Art - Morristown-Beard School

(Inspired by The Red Badge of Courage)
As I walked among wounded men, I was ashamed of deserting. I felt as though it was written all over me. That
people could see I was different.
“Was that him?” I thought. It was! It’s Jim Conklin. Surprise, yet horror, rushed through me. I had found my
friend, but he was mortally wounded. It didn’t look like he had long to live.
I tried to help, but he resisted. He didn’t want to die, but he was tough about it. He kept looking into
space . . . wondering. I wondered too, how he felt being shot and all, not knowing if you were going to live or die. He
got pale, and I knew he was dying when I could hear his heart pounding. You could see his eyes were burning in pain.
The poor man was afraid of getting trampled and just wanted to get off the road. He kept begging me and it was
becoming very hard to say no.
Jim was saying, “Leave me be.” I am not sure why he would want to be alone. A tattered soldier was behind me.
He was saying to take him off the road and into the fields. I ran up to Jim and begged him to say with me. He looked
at me blankly. His fiery eyes burned me.
He was up, running! I couldn’t believe where he was getting his strength. The tattered man and I ran afer him.
What else could we do? We caught him in a clump of bushes. “What are you doing!?” I asked him. He just replied to
leave him be . . . not to touch him. I am not so sure he even heard me because his face was full of fear and hate . . . hat-
ing the world . . . I saw pain and love . . . love for his family . . . grief . . . knowing he would never see his family again.
Jim wandered away while we followed close behind. Suddenly he stopped right in front of us. He was standing tall
and felt he had come to the spot he had wanted to be. He started heaving, struggling for air. It stopped, and Jim stiff-
ened. I knew that had been his last breath, for he had fallen to the ground.
Jim Conklin was dead. No doubt about it. I knew I had to move on, but I couldn’t accept that just yet. It sort of
cheered me up as I looked at his face. Jim was smiling. Jim Conklin finally looked happy.
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Alyssa Bufis
Beck Tabor