We were not prepared. Not one of us. It was a quiet day, as quiet as a graveyard at midnight, we were playing cards when we heard the dreaded shout, "Gas, Gas!". Every man started panicking, Even those who always appeared calm looked terrified. And now here I am; most of my comrades gone. This is my story.
It had been like this for months. Muddy pools of water under our feet, sleeping side by side just to keep warm and rats and lice taking over the trenches. We were playing cards; Timothy, William, Bruce, Edward and I. These days I play alone. I remember the laughter. Bruce was winning. Timothy was acussing him of cheating whilst the rest of us were laughing until we couldn't breathe. Then the shouts came.
There it was, the gas looking right at me, making fun of how scared I was. I could hear the boys shouting my name. I could not move. Then, like a jolt of lightning, I start feeling my legs, my fear releasing me. I turned around, everyone was gone. I started running as fast as my shaking legs could take me. The gas soon consumed me. My eyes started to burn and my lungs felt like fire. I fall to the ground coughing. As I fell I saw a blurry figure come towards me.
I woke up. All I saw was white, it felt familiar. I soon realised I was in the hospital. The last time I was here was right before I went in the tranches. I sat up slowly. There was a sharp pain in my chest. I looked to my side, Timmothy was looking at me, an expression upon his face unfamiliar to me. I had tried to speak but my throat was on fire and he turned the other way. I heard the door open and the doctor walked in. He talked to me but I could not here him through the fog in my head. He left and the nurse came in his place to check me. She smiled a warm but sympathetic smile as she spoke to me. "It's brave, what your friend did." This takes me a little aback. I asked her what she meant. " Your friend gave you his gas mask." I sat shocked. It all clicked into place. The look Timothy wore, the expression of hatred. I was alive while his brother was dead.
I am currently lying on a bed where many have come and gone before. I feel as though I can't breath. They say it's lung cancer but I know it's much much more. See you soon, my friend.
