Either This Or Upon This

Some men were running away, back to our trenches. Yet we still pushed on. An artillery shell exploded a few feet in front of us, and we felt it the perfect time to charge through. Shrouded by dust and smoke, we charged in, until we fell into a large pit. It was the German trench.

Al fired at a German charging us, and continued down the trench to the machine gunners. I followed behind him, covering his back as we moved on. More Americans were pouring in, but were going down the opposite line of the trench. Al and I were so close to the machine gunners, we could see the tops of their helmets. Al finally got in range, picked off one, and I picked off the other. We went to the machine gunners position, and gave the signal to advance. We heard sort of a loud cheer across the battlefield. I looked out across the trench, and saw a gleaming aura around our own trench. It confused me at first, but then Al shook me to get going.

"Come on! I think we did it!" Al yelled. We ran down the trench toward our comrades. Just then 2 Germans peeked out of the underground trench section. Quick to spot us, the first German shot Al right in the head. Al fell, silent. I quickly responded by killing the German. A second German then appeared, his rifle drawn, my rifle drawn. We just sort of looked at each other. I looked into his eyes, and saw innocence deep inside. And then I looked below, at his shirt, which was unbuttoned at the top. There, I saw a locket, which shined beautifully in the sun. I smiled, and put my gun down. The German wasted no time, and shot me in the chest, right through my heart. I fell on the ground, clutching my locket, and saw her face in front of me. She simply was walking away, to a light I could not reach. I screamed, but she would not respond, and then there was silence.

They found my body in the trench after the fight was over. They inspected my body, taking any notes or ammo I might acquire. They then noticed I was clutching something in my hands, with a firm grasp. They pried open my fingers to find a locket, a shiny silver locket, which gleamed beautifully in the sun. I promised to return to her with it.