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