The cemetery

Field trip

Had it not been for the cemetery we were going to I might have died that day, not literally. I sat quietly beside my friend, Brandi whom was talking about the cemetery we were going to that day. "So did you have any family members in the Vietnam war?" Brandi had turned her head towards me, her beautiful green eyes had been glazed over with curiosity. I kept my head down while drawing was seemed to turn into a 3D picture of a hole with flowers. "I actually don't know do you?" The class period was slowly ticking by, the noise of the clock echoed in my ear reminding me of time going by. "My grandfather was, Kyle Caporale. He died after having a bullet flying through his chest, right beside his heart." My icy blue eyes averted to her, what looked like teary green eyes. "I'm sorry." Was all I could respond with, but Brandi brushed the whole conversation off with another topic. "So Juliet, how are things in life right now?" I finally finished my drawing, magnificent textures and shading in it. "They are going well as expected nothing new." I smiled at the picture then at Brandi who seemed focused on the clock. "That's good to hear." She simply replied and right after she spoke the last word, the clock clicked onto 2:30. The bell had rang loudly, it was ear piercing however I got use to it. Every student shot up out of their seat and went to the parked busses waiting for them. I hated the tight spaces, I had claustrophobia so I stayed behind with Brandi and my other friend, Miguel. We three had gotten onto the last bus, not many people were on the last bus since everyone crammed each other into the first two busses. "Are you guys ready to see the cemetery?" Miguel slightly said with sadness. He was rather emotional when it came towards his family's deaths. Brandi and I shook our heads yes but no one said a word afterwards. The ride there was not peaceful either because people acted like three year olds, yelling, kicking, and hitting each other. Miguel sat by himself on the back of the bus and brandi shared a seat with me. "Why are you attracted to cemeteries?" Brandi suddenly asked out of the blue. "They seem calm and peaceful, I feel the presence of every spirit and they listen to my problems." I stare at the world as it goes by quickly. Brandi was right though I am attracted to cemeteries, a lot since they were asleep forever, which was what I needed. "Interesting." Miguel was listening to our conversation the whole time but I didn't care. The bus weaved through traffic and people who walked the streets. The city was so packed it was like New York moved into Las Angeles, except it didn't it was just Las Angeles. The turns were rough and somewhat sharp, when the bus did turn Brandi and I slammed into each other. I hated to ride the bus because the bus drivers that were hired hardly knew how to drive the bus perfectly or near perfectly. The scenery turned into a more dark and quiet place, not much people traveled here maybe it was too creepy or haunted. The bus came to a halt and the students got up and began walking out the bus, after the doors opened. The teachers came out first then Miguel, Brandi, and I walked out last. Veterans stood all around the cemetery speaking to each group of the 12th graders. Once everyone split to look at each name on the wall, I walked by myself to the names on the hot, metal, black wall. Each name was in white and were small enough you had to stand closely to the wall just to see one name. I noticed each name was placed onto a separate wall with the dates they died in. Brandi and Miguel looked at the other walls while my eyes ran over all the names on the first wall. Miguel and Brandi finally decided to travel to me, my eyes glued themselves to the unknown people's names. Miguel kept his bright brown eyes on the ground, when he stood near me I could feel the pain and sadness in the air. Finally, we got to the middle of the whole wall, in the distance I could hear adults discussing their family members in the war. "Have you found anyone you know Juliet?" Miguel nearly whispered this in my ear from how close he stood to me, I didn't mind it. "No I don't even know if I had anyone in the Vietnam war." Suddenly it felt as if the whole world went quiet, my breathing became ragged as i looked at the one name that I never expected to be there. Brandi and Miguel noticed the name that I was staring at, we three had became confused. No one had ever seen this before nor has it ever happened to anyone.