[ WP ] For as long as you can remember , you see odd red splotches on the ground that no one else appears to notice . One day , you go on a field trip to a local Civil War battle site . The ground is practically solid red from the sheer amount of red splotches .

Paul was at the end of the line as his class filed off the bus. Paul was a quiet kid. He did n't have many close friends, but it was impossible to deny that his classmates liked him. His teachers always noted how kind he was to his classmates and was very mature for his age. He had to be. He lost his father two years ago. It was tough for any child to endure, especially for Paul, who had always been close to his father, and now was left with his mother and two younger sisters. 
 
 It was in that hospital, after watching his father struggle for years with pancreatic cancer, that Paul first noticed a red circle. He had never realized what it meant.. no one else in the room had seen it, and Paul had mostly ignored it. His father had died, the world felt like it had stopped spinning... why worry about some stupid red circle. 
 
 Paul lifted his head as he got off the bus. It was a good thing that he was at the end of the line, because he stopped right in his tracks. A sea of red spots was laid out before him. He cautiously approached the border of the observation area and gripped the wall. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of red circles laid out before him across the wide field. Paul looked to his classmates, none of them seemed to have noticed the surreal sight before them. 
 
 `` This,'' his teacher said loudly, drawing the attention of the students, `` is the sight of the final leg of the battle of Brownfield. It is estimated that somewhere between 1400 and 1600 soldiers lost their lives in this field on the final day of the battle. Around 1000 of those deaths were Confederate soldiers, and with their forces this depleted, the Union was able to seize control of several important railways. This allowed them to...'' and the teacher continued. 
 
 But Paul had stopped listening. He finally understood. The red circles meant death. That was the only explanation. He was overwhelmed, and was able to think of little else the rest of the day. The class traveled around various different sites, and each time, Paul was amazed by the red circles that seemed to appear in every place they visited. One place they did n't appear was in the museum. Even then, Paul was haunted by what he had seen, and it was n't until the bus ride home that Paul was able to close his eyes, and try to forget what he had seen. 
 
 Paul was silent at dinner that night. That was not completely unusual, and Paul's mother knew that talking of death all day at the battlefield had probably reminded Paul of his father. Paul sat quietly as the kids worked on their homework after dinner, and as soon as he had finished, asked his mother if he could go to bed. 
 
 As Paul got into bed that night, he laid up at the ceiling for a long time. He finally understood the red circles. The question that he did n't even know he wanted answered had been resolved. Unfortunately, this did not answer the questions that had been circulating in Paul's head since he got home that night. 
 
 If these circles were the spots where people died, why could no one else see them? And why, Paul thought as goosebumps crept onto his arms, were there 8 red spots in a perfect circle in his backyard?
