages wrapped tightly around my tummy. I tried to remember the horror of how I came to be there. Memories I'd rather forget.