How many had he seen march past him?
He didn't know.
How many had not come marching back?
He didn't know.
How long had this war been going on?
He didn't know.
How long would this war continue?
He didn't know.
All he knew was that he wanted to sleep, if only those cursed artillery pieces would stop. The barrage had been going for days only stopping for short periods of times so the infantry could assault the enemy position. Not once did any good news come from the assaulting teams, yet the commanders did not change their orders. So, as good soldiers, the young men of the world into certain death. Those who survived would be praised by their commanders and then sent back again, again, again and again.
How many young men had he seen go past him with fear in their eyes?
He didn't know.
How many young men had he seen return with a dull look in their eyes?
He didn't know.
He turned around once more trying to get comfortable on his bed. You couldn't even call it a bed but it was better than what the young men in the trenches had, nothing. Another barrage could be heard coming down on their position, the howling whistles followed by explosions. One had come close, he could hear the screams of the wounded. He didn't care anymore, it had been like this for days, all he cared about was sleep. Again he could hear the howling whistle in the distance, getting louder and louder until the explosions were right on top of him. The thunder of shells exploding on top of him was something he had gotten familiar with over the course of the war. Turning on his back he looked up when the roof collapsed.
He remembered the first day on his post and seeing the young men marching past him with fear in their eyes with the howling whistles of shells overhead.
He remembered how he counted the young men coming back a week later and how few they were.
He remembered how he cried that night, in fear and desperation as his trench was hit by enemy shells for the first time.
But now, now he didn't care. He didn't think anymore, he only did his duty and he didn't sleep, the faces of all young men haunted his dreams.
But for the first time in weeks he could think, all he thought when the earth swallowed him was 'finally, sleep'