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Just a couple of things to get off the chest here:

- The most obvious is that yes, i am new to this whole idea of writing, so the editing and grammatical is not going to be first class.

- If it doesn't make sense, please say something. I would rather clarify than completely re-write something, but not opposed to re working the tale.

-Comments of any kind are appreciated, but please be specific as to what needs improved (as i'm sure there will be). Can't learn without pointers or falling completely on your face.

-I know that many post their stories on other sites, then post the link in here. I am really new and wary on that, so i will stick to just copying and pasting into here for now. Keyword here is for now.

Without further ado, the actual story.

An Airman's Tale

Chapter 1- Discovery

It is a Friday night during the springtime, with the time close to midnight. A lone SUV is driving slowly down the street near the small waterfall in town. The driver is a lone airman, just back from the warzone overseas, and is a little lost, having mistaken this road as a shortcut. The camo he wore still had a sand tint to it, with a distinct outline formed on where his body armor sat on his body. Not only was he utterly lost; he has this feeling that something is out of place with the local area. It was feeling he had sensed as soon as he started driving in the little area by the stream.

Trusting to his senses, honed within the war he just left, he pulls over the side of the road, turns on the hazard lights, then gets out of the turned off vehicle. This night is still relatively cool, and a light mist is over the stream water funneling under the bridge. The waterfall was quietly churning the water in the stream, creating a soothing, calming sound of moving water. The airman slowly breathed in and out, closing his eyes and casting his thoughts around the area, sensing if something was out of place. This as a common thing he learned within the war, to trust his feelings and senses when in an unknown area. The cool air felt nice, compared to the oppressive desert and office building of the last year, especially without the body armor and weapons he had with him at all times.
His senses picked up on something within the stream, a large something. Reaching to his thigh and behind his back, he calls out into the darkness around to where he thinks there is a threat.

“Hey, anyone out there?!”

Feeling air by his thigh, he looked down, and then shook his head, realizing that he had automatically reached for his now non-existent sidearm, a reaction that he had performed many times overseas when he did not have his rifle nearby. He grabbed his flashlight on his belt with his other paw, shining it around the area to get a better idea where he was.

“ Got to relax a little more. I am not at war here. I am…home… or not there at least.” The airman whispered to himself, shaking his head. He focused once for to his surroundings, focusing on the flashlight in his paw, then everything around him, then back to the steel of the flashlight’s body.

A noise came near the stream, a weak voice on the shore, barely audible over the stream and waterfall. “He..l..p..”

The airman swept the flashlight around the area, searching for the noise. The beam then fell on a shape on the shore, the shape of a body.

“What is tha.. oh god… ” Gasped the airman, taking in what the light revealed. A teenager was struggling to remain on the shore, balancing two more teens to keep them floating. All three had cuts and bruises forming all over their bodies, with the one still speaking barely holding on to consciousness. The other two had it worse, already knocked out, and barely keeping their heads floating above water, with one, a white Korat, appearing to have something strangled around his neck.

Training and instinct took over for the young airman. Still near his vehicle, he ran to the trunk , popped the back window and pulled out his deployment first aid kit. Rushing over to the three teens, he pulled each out of the water, first the one barely hanging on, then his two friends to either side of him. Laying them all out on the grass, he automatically starts combat first aid. While looking over the first young teen, the airman takes a cell phone out of the belt holder, then calls the local 911, placing the phone on speaker, and lays it nearby to continue giving field treatment.

Upon answering, the airman descries the situation per what he was trained to do by the military, noting how many injuries, what kind, what he needed, where he was, any other observations, all while finishing up on the first teen, an Abyssinian, and moving to the second, and more seriously wounded Somali male. The operator reported that units were on the way, and ended the phone call.

“What in the world happened to you three? And who are you three to begin with?” Mutters the airman, taking out bandages to apply to a nasty bleeding cut on the Somali’s chest. He did not expect a response, but was surprised to hear one from the first teen, the Abyssinian, who was still battling to stay aware of his surroundings.

-Cough- ”Who…is…th..at?” The Abyssinian got out, coughing up water as he spoke. The airman let out a small breath of relief, knowing that now he might get a couple of answers, like names and maybe, if he was lucky, why they were out here in the first place.

“Take it easy. Take it easy. You have has a rough night, I see. “ The airman said calmly, finishing up the bandage on the Somali, then turning his attention to the Korat, cutting the scarf around his neck with scissors from the med kit. “I am just someone passing though. Just so happen to notice you and you friends here in a bit of trouble, so I thought that I would help out.” The airman kept talking calmly, hoping that him speaking would cause some kind of response from the other two.

“Than…ks. Nam…Abbey..”-Cough- Responded the Abyssinian, still struggling to remain alert and coughing up stream water at the same time.

“Abbey. All right, that is a start. What are the two with you? Do you know their names as well?” Probed the airman, who was putting a brace on the Korat’s arm to prevent it from moving too much.

“Paul… the Soma…..an..Mik…with the scar….” Was all Abbey got out before a large amount of stream water made it’s return journey through his mouth. The airman scrambled over to Abbey, and turned him on his side, to keep the airway free from the vomit that could still choke the injured teen.

“Alright, alright, that’s all I needed. Now just relax now. EMT’s are on the way to pick you up right now.” Said the airman, still with the Zen like calm that he had developed. This Zen like state lasted until his right shoulder flared up in pain. Looking at it, he saw blood forming on his uniform, just under the outside of the shoulder. He bit back the pain, and continued to work on his three charges in front of him until the sound of sirens became apparent the boots of the EMT’s and police were closing in on him.

“Perfect timing on their part.” The airman sarcastically murmured though the pain he felt from his shoulder. He looked over to all three of the young teens, each of them breathing at least, and felt relieved that he could at least do this much. Within minutes the EMT’s were examining all four of them, with the airman’s injury needing a new bandage and disinfectant. He waived the EMT’s off for the moment, watching the other three being but onto carts for transportation to the local hospital.

One of the EMT’s looking over Mike caught the attention of the airman, who was waving him down.

“Sir, what is he saying?” the EMT was asking the airman as he approached. The airman listened intently to the words coming out of Mike.

“Not sure. All I hear is three words. Lucy, so and sorry. Can’t say they make sense, but I am not worried about that now.”

“Airman, a moment please?” Came from another EMT, this one with Abbey. The airman walked over to her, and calmly asked what was wrong.

“Well, it’s nothing medically, but this one wants a favor from you.” Reported the EMT, blushing slightly at the appearance of the airman, now with blood running down his camo sleeve.

The airman took no notice of the blushing EMT, and leaned over Abbey in his cart and whispered” I’m here, man. What do you need me to do for you?”

Abbey looked up at the face of the airman, trying to focus on him, and said, in a horse whisper “ Daisy. Please tell Daisy for me.”

Abbey then breathed deeply, and closed his eyes, finally losing consciousness after the effort to tell the airman that message. The airman felt his heart jump, and a flashback hit him of another friend in the warzone, one who said something similar before going into surgery. Snapping out of it, he looked at the EMT, now turning a deeper shade of red.

“What, is there something on my face?” Joked the airman, upon seeing the red face of the EMT, and sensing that something was a little off.

“No, it’s not that.” The EMT smiled lightly. The airman realized just how young this EMT was, and was instantly regretting what he said. “I know her from school, this Daisy he referred to. I actually have her number, if you need to call her.”

“That would be great, makes things easier.” Commented the airman, slightly distracted since more EMT’s were swarming around them to load up the ambulances. He thought about something for a sec, then the airman asked, “Just out of curiosity, do you have the number of one called Lucy?”

“No I don’t.” was the reply of the EMT. “She likes to keep to herself. I am not sure if she has any friends at school or not.”

“OK, well, if I can get Daisy’s number, then that is a start.” The airman then took out a piece of paper, then jotted down the number. Once the airman had the number, he waived off the young EMT, then walked over the each ambulance, made sure that all three of the injured were loaded up, and then went to his SUV, and followed behind the small convoy of ambulances to the hospital, so as to be sure no to get lost.

Well, that how this story starts. Comments would be greatly appreciated. Maybe another chapter will be posted if no one seems to mind how it reads.

This post has been edited by Argius: 02 April 2011 - 12:20 AM

Well I may just be easy to please but I liked it.

