Illumination Rounds - Round 2

This is an excerpt from the chapter Illumination Rounds from the new story I'm writing. I have not included Round 1 - The Arrival. The scene is at on a dark night. Suspend your disbelief and read...


Round 2 - The Return
...“Walk with me,” said John.
They slogged through a muddy, pocked battleground and moved deeper into the darkness. A rotting stench assaulted Sophy's nose, watering her eyes.
“This doesn’t smell like a past war,” Sophy said to John, “This smells like today’s war.”
“Sophy,” John paused, “when did you turn soft on us? You’ve been out in war before. You know better.”
Sophy did know better and didn’t pause long enough to consider the source. It was something to keep buried. Sophy heard a few scattered shots firing at different points in the distance. The unexpected pops took her attention far away from the presence saturating the winter air.
“Where are we?”
John touched her arm, “Trust us!” Sophy looked toward Gary and Frank, seemingly walking point, yet carrying no guns. They held no fear in their bodies. Both stopped as they approached the clearing, and Gary pointed at a glow pulsing in the distance. “There’s one!”
They looked in the direction of Gary’s outstretched arm, and Sophy noticed the glow seemed to be in the shape of a pyramid. Frank piped up, “Look, there’s a few more.” Widening her perspective, the lights were twinkling at various points in a line to their right.
The shape looked familiar but the mystery of the time and place puzzled her. “What are they?” Sophy asked.
“Christmas trees on the German’s trench parapets,” said Frank.
Sophy countered, “Christmas trees in the middle of war?”
“If you dissolve the boundaries of where you are – forget the war - it’s a candlelight vigil on Christmas Eve,” said Frank. “Did you ever think you would see this?”
“No, I'd never imagine this. I thought I was done with war when Jimmy took me home.”
“That’s why we’re here. To show you something you’d never imagine by yourself. George did his job and now it’s our turn.”
“Where are we?” asked Sophy.
“Flanders Field on Christmas Eve - 1914. You've returned to the ground of remembrance.”

©2009 Jean A Niedert