• December 4th, 1862; four-thirty A.M.
    tab “Jonny, Ben, get up or you’ll be late for school!” Mom shouted. Unfortunately for us, school was not nearby, so we had to wake up early to make it there on time.
    tab “Five more minutes.” I grunted into my pillow. Ben, my best friend and fifteen year-old older brother (only by a year, might I add), was still sound asleep. Lucky him. Just as Mom was about to rouse us out of bed, someone knocked at the door.
    tab “Who’s insane enough to come at this hour?” Mom muttered to herself as she got the door. Glad for the interruption, I started to drift back to sleep. I was on the brink of unconsciousness when I heard it.
    tab “Ma’am, might you be Mary Alice Peters?” a deep, clean-cut voice asked her.
    tab She replied, “Yes, and you might be…” I thought hazily that there was something wrong in her tone, but was too far under the blanket of fatigue to think any further.
    tab The man’s voice answered, “Ma’am, I’m Jared Parker. I’m here for Benjamin and John Peters.”
    tab “Why?” Mom inquired pleasantly, but I could tell that under that sheet of pleasantry, there was black suspicion.
    tab “They’ve just been enlisted in the army.” I sat up straight as a board in shock. What?!? I thought as I panicked. Mom’s only reply to the visitor was silence. Maybe they just made a mistake. Yeah, maybe they’ve got the wrong people, I tried to tell myself, but I couldn’t even lie to myself convincingly. “They have one day to gather their possessions and then we’ll come back for them at six a.m. sharp.” the man who I now despised told Mom. He left, and then the door was shut. The only sound for a long time was the shuddering sobs from Mom.

    December 4th, 1862; later that morning
    tab Ben woke up from his sleep of the dead about twenty minutes later. He looked over, saw me, and immediately got in a defensive stance. “What’s wrong?” he asked me. I didn’t answer, I couldn’t answer. Ben came over to me and repeated his question, but I still wouldn’t answer. I wasn’t sure I could even speak, much less move. Full of anxiety and worry now, he shook me and screamed in my face, although it seemed like he was miles away.
    tab When I finally was able to speak, I worked my numb lips around the words, “We got enlisted.” Just then, Ben dropped his hands and sat so still. I fleetingly thought ‘We’ve had worse days,' and I realized that I meant today.

    December 5th, 1862
    tab The man held true to his promise. He came for us at exactly six. This I imagined was the hardest thing Mom’s ever done, especially since Dad. We were taken to a boot camp and trained until we were soldiers by second-nature. Then the mission came.

    June 30th, 1863
    tab “… and we will march onward through Gettysburg.” Union Major General Meade finished. Our troop was to start marching tomorrow at daybreak, making it my first time in the field.

    July 1st, 1863; daybreak
    tab “Jon… Jonny! Wake up!” I cracked my eyelids open a bit. I saw Ben hovering above me, telling me we were going to march in twenty minutes. He went off about how I was going to miss breakfast. I groaned as the scent of salted meat wafted into the tent. Again.
    tab “Relax, I’m up,” I told Ben, sitting up. With a smile, I added, “I definitely wouldn’t want to miss the delicacy that is salted meat.”

    July 1st, 1863; day
    tab DUM-dum-DUM-dum the drummer boys beat on their drums to keep us marching at a steady pace. All was silent but for that incessant beat. We were nearing Gettysburg. All of a sudden, a CRACK was sounded, and one of our men fell. Ambush. With another crack of a rifle, we all braced for battle. Another man down. The General yelled, “Fire at will!” and utter chaos took control. I pulled Ben behind a log with me for cover. Peeking above it, I saw a confederate, aimed, and fired. And missed. I took aim of him again, was about to fire, when a bulled whizzed past my head. The sounds of bullets, weapons, and cursing all faded away as a faint sobbing took its place. Then I was thrown back into my past.

    tab “Momma, why are you crying?” I asked. Her cry had woke me up from my sleep. “Momma?” I said again, worried.
    tab Then she seemed to hear me. She turned herself towards me. Her normally flawless face was now ravaged by tears. “It’s nothing, dear. Go back to bed.” she said gently, but I could still hear the waver in her voice.
    tab “Mom?” I said softly.
    tab “Go to bed.” She tried to make it sound like an order, but it came out as a whisper. I hugged her, trying to comfort her, and saw the letter.
    tab Dad had died in war.

    tab “Jonny!” someone shouted. My surroundings began to clear up. Wet streaks slid down my cheeks. I began to become aware of being jerked back and forth rapidly. Then it all cleared up. I was in battle and Ben was trying to snap me out of my flashback.
    tab “Where were you? You almost got hit! Jonny!” My gun slid away as I ducked from a bullet. Cursing, I searched for it, and saw an enemy aiming for Ben! NO! was the chant that ran through my mind as time slowed. I knew I’d be unable to get my gun in time, and jumped. The enemy shot as Ben turned and I was knocking him down. While falling, I felt something hit me. On the ground, my heart felt as if it would explode. I moaned in agony as I felt then oozing blood flowing from it.
    tab “Jonny, you okay?” Ben asked, then saw the fatal bullet in my heart. “Jonny!” he shouted, “Jonny, stay with me!”
    tab I fought my hardest against that black wall of death, but it was gaining, inch by evil inch. Delirious now, I muttered to no one, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” And the last sound I heard as death’s cruel cold engulfed me was the terrible, grief-ridden sobs of Ben.