It seems kind of strange for a high schooler to be an on call emt though and if she knew Daisy she would also probrobly know the others yet she showed no emotional reaction to their injuries. It seems like she is just a plot device but still that is my two cents. I hope to see more from you soon, if you really want to be a great writer you just have to keep writing.

You know, your right about the teenage EMT thing. The school district that i went to actually had a EMT program for high schoolers wanting a first step into a bio-med program, but that is more of an isolated case than standard. Should have thought about that a little more.

So, another side of the story comes into play. Let's see what unravels, shall we?

Chapter 2- Contact

It was still dark out on Saturday morning when the phone in Daisy’s house started to ring. Daisy heard the phone in her dreams; interrupting one of her many club idea sessions. Paying no heed to it, she continued to draft ideas of how to get the theatre group to put on a talent show, and organizing it with the art club. Yet she heard the phone again, drilling into her head.

Coming out of her dream state, she blinked several times, regaining her senses in the dim light. The clock on her bed stand was reading just after three in the morning.

The phone continued to ring, pausing only for a minute, as the answering machine picked up the call. Then the ringing would begin again, eventually waking everyone in the household.

It was Daisy’s mother who finally answered the phone, now on it’s 6th cycle of rings.

“-Yawn- Hello, who is this?“

“Hi, is this Daisy, or the parents of?” A male voice on the other end of the line said. The hair on the back of her neck stood up, instantly alerting her parental senses. There were only a couple of phone calls that come in the middle of the night, and most of them were either school closings or bleak outlooks.

“This is her mother. What is this about?” See responded coolly, mentally preparing herself for the news. Surly, she thought, this was some type of prank, some early morning call from one of her daughter’s many school clubs.

“Sorry to bother you, ma’am, but right now you are the only number I have to contact, and there needs to be a message sent out to other families that are involved in this.”

“Wait. Who is this? What do you mean other families involved?”

“Forgive me, ma’am, but there is no time, so I’ll make this really brief. I need you to get in touch with three families of your daughter’s friends, of whom I know only first names. Can I trust you to do that?” The voice did not waiver, nor was their any fooling around in his voice. Whatever he was about to say, it was not pleasant. Daisy’s mother, turning on the lights over the nearby dining table, grabbed paper and prepared to write out the message to be sent out.

“Yes. Yes, you can trust me. What is it that needs to be sent out?”

Daisy was just walking down the hallway to get some water when she heard her mother gasp with shock, then a “oh my god, your joking?”. This caught Daisy’s attention, and, very quietly, crept unto she saw her mother, sitting down at the dining table, phone in one hand, her other cradling her head, which was shaking in disbelief. Daisy continued watching, as her mother took a pencil and wrote something down on a sheet of paper in front of her.

“Yes, yes sir, I have it written down here. Oh, please, tell me that…”

Daisy now was fully awake, taking in the scene in front of her. Her mom was stifling a cry from her mouth, the sheet of paper had something written on it, and whatever that was, it was not good news.

“Thank you, thank you so much. I will call them now. No need to wait, they need to know. Will you still be..?”

There was a pause, as she listened to the response from the other person on the phone. She breathed a large sigh of relief. Then she replied “Thank you. And please, watch over them. Bye.”

Her mother hung up the phone, then hung her head over the table, tears forming as the news finally sinks in.

“Mom, are you alight?” Daisy asks, walking into the room. Her mother jumped, and looked at her square in the eyes.

“Oh, Daisy, I’m sorry. Did I wake you?”

“No mom.“ Daisy replied, concern spreading over her face as she saw her mom on the verge of tears. ”The phone woke me up a couple of minutes ago. I heard you pick up, so I was going to get a drink of water, then I saw you out here, looking as if something’s happened.”

Her mother shook her head, barely holding back tears at the news she was about to deliver. ”Well, I was going to tell you in the morning, but if you are awake already, then I can at least have a little help.”
“Why, what’s going on, mom?” asked daisy, still wondering why her mother was this distressed over a phone call.

Half an hour later, Daisy was still in tears from the news. Upon hearing that Abbey and her friends Paulo and Mike were in the hospital with serious injuries, she hugged her mom for support; she cried and cried until she was dry in the eyes. Her mother wrapped her arms around her daughter, knowing the shock that the young teen had just taken. After the embrace broke, Daisy then composed herself by deep breaths, and washed her face.

“I want to help, mom” Daisy said flatly, putting down the towel she had used to dry her face. “ I want to do… something to help them out. Something meaningful, to show that I care for them all.”

Daisy’s mom smiled warmly at her daughter, then nodded. “They are your fiends, after all. Here, Help me find their numbers to their families. You probably know better where to look than I do.”

The next half an hour past very quickly, with Daisy finding the numbers to all three families, while Daisy’s mom made the important phone calls. It took some time for Mike’s and Abbey’s families to come to grips with what they were told, but in the end all of the families agreed to meet early in the morning at the hospital, to be there when Abbey, Paulo and Mike exited the ER.

Daisy’s mom put down the phone, her voice worn out from having to explain so much so early in the morning. She turned to face Daisy, an idea forming in her mind.

“Here is an idea for you to help some more for those three. Why not call your friends and get them to meet you over at the hospital as well? They have a right to know as well.”

Daisy needed no second urging, and spent another half an hour calling, consoling, and planning with her friends Tess, Sue and Jasmine to meet at the hospital at the same time the families were to show up. She tried to, but could not get a hold of Paulo’s friend David, and left a message after the 5th attempt. After setting the phone down from the message to David, Daisy was about to call Lucy, but a mental roadblock stopped her from even picking up the phone.

Looking back, Daisy thought, the past couple of weeks the two of them have really drifted apart. They have rarely spoken to each other with the past couple of months, and, I know that I would have appreciated knowing, I am not sure she would right now.

Daisy thought about it for another couple of minutes, then thought better of calling Lucy, with the rationalization that if Mike wanted her to know, then he would have asked.

Besides Daisy thought, getting herself ready for the early morning to be, Mike would have asked for Lucy to be there, just like Abbey asked to see me. This provided some slight comfort to her, as she got ready to head over to the hospital in a couple of hours.



Once again, comments are welcome and encouraged. Also, looking for idea's for parent's names, as they are mentioned later in the work, but i would rather name them than keep refering to them as "Paulo's dad" Daisy"s mom", etc. Not that i have a problem with doing that, but it would make the tale flow better.

Chapter three is in the works, hopefully be up within a couple of days.

Little bit of serious here to start.

-I know that fan created characters are frowned upon here. Unfortunately, none of the current cast are old enough to tell the story as is, so the fan character is actually needed.

-Some readers will find some of the next couple of chapters slightly disturbing and difficult to read with some of the descriptions used. This is intentional, and meant to be like it is told, not sugar coated.


Chapter 3- Hospital Wing

As the sun started to rise over the town, many folks had started their usual Saturday morning routines; some were mowing the yard, some were trimming the bushes, while others were gardening in little flower patches in their front yards. Sounds of little kids turning on their TV, watching all of the morning cartoons from the local houses also started to spread as the cool spring morning announced it’s presence.

The young airman smiled a slight bit, closing his eyes and breathing deeply of the cool spring air, listening to the sounds of the town waking up. He was glad hear the sounds of lawnmowers and trimmers instead of loudspeakers or bullets. His whole military life was either waking to reveille or to an alarm on base, and to seek shelter.

He had finished giving details to the local PD about half on hour ago, while getting treatment for his shoulder at the same time from the medical staff. The PD cleared him of any suspicion of any crime, and left him to report anything unusual that happened while the three were in the ER. As he stood there, letting the sun’s rays shine against his silver white fur, his thoughts again went to those three teens, Abbey, Paulo and Mike, who were still in the ER. He thought of the times back on the desert that he waited for other soldiers injured in the line of duty, to help them out when they came out. The thoughts were constant and relentless, and he could not suppress them fast enough.

He came out those thoughts in time to notice a large group of people who were descending on the entrance to the ER, a mixed group of adults and young teens, and is heart fell just a little more. It was not his job, he knew, to inform them of what had happened, but he felt responsible to tell them, just the same. He sighed; knowing what he was about to say was going to not be pleasant.

Still, he thought, walking into the ER waiting area, what’s done is done, and cannot be undone.

