Hollow Tree by Neligh Ian

Author:Neligh, Ian [Neligh, Ian]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2014-01-28T08:00:00+00:00

One

January 1862

For ten miles, 2nd Lt. Jacob H. Casey wondered if he was already dead. Shoeless, he trudged through knee-deep Virginian snow, without direction or purpose. Despite this, he continued to move, certain if he stopped to rest, he would freeze or finally succumb to starvation. His long blond hair hung carelessly in front of his eyes, matted with dried blood and dirt.

Early on in the week he had identified the irony of his predicament. Those who deserted the army were immediately condemned to death by hanging or firing squad. He, on the other hand, had chosen a slow death from exposure to the elements. He laughed at this. With dazed blue eyes, he scanned the horizon. The snowy hills were covered in bunches of shortleaf pine and bigtooth aspen.

A type of round, leafless bush jutted from the snow every few feet. They gave Jacob the impression that he was wandering through a giant graveyard. He’d never seen as many dead men as he had in the last year—he doubted anyone ever had.

Before the war, he’d been a teacher in Maine and enjoyed the study of flora and fauna. Thinking about life before the war kept his mind busy. Awake and thinking was how he had been able to keep himself sane—if so bold a word could still be applied to him.

He dared not sleep unless exhaustion overtook him. With sleep came the nightmares of battle. The sights of his former students lying in piles of their own limbs kept his bloodshot eyes from closing. The horrific imagery wove a sticky tapestry throughout his resting mind, serenaded by the sounds of grown men screaming like animals. Just like animals.

He shook his head, trying to clear it. He must remember the five of them, and trying to do so had already cost him everything. Wind blew frosty clouds off the fresh snowdrifts. It whistled over the ground, reshaping parts of the terrain.

Jacob hiked up a random valley, hoping to find shelter for the evening. Hobbling, he made his way to a large boulder. Finding the side out of the wind, he slipped on the wet ground and collapsed. His shoes had worn away to nothing weeks ago, and he tried to rub the warmth back into his feet. He wrapped them in rags now—anything to keep them protected from the snow and rocks. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the stone. Something was wrong with the whole world, he thought. It spun around and around on a madman’s finger. The nation was tearing itself apart like a pack of rabid dogs.

He had joined to keep an eye on his students, out of a fatherly obligation he had developed for them over the years since he’d become a new teacher. But when they all died, there was no reason for him to stay with the army. When the last one had succumbed to a rifle, falling back, the boy pulled with him part of Jacob’s soul, clenched tight in dirty fingers.

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