Tower and Town, November 2015 (view the full edition)Living HellInspired by Suicide in the Trenches by Siegfried Sassoon Dear Family, I'm sorry. I've done my best. But this place, dripping with mud as cold and heartless as the men who pull the trigger to end lives, is too much to cope with. The rats are a nightmare; at night, I often hear terrible screams, and I wake to find men with rats gnawing at feet rotten with disease contracted from daily life in the trenches. I'm angry. I'm angry at the stupid men who started this. I'm also sad, sad for all the people who died in this worldwide horror. I'm scared, scared that others won't have the relief I soon will experience. I'm also scared about what I'm about to do. What will I feel, what will I see? Is there anything on the other side? You're not going to see me again. I can't stand it. I understand if you'll hate me for this. I would - after all, I am a coward. But I've got to escape. Escape this living hell that men somehow managed to conjure up to settle feuds between countries. I've only got one way out. I would have never thought I would only make it to 22 years old. But it is fate. Not the best, not pleasant. But unavoidable. I'm sorry. Goodbye. Charlie X Charlie Galley |