His assumption proved to be right, as the combination of parents, siblings, and friends descended upon the lobby of the ER. There was a lot of confusion at the front desk, with a lot of people talking, but no one making sense of each other. He walked foreword, addressing the group in front of him as he walked.

“Excuse me. I am guessing you all are here for Abbey, Paulo, and Mike?”

The group turned to face in, and some gasped at the site of blood on the right shoulder of the uniform. The young airman shook his head, noting where all of the attention was focused at, and then addressed the group again.

“If you are worried about the shoulder, nothing to worry about. This is an old injury, nothing to do with your three in the ER right now. “

There was a collective sigh of relief from the parents, worried that it was their son’s blood on the sleeve. The younger members of the group were not so sold on the idea that the blood was not his blood, but someone else’s.

“First, thanks for coming out to show support. You have no idea how happy this makes me, knowing that these three have such loving and caring friends and family.” The airman looked around the room, making sure that they were at least following him.

“Since none of you know who I am, I better introduce myself. My name is Airman Harris, and I am currently here to keep watch on the three in the ER right now. If you all would take a seat, I will tell you what I know so far about your friends.”

Once the group had their seats, the airman then began to describe very briefly what he saw, the types of injuries each of the three teens sustained that he could remember, and anything the doctors had reported to him during the night. There was a collective gas when the airman said that the scarf Mike wore was most likely used to choke him, and that he was the worst of the three in the ER right now.
There was silence as the airman finished his brief. He looked around the room at the stunned and tear ridden faces of the folks in front of him.

“That is all I have right now, is there anything I can answer, possibly?” asked the airman tentatively, hoping to not he hoarded over with questions that he could not answer. Seeing no response, he sat down in the hair behind him, and breathed deeply.

“I know, this is a lot to take in, but...”

“Thank you” came a voice from the middle of the group. The airman looked up, confused as to why, why someone was thanking him. There were murmurs of agreement from the whole group, as one of the younger teens, small, with a pearl-like necklace, stood up and made their way over to him, glowing red from both nerves and embarrassment.

“My name is Daisy, and I just want to say… thank you. Thank you for what you did to help Abbey and Paulo, and Mike.” Daisy said very quietly.

Another one of the teens, older with sand colored fur with pink highlights, walked up next to Daisy, and bent down and hugged the airman, now thoroughly confused with the outpouring of emotion being shown to him.

“That is my way of saying thanks. Name’s Tess, by the way” She whispered in his ear.

Yet even as Tess stopped hugging, another teen, small with black and white fur, approached, and then, a little red in the face, tripped and ended up hugging the airman as well.

“My name is Jasmine. I appreciate what you have done for Paulo. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you” She cried, breaking down on the airman’s uninjured shoulder.

It took Daisy and Tess along with airman Harris to support Jasmine to another seat. Harris was still in shock, now very confused with what just happened. He sat down again, as the words of thanks continue to pour in over him. But, as much as they were thanking him, no one realized that his eyes had glazed over and were looking at his hands, yet not seeing them. A set of flashbacks went to another wartime memory, of those he tried to help in the field, the blood staining his outstretched hands, and the soldiers he was assigned with to support saying their thanks as well, before being put on the medical helicopter back to base with gunshot wounds. A couple of those he saw their flagged draped caskets being loaded up on a cargo jet for their final journey home before he came back home.

It took a doctor from the ER several times to get any attention the group, speaking a little more loudly than the others, which snapped out Harris out of his memories. Seeing the doctor, of whom he recognized from earlier in the morning, he got up and went over to him. In hushed tones, the doctor relayed the news, smiled, and then went back into the ER.

A forced smile crossed the airman’s face as well. He faced the group, and announced the news the doctor told him to everyone else sitting in the waiting area.

“Good news. Abbey is just out of the ER, and is resting comfortably in the recovery area. He is in good spirits, and we can go see him in a second. “

This brought a cheer from everyone in the ER waiting area, finally hearing some good news that least one of the three was out of the ER. Most everyone felt nervous as they approached Abbey’s resting area; about what Abbey might look like, if they had him in a body cast or some kind of weird brace. Harris kept to the back of the group, increasingly feeling left out of all the nervousness and anticipation. All he felt was numbness, even as the nurse opened the door to Abbey’s room to let them in.
____

Foreshadowing somewhat, are we? And what of the others? You will have to wait until the next chapter to find out. Comments are encouraged and welcome, even if they are to say that this sucks, and why it sucks.

Nice fanfic i enjoyned
I will wait for more(really)
And i wainting to see when Lucy show her face

Continuing where we last left off in the hospital. And remember, there are some disturbing things written in here. Discretion is advised.


Chapter 4- 2nd Vigil

Abbey looked at the group just beginning to enter his room, and smiled weakly as the medication started to wear off. All of his friends and family were there, smiles of relief written across everyone’s faces including Daisy’s who was red in the face and in the eyes with tears. It was Daisy who broke the silence, finally rushing over and hugging Abbey, planting her head across his chest, letting out a muffled cry against his fur. Abbey put one of his arms around Daisy, with the other arm hooked up to an IV machine.

As the group shuffled in around Daisy and Abbey, Harris stood back, watching from the doorway at the scene in front of him. The feeling of joy that everyone felt did not ease the deadened feeling inside of him. Harris drifted to another flashback, not seeing the room filled with happiness anymore, but of visions of a battlefield med center, and the military doctors huddled over another soldier, shaking their heads and speaking quietly as the folded a sheet over the soldier's bloodied head. Harris barely managed not to shed a tear, as reality set in once again.

Maintaining the composure instilled upon him from his first days of military training, Harris quietly left the happy scene to the friends and family of Abbey. Nobody looked back and saw that the airman had left without saying something, as all their attention had turned to Abbey, who was relaying about what had happened to him, encountering a group of juveniles causing problems, of him trying to help out Paulo and Mike, then hanging on with the two teens in the creek when they were tossed in, even over the small waterfall, until the airman showed up.

Stepping in to a nearby restroom, the airman placed his back on the cool wall tiles, and carefully removed the camo blouse as to not re-injure the shoulder that had opened up before. Laying the top on the sink countertop, he preceded to wash his face and paws, trying to regain his senses and fight back the flashbacks he was having more and more of.

“Breathe, That is what the psyche said at the post deployment clinic. Breathe.“ Harris said, now trying to wash the blood from his uniform’s sleeve. Closing his eyes, he breathed deep several times, regaining some of his mind back, but not before more images of battle, and of his shoulder, bloodied from a gunshot wound, came violently back into the forefront of his memory. It did not help that the sink was now tinted red with the blood from the blouse.

“Need to relax. Need to remain calm. For their sakes, need to remain calm and collected.” Harris whispered as he took his camp top and ran it under a blow dryer in the restroom, drying the sleeve he had been cleaning. His thoughts went back to his first days of Basic training, of all the TI’s shouting about not breaking rank or bearing for whatever reason, then to all of the training he did before going on this first deployment one year ago stressing not showing emotion during combat and to keep a cool head.

With the blood now mostly blended in with the camo pattern, he carefully put back on his blouse, slowly buttoning the front, as returned to his selected spot in the ER to continue his vigil for the two remaining teens in the ER, constantly repeating the words that he had used to pick himself up during his time overseas. Yet even that was not enough, as the memories continued to slip in and out, weaving though his eyes as the previous day's strain started to catch up to him.o

As Harris sat down in the ER waiting lobby, with a cup of coffee he picked up from the hospital bar, Abbey was finishing his side of his harrowing night, leading up him being in the hospital. Daisy had not left his side, but now with a chair pulled up near his bed.

“And that is as much as I remember.” Abbey said, looking around at the various faces and emotions being given off by everyone in the room. It was once again Daisy who broke the silence in the room.

“We are just glad you are alright.” Daisy said, slightly breathless from hearing the whole story. Murmurs of agreement spread across the room.

“Yeah. If it wasn’t for that soldier looking guy, you would be a goner…hey where did he go?” Tess said from the back of the room, looking to where she last saw Harris in the doorway. Everyone looked around the room, trying to remember if, in fact he even came in to see Abbey.

