I was back in the trench, our old trench, what we called home for months. It was the firing line. It was dark outside. The sky is clear with stars piercing out in the thousands. The moon is big and bright shining down on us.
The sky really was something in the night. On the line, the light was heavily restricted, this meant that there was little light to get in the way of the scene, unlike back in Rus where it was hard to see all the stars at night, due to the night lanterns that were on every corner of our humble city.
Out here, in the middle of nowhere, there were no gas lanterns to get in the way of the beauty of the outside. I was never one for contemplation, I never thought myself a great thinker, one who ponders the more existential questions, like how many old men see themselves. It was not the place, and frankly I did not care about that, the only real thing being what was in front of me, but looking up at the countless stars, one would be stupid to not think about the bigger picture.
"Quite the sight, huh Luca". I looked next to me, and Felix was sitting down, his head leaning back and pointing up, his rifle sitting on his lap. "Quite the sight indeed". We sat there, for some time, looking up in amazement. It was a calm moment, one of the few in the firing line.
No sounds at all. No chewing of the rats out in dead man's land. No crickets crying out for attention. No sound of the gentle voices of men huddled around in guard duty. No artillery in the distance, no cracks of gunshots that are the staple of the trench line. It was a pristine night. No fear, no worry, no tension.
Just a calming night, with my best friend. I think it was at this moment, where I realized I was in a dream. It was perfect. My brain's way of trying to calm me, try to placate me. And it worked. I wanted for that dream to last forever, but as soon as I realized it was a dream, I could feel myself losing myself in it. The stars slowly started to fade, one by one. I looked back at Felix, and smiled at him, he smiled back. I laid my hand on his shoulder and closed my eyes.
"Luca there you are" A familiar voice called out as I felt a hand on my shoulder. I slowly opened my eyes and the peacefulness vanished. The sounds of the guns resumed into the background noise of the war. The light assaulted my eyes and I moved to cover them from the sun. "Thought you were dead" A loud voice rang out and another, another, rougher, hand slapped my other one. "You certainly look the part," he added.
My eyes adjusted and saw Marco and Bruno standing over me. Bruno with a devilish grin spreading to the edges of his face and Marco looking down upon me with some relief. "When we got separated we expected the worst" Marco said as he bent down to help me off my crate. "That's what he thought, I knew you wouldn't be so easy to kill" Bruno paused for a moment as the shovel I was holding tightly in my grip fell into the hard frozen dirt. His grin somehow grew even more
"Looks like you did some real damage as well, who would have known" he patted my shoulder as I stood up straight, wobbling a bit before steadying. My left arm was caked in blood. The cut produced much blood before sealing itself up on its own. Dried blood stains my left hand like it stains my uniform under my coat. "Looks like you've seen better times my friend" The brute finishes. "Certainly feels that way" I let out a hoarse voice, the dryness in my throat amplifying when I tried to talk. Bruno laughed again.
I dig in my canteen pouch and clumsily fumble the strap while I was trying to unbuckle and free my canteen from its jail. Eventually the canteen comes free and the lukewarm water wet my throat, never tasting as good as it did then. I pour some over my face, and wipe it off. My hand brushed against the cut above the eye, causing immense pain as I quickly vacated that area. Dirt and blood fall from my head and drip to the ground of the trench.
My two friends are still looking at me as I raise my head. "How is everyone?" I look at them in anticipation. Marco produces a small smile that I could barely see. "Fine fine, no one seriously hurt, though Carlo and Nando are at the field hospitable, nothing that should concern them im sure" "what happened to Carlo?"
His brother speaks up for the sergeant. "Got blindsided by a bugger with a knife, stabbed him right under the shoulder" he then smiled "Should have seen it Luca, never saw him like that, while the knife was still in his body he clobbered the man with the butt of his rifle, crazy stuff" I looked surprised "I know right" Bruno laughed "Who would've thought that my brother was a right killer". "Who would've thought?" I say in agreement as I slowly nod my head.
"We should move back to the other guys" Our sergeant says, "We are going to be relieved in the morning" A great feeling of relief passed over me. We were going to get out of this place. I followed them throughout the trenches to our section of the line, dodging dead bodies as we walked.
I had only been some fifteen meters from my squad, if I were to not talk with that man guarding the prisoners, I probably would have been with them for the fight. We did not talk, as we walked back to our post.
Gunshots still rang out, sometimes coming in and passing us a few feet over our head. Contrary to the upbeat mood in the trench, having successfully assaulted and taken the line, we were still very serious when moving about the trench. Just because we had survived, does not mean that we were out of the thick of it yet, and we all knew it. If we did not, we were reminded. The lone sniper shot taking out an overly excitable soldier, the stray artillery shell that landed in the trench.