Abbey coughed, putting his head back on the pillow from the strain of talking so much. “I think I know where he went to.” He said, with all eyes refocusing on Abbey. “If it were me, and I still had friends in the ER, I would be waiting there for them to come out.”

Paulo’s dad nodded, saying, ”That is what I would do as well. Besides, Paulo is still in there, and I am going to wait for him there as well.”

Tess and Jasmine, along with Mike’s family, agreed with Paulo’s dad, and, after promising to be back after Paulo was let out, left for the ER, leaving Abbey’s family and Daisy to quietly talk about what had happened, with greater privacy.

When the group, lead by Paulo’s dad, arrived back in the ER waiting room, they found the Harris back in his original spot. He looked different this time around; strained, tired, his eyes unfocused and glassy, while slowly swirly a cup of coffee in his paws. His uniform no longer had the deep red blood mark on his shoulder, but the stain of the blood was still evident against the olive green and sand tint.

This change of poses, this change of behavior from the young airman, a drastic swing from the confident, calm and positive young man from before, did not go unnoticed by anyone in the group. It was very disturbing to both the teens and the adults, who thought that something just happened in the ER.

It was not the case, for now Harris was becoming trapped in the corridors of his mind. With exhaustion coming on from not having slept in over a day, nothing was stopping the images of his fellow soldiers, of the times he watched them coming out of helicopters with terrible injuries, of the men assigned with him going out on a patrol, only to return dragging one of their own covered in blood from being shot in the stomach, even trough the body armor. More images passed through his mind, forcing him to relive the days of sitting outside the med tent for any sigh of good news, of the phone calls to families of other soldiers in his unit, telling them that their father or son or whatever was coming home, but was forever changed.

And he was powerless to stop any of these images from stopping and starting. He was losing the control that he had gained earlier with almost no external pressure. Anything he tried to force he images away quickly caved in, forcing more unpleasant sights before him, reminding him of what he had done, or failed to do.

It was a tap on the head from something sharp that brought back Harris from his torture. Looking around, he saw that the group, or at least the majority of the group, had returned and was looking at him with great concern. Blur, with a smug look on his face, fluttered over to Mike’s parents, and landed in the arms of Mike’s mother.

“Oh, well, I guess Abbey is doing all right then, of you all are back down here.” Harris said, forcing a smile on his face.

“Paulo and Mike are still in there. We are going to wait for them as well. “ Paulo’s dad remarked, not believing the smile that the airman had put on. Paulo’s dad was starting to wonder why this airman was even still here, let alone why he was even here in the area in the first place.

Quiet reigned in the lobby of the ER, permeated by futile attempts of small talk to the airman and Paulo’s dad, and between the other friends and families. Tess and Jasmine tried to speak to Harris about Paulo, and what they heard from Abbey, with little effect on the airman’s thoughts or actions. He remained as he did when the group came back down: eyes unfocused and to the ground, shoulders hunched over, and a feeling of loss, sorrow, and depression permeating the air around him as he slipped back into his mind's torturous embrace. Even Blur tried at one point to talk to the airman, but failed to get out even a word as he saw the distant look in the blue eyes of the airman. Blur lost all nerve, and drifted back to Mike’s sibling and just sat down, not able to make out what he had just seen.

It would be a long wait, as an hour dragged on waiting for the next bit of good news.

___

SO, one is out in relatively good shape, while the other two are still unknown at this time. And it seems like there may be one more who needs a doctor. And what about Lucy?

As always, comments are appreciated, welcomed, encouraged, etc. I need to know if this really just sucks, and if it does, why. This is my first fanfic, after all, and i need to improve.

Well it certianly is an interesting story based on what I've seen in others. Its showing so deep drama and allot of questions are being asked in my head right now on wth is going on. But so far I think this is a really good Fic. Keep this going. I'm also wondering what will be going on with Lucy. My guess is that when they go to see Mike, Harris will mention that Mike was saying "Lucy...so..sorry"

This post has been edited by RedJack: 02 March 2011 - 12:09 PM

i'll go with a good standby answer for that...

It's in the works. And it should be ready in a day or so... If work doesn't get in the way.

This post has been edited by Argius: 04 March 2011 - 02:13 AM

So, some have ben wondering about where Lucy was in all of this. Well, maybe this will shead some light on what she knows so far. After all, Daisy never told her about Mike in the hospital.


Chapter 5- Friend of a Friend

While everyone else was at the hospital, waiting for some sigh of good news, Lucy was just waking up to the normal sounds of a Saturday morning in the neighborhood. Slowly stretching herself awake, she thought about what she had felt last night as she drifted off to sleep.

What did I feel? She pondered, sliding out from under the covers of her bed. She tried to pass of the thought as an awkward dream while she did her daily grooming, but that did not seem to fit what she felt. It was like, I don’t know, some sort of foreboding. Like something happened to something, or someone.

She thought about it through a quick breakfast, then forgot about it as she started to wake the other three she took care of. All three were already awake, and eager to get the day started.

‘What are we going to do today?” Asked Lucy, looking at her three pets. It was Yashy that spoke first, but then quickly drowned out by the other two, throwing suggestions left and right.

“Let’s play video games all day!”

“Let’s walk around the town for a while.”

“Let’s get Blur over here.”

“Even better, let’s hang out with your friends!”

Lucy heard that last suggestion, and shook her head in disgust. “No way that last one is going to happen. I see enough of them at school.”

“Even Flea?” asked Yashy.

Something pinged in the back of her mind, the same feeling of foreboding that she had woken up with.

“Nah, definitely not. Besides, he has Sandy to talk to, remember?” Lucy said, looking at Yashy with a mixture of anger and disgust.

Still, this feeling, Lucy thought, watching her pets argue among themselves, it is definitely not going away. What could this be? Some kind of..no. No way. How could it be some kind of warning? I hate the guy anyway. Always something else to do, someone else to pay attention to.

She was brought out of thoughts when Yashy landed on her lap. Looking down, She noticed that Yashy had a curious look on her face.

“You’re acting weird again. Something wrong?” Yashy asked, a question Lucy was too ready to answer back to.

“Nothing’s wrong.” She snapped, looking towards the window. At least, I hope not.

Lucy heard her parents moving around the house, a sigh that it was time to make her appearance to show she was not asleep, at this time in the morning. Leaving her pets to argue amongst themselves, she went into the kitchen once again, with her parents doing their normal morning routine. Her dad was drinking coffee and looking at a paper ont he table, while her mom was busy cooking breakfast for the family. Apple and cinnamon smells permeated the kitchen, but the atmosphere was, strangely, far from welcoming.

Both of her parents stopped what they were doing when Lucy entered. Lucy’s dad put his drink down on the table while her mom turned down the stove, and sat down at next to her husband.

Lucy sat down, annoyed that both of them looked so glum.

“Well, is there something the matter? Someone die on the morning news or something?” Lucy asked, looking to both of her parents. Her mom looked at here dad, and her dad sighed with the news he was about to bring.

“Lucy, do you remember the creek by the waterfall, the one where you almost drowned by?” He said, weary about where this conversation was going to lead.

Lucy shuddered at the thought of that incident several years ago. She still could not get near any big body of water after that day, and had been excused from swimming in gym because of it.

“Yeah, I remember. Little hard to forget that spot. Why?”

Her father took a deep breath, mustering up the correct words to describe what he was told.

“Well, Lucy, there was another incident last night, about the same spot. Abbey, Paulo and Mike were found there, in really bad shape. All three of them were taken to the hospital. We heard the message on our machine this morning from Paulo’s dad a little while ago, and he wanted for you to come out and show support for him and the other two.”

Lucy sat in the chair, trying to absorb the info just delivered to her.

“Mike is in the hospital?“ She asked, the feeling for foreboding returning to her as she realized what it had meant. “Is he…alright?” She trailed off at the last part of her question, the full realization of what her dad and her senses told her adding up to the only thing she could come up with. Her father closed his eyes and forced the next sentence out of himself.

“Mike was the worst of the three, from what Paulo’s dad said. He wasn’t very clear on the details, but he was clear that it was by pure chance that Mike, or the other two, are still with us today.

Lucy tried to speak, but the words failed to materialize, or adequately describe what she felt. Numbness flooded over her, as tried to piece together her feelings, all the while trying to cope with the ominous cloud that hung over her.

Her dad spoke again, this time in a softer tone than before “I know that this is a lot to take in, but I think that it would be best if you went. If you want to, we can be over there in a little while. That sound like a plan?”

Lucy nodded slightly, unable to think of anything else at hat moment. She eventually got up from the table and went to her room shortly after, her parents looking at each other with great concern strewn across her mother’s face.

“Honey, do you really think this is a good idea? I mean…” Lucy’s mom asked, nerves clearly evident in her voice. Lucy’s dad took another sip of coffee before replying, ”This is not the first time this has happened, and I am sure this is not the last time either. Besides, it might do her some good to see Mike again.”

Lucy just sat down on her bed, slowly closing the door of her room as she entered, once again trying to sort out her feelings. She was split, to say the least. After all, it was Mike that turned her down only a couple of months ago. It was the same jerk that had continued to be loyal to someone far away rather than someone closer to him. He had not even talked to her for the last couple of weeks.

Then again, she thought, it was not like I offered the chance for him to speak to me. I have avoided him quite a bit, even through the rehearsals. Point and counterpoint danced in her head, ranging from rage and anger at the fact that she actually cared enough for Mike, to despair and depression at the fact that someone she had known for years is now lying in the hospital, in apparently bad condition.

Yashy, Chirpy, and Lily were watching on the opposite corner of her bed. All three were watching this completely venerable form that clashed with her usual tough exterior. It bothered Chirpy the most, seeing her “mother” so conflicted and depressed.

“Why is girl kitty so sad?” Chirpy asked Lucy after several minutes of awkward silence in the bedroom. Lucy did not immediately respond, and when she did, it was in broken words as her mind started and stopped her speech.

“It’s.. It’s Mike… “ Lucy’s voice was barely a whisper, but in the silence of the room, it was almost too loud for comfort.

Yashy chirped up, an annoyed tone in her voice. “Alright, what has Flea done now? “

Yashy’s apparent annoyance was lost to Lucy. She could barely make out the next words without cramming down both her feelings and her tears.
“Mike in the hospital…it’s very bad…”

Lily caught on to what she was saying, or at least trying to say. Shooting a glance at Yashy to stay silent, lily got up from the bed’s corner and crawled over to Lucy’s side.

“You mean Mike is in the hospital? As in, right now?”

Lucy nodded very slowly, barely hearing the words of her three young ones.

“And you said that it was very bad?” Lily piped up again. Again Lucy just nodded, words failing to reach her throat.

“Yashy spoke up once again, to the great annoyance of Lily. “What is that? Flea’s down? As in, for the count?”

Lily threw another look to Yashy, mouthing for her to keep quiet. She then turned her attention back to Lucy, thinking of the last time this happened, way back in Acapulco. That time, Mike had fallen into a river underneath a stone bridge. Lucy had reacted similarly to what she was doing now. But, thinking about this time around, she factored in the fact that the two of them have not really spoken in a long time.

Lily asked what was, in her mind, the most important question to get Lucy's mindset from the whole situation.

“Are you at least planning on going to see them?”

Lucy nodded, knowing that her parents, not her, that had decided this without her consent. Yet, oddly enough, she did feel a need to see Mike. To see his face, to know that he made it out, even if the two of them were not on speaking terms.

Lily thought for another minute, and then said, “When you do, keep in mind that he may or may not like the fact that you were there. Even so, I think he will appreciate the fact that you came to see him.” She looked around at Chirpy and Yashy, then spoke again. “I’ll keep an eye on Yashy and Chirpy here, so you can have some actual talking time with Mike.”

Lucy only barely heard what Lily was saying at that point. She had only one thing on her mind; to go and see that jerk whom she liked so much. As to whether she wanted to bash his face or to hug him and choke him at the same time was still undecided. She got up and went into her bathroom again to wash up, trying to restore some sense of normality to her morning routine. It did not help much, and she was left in the family room, alone, waiting for one of her parents to take her over to the hospital, trying to piece her mind together as she waited.

The rest of the early morning passed very quietly in the household, and, closer to ten, Lucy left with her dad to head to the hospital to see all three of her injured friends, unaware that not everyone was still at her house, and that a stowaway was planning chaos in the car.
____

A small confession after writing this, but important nonetheless.

For some reason, this is the most difficult chapter to write so far, and i expect for the whole series. It was the best i could come up with, given current canon of the series, but it still does not feel correct. Could just be me, but my senses tell me otherwise.

Comments are appreciated and welcome. Don't be shy about saying it sucks: i am expecting to see a lot of negative feedback on this particular chapter, for a multitude of reasons.

At least i am being honest about it.

Lol expect the unexpected Argius. This is still going well with the story. I may be catching a few grammar mistakes but that can happen with anybody. I'd point them out but I'm sorta flooded with story so its kinda hard to do so. Still this is a good Fanfic and I hope more will be on the way

I liked the latest chapter much better than I have the previous few. It puts the focus back onto the main characters of BCB and what they think and feel. Interesting that Lucy didn't know about their troubles considering Mikes last words. Oh well he is probrobly going to die and Lucy will be told what his last words were and emotion will ensue haha.

Hm, this is a little surprising. Guess i need to more confident in what i write. Still there is more to read about, and this next chapter is quite heavy on the serious stuff, i think.

Oh, i won't say what just yet. Guess you'll have to wait and see when it comes out.

All I will say is that there will be one more victim before this is all said and done. The question is, who will it be... and is it with the lead pipe?

Well, the next chapter came together far easier than I thought. Be warned: This is not one for the faint of heart. Discretion is advised.

Chapter 6- Price of War

It was a doctor coming out of the ER around quarter til ten that broke the ice that had formed the waiting area. It was starting to give everyone the case of the blues, with most of it emanating around the airman who had made no effort to partake in any kind of conversation. Paulo’s dad got up at the sight of the doctor, who was tired but smiling.

“Well folks” the doctor announced,” the next one, Paulo, is out of surgery, and will be in the recovery area in a couple more minutes. However, he had some hefty blows to the head, so we will keep him sedated until tomorrow, just to be safe.” The doc smiled wearily at the group “not to say that you can’t see him in a couple of minutes anyway. We will put him right next to the other patient, Abbey, so to keep an eye on both of them.” He nodded to Paulo’s dad, and then went back into the ER.

Shouts of joy came from Jasmine and Tess, who were holding their breath at the sight of the doctor emerging from the ER. Most everyone else let out a sigh of relief, just thankful that Paulo was going to be all right.

Two people did not, however. Harris had not heard anything the doctor said, still trapped in his waking nightmare. Paulo’s dad also did not make any comment, as he was watching the airman’s reaction, or lack thereof.

“Hey, did you hear that? My son is going to be fine.” Paulo’s dad said, walking over to the airman. He turned his head to face the group, speaking loudly so that he could be heard over everything else “why don’t you go ahead without me? I will be just a minute.”

Needing no second urging, the group left the area as they did with Abbey, leaving Paulo’s dad and the airman together, alone. Paulo’s dad walked in front of Harris and slapped his paw on the airman’s back without a thought, saying, “Hey, are you alri…?”

The airman interrupted abruptly as training and instincts from war kicked in once again, deflecting the paw off of him with his left, taking Paulo’s dad by complete surprise. With the right paw, the airman reached behind his back, and drew the flashlight like a fighting knife, lunging and holding it to the neck of his “opponent.” Harris stood there for a moment, breathing deeply in and out, maintaining his fighter’s stance, with an empty rage filling his cold, dead blue eyes. For that one moment all he saw was an enemy, waiting to put something in his back to kill him.

Then reality returned to Harris a minute later, waking him from his mind’s cage. His eyes seemed to refocus, before widening with the shock of what he was doing. He let the flashlight fall with a clatter, stunned at what he had just done, and attempted to do. He sat down again, muttering ”No, oh god no. Not here. Not here. This is not the war. He is not an enemy. Not here. Not now…” Grabbing his head, he continued muttering to himself, stunned that the act he had just performed, especially on a non-combatant, not even someone in that warzone threatening his life.

Paulo’s dad stood there for a moment, trying to process what he had just witnessed. Stooping to pick up the flashlight, twisting the head until the light turned on, then twisted it back so that it turned off. He faced the airman again, now with concern born from being a father and mentor.

“Son, is there something that you wish to talk about?” Whispered Paulo’s dad to the airman, bringing him back out of his mind’s corridors once again. The airman looked up, shock still written on his face at what he had done.

The airman breathed deeply again, then, with great effort, whispered” I know that I should not have done that. That is… something that I cannot be doing… not here....”
“Here?” Confused, Paulo’s dad sat next to Harris. “C’mon son, spit it out. You have already shut yourself inside your head once, and look where it got you now. Let’s not make the same mistake again.”

Harris breathed in deeply once again; still struggling to regain and maintain the all-important bearing he had just lost. Placing his paws over his head, the airman finally started to open up to this stranger he met only a couple of hours ago.

“It was... a reaction. One that I had to learn while… over there… It was a necessity. Otherwise, you would have ended up as another casualty. Another statistic on some general’s report, and another casket on a one way trip.”

The force of just telling that much was almost too much for Harris, stopping and sobbing lightly as more scenes of his tour flashed through his mind. Then he refocused his energy into a simple, plain and heavy wording that seemed to explain everything in his head.

“War is truly hell. I should know. I just came back from it. ”

Realization dawned upon Paulo’s dad that the airman sitting next to him was, until very recently, fighting overseas. This was an airman that had seen the worse of the fighting, and was coming home, only to be thrown into another struggle, this one in his mind. Paulo’s dad remembered reading something about it in the newspapers, the amount of soldiers returning home, to only struggle with the horrors that came with war, and the support that each of them needed from their families to make it through each day. The family that this airman, single from the lack of a band on his paw, did not have; no wife or kids to call his own.

He was, in the greatest sense imaginable, alone. He had nothing or no one to turn to for help or support him right now. Away from friends, family, and any kind of real support net to call upon, he was quickly becoming ensnared in the horrors of war within his mind.

And, most importantly, he was losing this fight in his head. Paulo’s dad thought about what he read in the papers. More often than not, it led to another tragedy here, away from the battlefield. Paulo’s dad was not about to let anything happen to the man who had rescued his son from possible death, not if he could do anything about it.

“Al right, I see that there is a lot on your mind.” Paulo’s dad said, not looking directly at the airman as he said it. “There is much that you have seen, not much of it pretty.” After this, he turned to look right at the airman, and said, bluntly, ”it may not be my right to know exactly happened, but I feel like I have an obligation to help you. Let me at least do that for you.”

“No, you don’t want to know what happened.” Responded the airman. There was no way that some civilian could understand what he had just been thru, though he was secretly glad that this person was not that upset about what he did. “But, I thank you for the offer. I…I am at a loss for words.” He sighed, realizing that he could not hold in his emotions any longer.

Maybe, just maybe, this person could be… Harris did not need any second thoughts, sensing, rather than knowing, that he could place his trust in this one person, and that he would not paint his soul on a wall for the world to see.

“If you are willing to listen, and not say much, then... please… just let me speak… I need to… at least let the worst of this off my mind.”

Then the floodgates of memories, both good and bad, opened up from the airman, as he relived the some of the many days of combat, stress, and hardships. He told of the many friends he had made with the army, even though he was an airman assigned to do weather reports for the aircraft. He recounted the many who came back wounded, and of those see saw shipped home, with flags over their caskets, with stifled cries of sadness at the though of those he would never see again. And, upon returning back, the isolation that he had started to feel as he started this mandatory leave period from military life, the duty entrusted to him from a fallen soldier, and the memories that had returned to him sitting in this ER and in the recovery area.

Paulo’s dad just sat there and listened, knowing that this airman had just placed a lot of faith in him, and that he could not abandon him now. Everything was slowly made clear to him; why this airman had stopped and helped with no reason to stop, why he had stayed by the side of his son and his friends when there was no apparent need, why he continues to wait until the last one came out of the ER. This was, as Paulo’s dad soon realized, all part of what the war had trained him to do: to never leave a man behind.
“That sounds… pretty serious, young man.” Paulo’s dad commented, digesting what he had just heard. “This is not easy, I can imagine.”

“You have no idea.” Came the weak reply of Harris, practically sobbing with the memories he had just relived, his paws still covering this face. Small tears were coming out from the side of his paws. ”It takes everything I am right now to hold it together, to not show the pain I feel. But, without someone to help, it is so much, right now too damn much to bear.”

Paulo’s dad, nodding slightly, cautiously put his arm around the airman’s back, not wanting a repeat action. He felt the muscles twinge, ready to lash out upon instinct, but the airman controlled his reaction this time around. Silence permeated between the two men, both trying not to break the other’s train of thoughts.

Paul’s dad was the first to speak his mind, getting a general idea into his mind.

“Listen, I am going to talk about this to the other parents.” Paulo’s dad whispered. This caused Harris to look up; shocked the person he just trusted to keep such things unknown was going to say them. Paulo’s dad held up a hand to stop any protest from the airman upon seeing his reaction.

“Not about what you told me, but as to why you are here. You need help, and I will be sure to see you get help. While I am at it, see if maybe you could stay around for a while, until you get better.”

Harris breathed deeply, realizing the offer of help; an offer that was too good to pass up.

“That… that sounds like a plan, at least. Better than going back to the base, wasting away.” Harris turned his head and smiled at Paulo’s dad, a genuine smile, without the forced cheer from before. “It would make this transition… just a little easier.”

Paulo’s dad got up and looked around. The clock on the wall shows it to be about 10 in the morning. Looking back at the airman, he asked, “When was the last time you had a decent meal? And be serious.”

The airman thought for a second, the replied weakly, “You know, I can’t remember. Military dosen’t do the best with actual food, ya know.”

Paulo’s dad chuckled at the attempt of humor, and then said, “look, it is after 10 on a Saturday, and I have yet to eat anything decent. I will get some food for everyone else as well, so you stay here and wait for Mike. Sound good?”

Harris nodded, picking up the cup of cold coffee and putting it in the trash, while Paulo’s dad also got up, and headed for the door out to the hospital.

Before he walked out. Paulo’s dad stopped and turned to Harris. “If I leave, you won’t… you know…” Leaving the words unsaid. Harris caught on to the meaning quickly enough.
“If you are asking if I am so far down the road to commit suicide, then you have seriously misjudged me.” Harris said, a tone of indignation underscoring his words, while also attracting attention from the other patrons in the lobby.

Paulo’s dad finally tossed the flashlight back to the airman, who promptly placed it back in the holder on his belt.

“Just making sure I could trust you with that…” Paulo’s dad joked lightly, turning back towards the door and walked outside.

Harris was about to take his seat, when a commotion at the door caused him to turn around. At that moment, Paulo’s dad walked back in, with a teenager wrapped around his waist, on the verge of what appeared to be an emotional breakdown.

Great, today just a great day to be emotionally compromised Harris thought as he took in more deep breaths, mentally stuffing his emotions back into his crevices of his mind, and mentally geared himself for another round of teenage emotional overspill. After all, misery loves company.
______

As i said, this is not one for the faint of heart. I am fortunate to not have had this happen to anyone i know, be it myself (yet to be deployed), friends and co-workers who have deployed or family who have come back within the last couple of years.

At least this is the one heavy chapter, and removing the regular crew felt like the right thing to do, not exposing them to this kind of despair. Don't worry, they will be back in the next chapter. Or two.

Once again, comments are welcome and appreciated. The next chapter will be up in a couple of days, given current work schedule. Things will get better, trust me.

This post has been edited by Argius: 07 March 2011 - 01:11 AM

Hmm nice touch on going into the emotional side of the airman. It sure gives people a good idea as to how soldiers react after a war. Also Yay for Paulo's dad being awsm

I only wish that it was as simple as what i tried to show in the story. Then again, some like to hide their feeling deep down inside, never to spill it over to anyone else.

Not something I can attest to personally, not having been deployed yet, but something i can relate to from my own experiences with others who shall remain anonymous.

But, let's move on from this dreary talk about war and stuff, shall we? Besides, the next chapter in the works is definitely heading in the right direction.

If i get time to finish it....

Well, now things are on the way up, after being down in the dumps for a whole chapter. But, things are not always as they seem...

Chapter 7- Old Wounds

The airman calmly walked over the Paulo’s dad who was holding the distraught teen around his abdomen, whispering something into her ear. Looking over at Harris, he motioned to the airman to take her, and walk over her over to the waiting area. Confused as to why, Harris took the distraught teen, who now clung on to his already injured arm, and murmured to Paulo’s dad “Got another plan in your head?”

Paulo’s dad nodded, looking at the car that had pulled into the parking lot of the hospital through the glass door. “That is her family pulling into the parking lot. I called them before I left, so that they knew about what was going on.” He looked down at the teen, who was busy burying her head into the camo’s sleeve. “She is a good friend of my son and of Mike, so I thought she had a right to know."

At the mention of Mike, she looked up at Paulo’s father, whispering “Mike’s here, right…?”

The airman caught on to what Paulo’s dad was saying, and nodded. “I’ll look after her, you talk with her folks, they go get food while we wait for Mike to get out of the ER. Or am I wrong in that guess?”

Paulo’s dad chuckled, shaking his head. “Got food on the mind, do ya? Well that was the general idea, but not about the food.”

Harris shrugged, which caused a lot of discomfort in his right shoulder when combined with the teen hanging tightly around the forearm. “Hey, got to set priorities. And you did mention food before.”

Paulo’s dad let out a laugh, continuing to shake his head. “Alright, I’ll try. You just try and settle her down.”

“Wilco sir.” Replied the airman; quickly realizing he switched to military lingo from his deployment. “Uh, I mean, will do, sir”. Both of them went there opposite ways, Paulo’s dad to talk to Lucy’s parents outside, while the airman guided the emotional, clingy teen to a seat near his own in the lobby.

“Well, might as well sit down. There is something that I need to talk to you about.” Harris said, pushing the teen into the seat next to him. He had to push, for she was not letting go, and was tightening her grip around his arm. Her eyes were white, with streaks of red around the sides, tears slowly dribbling into the fur on her face.

“Mike, he can’t be…”was all he heard from her, in a tone barely above a whisper. The airman heard that, figuring that she has more than some kind of friend, but how close still eluded him. Not that he cared that much for personal relationships right then and there.

“So, you know Mike then?” He asked the teen, realizing that he had not even bothered asking for a name to the teen sitting next to him. The teen nodded, and then hugged the arm again. It was starting to get on the airman’s nerve, this clingy teen, who would not really respond to anything he said except about Mike so far, in which she would only look at him and squeeze his arm harder.

“So, do you want to hear about Mike, or continue to squeeze the life out of my arm?” Harris said, his voice having a slight annoyed sound to it. Yet the teen still clung on. Harris shook his head, and then went ahead with what he knew he had to do.

“Alright, I will tell you what happened to your friend, if that will make you feel better.” Harris quietly said the distraught teen. He then went into a simpler brief similar to what he gave earlier this morning, though cutting out the details of Abbey and Paulo to shorten the explanation significantly.

The words seem to provide no comfort to the distraught teen, who had let go of him at the end of the tale and was curling up into a ball on the seat next to him, murmuring the name “Mike…”and some other things that Harris could not make out. Try as he might, he could not crack the shell that she had wrapped around herself.
He was about to try something else, when a voice came from the entrance of the ER “Lucy? Lucy?”

Harris turned at who was talking, and whom they were talking to, then a bird flew over to her, and tried to talk to the rolled up form of the teenager.

“Lucy, you there? Lucy? Come on, speak up.” The bird tried again, still not getting any response. She then turned to the airman, rage now apparent on her face.” What have you done to Lucy, dirtbag?”

But the airman was remembering something, something from the night before. There was something thought the airman concentrating with all of his might. There was something, something that he was not putting together, but what?

It came together about the same time the bird kicked him in the head, saying ”Earth to dirtbag, come in. You there?”

Massaging his head, he looked at the bird, then at the balled up teen, then he got up suddenly, surprising the bird.

“Can it, little twerp. This is not the time to be playing tough guy.”

He knew what he had to do, it was all so clear. He forcefully sat the young teen upright, prying her head away from the body, then put both paws on her head, so she looked right at him, eye to eye, and could not look away. The bird was saying something in the background, but he ignored that, and focused on her eyes, trying to break the cocoon that she had wrapped herself in.

“Your name is Lucy, right?”

She looked at him, nodding slightly.

The airman smiled a little bit. “Then I have a message for you. It’s from Mike.”

Now he was sure that he had her attention. Both of her blue eyes focused on his, neither one of them blinking. Now he knew that he had at least cracked thru her mental barrier. It was now or never.

The next words he spoke in no more than a whisper, for he knew that they were words meant for the ears of one other person.

“Lucy, I am so sorry.”

He focused back on her eyes. This time he saw that the words had done exactly what he had hoped they would do. Lucy breathed in a couple of deep breaths, then said, quietly, “He said that? Mike did?”

Harris nodded. “He said that, though he was unconscious at the time. I know that he would have wanted you to hear that, if he was still conscious.”

This brought more tears to her eyes, but now she wiped them off with the back of her paw. “Thank you. “ Was all she said, before throwing her arms around the airman’s neck. This time, the airman was prepared for this release of emotion, and waited until she was ready to let go, keeping his arms underneath her shoulders and his paws on her back. He would just be a thing to hold her, a thing for support and nothing more.

Or, as fate decided that day, for an external source to intervene the emotional support pillar's loose embrace. And that agent of chaos was well into her dive, her target in plain sight.

“Get your paws off of her, pedo!” Was all Harris heard before a swift kick in his injured shoulder broke apart the embrace between him and Lucy. He fell to the floor, in extreme pain as the injury to his shoulder opened up for the second time that morning. This time, however, it ripped open the wound and allowed the blood to flow more freely, right thru the bandages placed there a few hours ago.

On the floor, he watched as his blood pool underneath the open wound, flashing him back to his darkest memory, several days before he was to return home, when he was shot during a convoy trip back to the main base. The blood pooling in the sand beneath him, his rifle just out of his reach as the bullets flew over him. His screams of pain, his fellow soldiers calling for a medic in the background, he felt it all come back, same as that day in the desert.

This time, the memory would not go away, the pain he felt was real, and the shouting around him became a roar. He faintly recalled lashing out at unknown faces, fearing for his buddy’s life. He felt his arms and legs get weighted down, then, as something was injected into this arm, darkness as the pain slowly drifted away from him.

_____

Well, i thought i said something about another ending up seeing the doctor. But could you predict that it would be caused by a pet?

Comments are welcomed and appreciated, as always.

The next few chapters will be ready in a week or so. I am taking some time away from the writing to help our area get ready to honor one of the fallen airman from the shooting in Germany. I feel the need to devote some time to this event, as honoring service is a underscoring theme of this work.

This post has been edited by Argius: 08 March 2011 - 01:26 AM

Quite the irony I would guess Argius what with that airman being honored and all Anyways interesting plot development. Not sure how they would normally react to something like this but you got Lucy's reaction to Mike being hurt perfectly. Just like in Alcupoco (or whatever its spelled)

I'll remember that for the next military piece i might do. Still, got to be working on finishing this piece first.

Anyway, next chapter should be ready by the weekend, not before hand. There is too much to do before then, with getting ready for the military honors for our fallen airman in Germany, one of which will be buried nearby my station in a couple of days.

All i will say about the next couple of chapters is that things get better. How? Going to have to wait for that.

UPDATE: Just got back from preparations for our fallen airman, and it was quite a sight. Over 300 plus volunteers from all walks of life turning out to place over one thousand flags along the funeral route. It was sobering as well as amazing. And a reminder of just how one community is affected by the events overseas.

This post has been edited by Argius: 11 March 2011 - 12:54 AM

Alright, things are beginning to wrap up. Pardon me if i don't go fully into the medical detail stuff, but that is a field that is way to confusing to know where to start.

Chapter 8- Apologies

Paulo’s dad walked back into the ER, and was greeted by a sight that he did not expect to see in the ER waiting area. A pool of bright red blood was being mopped up from the floor by several bruised nurses wearing latex gloves and paper masks, with Lucy being attended to by another gloved nurse, wiping blood spots off her white fur near her left shoulder with a alcohol wipe.

Paulo’s dad walked over to her, taking in the whole scene in front of him. He faced Lucy, who looked up at him with a disintrested look. Her pet had a really smug look on her face, and was quite proud of something.

“Someone mind explaining what has happened here?’ Paulo’s dad asked, looking between Lucy and her pet. Yashy was only too eager to explain what she thought was the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

“Some guy in a uniform was getting all fresh with her, so I thought I put the pedophile in his place, on the ground.” Yashy said, pride at her achievement spread across her face Paulo’s dad grimaced, as he thought he knew whose blood that was all over the floor.

“What happened to the guy in the uniform?” He asked, knowing what the most likely answer was going to be.

“He went back into the ER once we stabilized him, and he wasn’t thrashing about kicking all of the nurses.” Replied the nurse working on Lucy, now satisfied that none of the blood left was much to be worried about. The nurse removed her gloves, then turned to face Paulo’s dad.

“That soldier has us worried. He has lost a considerable amount of blood within a short time, and was still bleeding profusely even on his way back into the ER. Must have broke a major artery, the way he was bleeding.”

Paulo’s dad nodded, then looked at Lucy. “And her? Did he injure her as well?”

The nurse shook her head. “No, the blood on her was actually from the soldier. That bird made a diving kick right into his shoulder as he was embracing her for support.” She pointed to the yoshi, who had a sudden feeling that she was getting blamed for something.

“That guy had it coming, he did!” Shouted Yashy, though all she got was a stern glance from both Paulo’s dad and the nurse.

“That man just saved the lives of three teens, just for starters.” Paulo’s dad said sternly to Yashy, fury at the little creature rising very quickly. “He was here to make sure nothing happened to not just my son, but to his friends as well. He has been through hell and back, and you think he deserved what he got?” His voice had gradually increased in both force and volume without him realizing it.

“Enough shouting already. That won’t help anyone.” Lucy’s voice was stern, as she remained in the chair. Paulo’s dad sighed, fighting back his anger at the indignity of what had happened. He was glad, at least, that she looked more like what he remembered of her and less like a freight train had just hit her.

“Sorry. It’s just that, well, I respect that guy quite a bit. He was the man who saved my son, and his friends Mike and Abbey.” He stopped, thought about what Harris had told him, and continued “not only that, he is in a lot of pain. I won’t bother explaining it, you are still too young to understand.”

“Understand what, exactly?” Lucy shot back. “That he is someone great, someone who we should all bow to in gratitude because he saved three people?”

Anything else was cut short as the same doctor from the ER came out once again. He looked around and saw Paulo’s dad, and walked over to him.

“Excuse me, you were with that large group from before, right?” Paulo’s dad nodded, wondering what has happened now. The doctor smiled brightly.

“Then I have good news and some slightly bad news about your third friend, Michael.” The doctor replied quietly so only Paulo’s dad could hear. “The good news is that he is now out of any danger, and will be out of the ER in about ten minutes.”

“And the bad news?” Paulo’s dad muttered quietly, fearing some horrible fate or paralysis possible.

“The bad news is actually the same as Paulo’s. He has quite a severe case of head trauma, so we will keep him sedated for now when he gets out. He is a strong willed young man, that is for sure.” The doctor frowned at he made his prognosis on the airman, however.

“Now, as for the soldier that we just got back on the table right now, he is not doing so good.”

This time Paulo’s dad took in a sharp breath. “How bad, doc?” he asked, though he really did not want to know.

The doctor’s assessment was grim indeed. “As of right now, I give him 50/50 odds of making out of this without amputation. Other than that, he has lost a considerable amount of blood. But, he will live, to say the least.”

Paulo’s dad, nodded and thought for a second. “If you can, I would rather see him with all four limbs instead of three.”

The doctor nodded. “Then I will do my best to make it so. Even though it may take some time to get there.” He then returned to the ER, with Paulo’s dad turning to towards Lucy.

“Did you catch any of that?” Paulo’s dad asked Lucy. Lucy shook her head, wondering what the doctor had said, her deaf ear not registering the last conversation.

“Well, the good news is that Mike is about to come out of the ER. My guess is that they will place him near the other two.” He paused for a minute, letting that bit sink in before he continued, “The only thing is that he will be sedated when they bring him out. Just as a precaution, nothing more.”

Lucy’s heart jumped. “Mike is alright? He can go see him?”

Paulo’s dad nodded. “About as fine as he can be. We will know more when he is in the recovery room him in a few minutes.” He held out his paw to Lucy, who got up and ignored the outstretched paw. She walked passed him, and then was stopped by a paw on her shoulder.

“Let me at least show you where the other two are first. You should at least see them as well, since you are here.” Paulo’s dad was stern as he said it, meaning that Lucy was not going to just do as she pleased; all she wanted was to see Mike.

Lucy sighed, then gloomily said “Fine, let’s just go already.”

The two of them went back to the recovery rooms, with Yashy in Lucy’s arms, first to visit Abbey, who was feeling better after his time with his foster family and Daisy. He smiled as Lucy walked in with Paulo’s dad.

“Ah, I was wondering where Lucy was in all of this.” Abbey remarked upon seeing Lucy entering the room. Daisy turned her head away from Abbey to face Lucy as well, wondering who had told Lucy about all of this. Lucy looked around the room, nodding at Abbey. She did not say anything, feeling awkward at disturbing the otherwise peaceful scene.

“She just got here a little while ago.” Paulo’s dad remarked, keeping his paw on Lucy’s shoulder. “ Not only that, but I got news about Mike. Looks like he will be all right, and will be out of the ER in a few minutes. “

Abbey breathed a sigh of relief. “That is good to hear. Between Paulo and Mike, he was the one I was concerned with the most. He took the biggest beating out of the two of them.”

Paulo’s dad nodded again. “ I understand. Don’t worry too much about the others, though. You should worry about yourself right now.”

Abbey smiled weakly, looking at his family again. “Funny, that is what everyone else is saying as well.”

Paulo’s dad smiled, and then guided Lucy out of the room, commenting as he left the room “We will be back in a little while. I gotta check on Paulo as well.”

Next-door Tess and Jasmine were holding each of Paulo’s hands on opposite side of the bed. Everyone looked up as Both Paulo’s dad and Lucy walked in. Finally Paulo’s dad released his grip on Lucy, who kept near the door.

“Well, how is he?” Paulo’s dad asked timidly, glancing over his son. Paulo’s head was covered in bandages, his hands were in soft braces, and an IV was dripping into his left arm. Apart from the bruises on the top of his shoulders, Paulo looked at peace with the world, breathing lightly in his drugged induced sleep.

Jasmine spoke up first. “He was awake for a couple of minutes, and he seemed to be the same Paulo we all know and love.”

Tess chipped in a second later. “Yeah, it was obvious he was fine when he tried to hit on the nurse who was finishing up his IV drip. “

Paulo’s dad shook his head. “Yep, that’s my boy.” He looked around the room at Mike’s family, and told them the same news he delivered in the other room.

Mike’s dad got up and shook his counterpart’s hand. “Thanks for telling us. I am guessing that they will bring him next door?”

“Can’t see why not.” Paulo’s dad said. “I think they tend to keep everyone together with things like this.”

A nurse popped his head in just at that moment, discontinuing any conversation.

“Excuse me, are any of friends or family of…” He looked at his clipboard again. “…A Michael?”

Mike’s family rose and approached the nurse. “We are his family.” Mike’s mom remarked, her eyes red with tears. Lucy just kept quiet, waiting for whatever the nurse had to say.

“Excellent.” The nurse said, a smile spreading across his face. “ He was just let out of the ER, and is being brought next door. You can wait for him there, shouldn’t be more than a minute or two.”

Blur let out a small woop of joy, zooming around the room with excitement. “He is all right! He is all right!” He then flew out the door to beat everyone else into the next room.

Lucy felt her heart both raise and fall at the same time. Yet she followed the family out of the room, and into the next recovery area, waiting for Mike to make his appearance. She sat down on a chair in the room, finally letting go of Yashy, who quickly pounced upon Blur in the air shouting “bonsai!” as she jumped off to bring bird back to the ground.

Mike’s family laughed merrily at the sight of Blur and Yashy playing, both in the “air” and on the ground. Even Lucy cracked a small smile at the antics of the two creatures, glad of the distraction from her mind.


The door opened once again, this time with a large group of nurses moving a bed with a lot of equipment attached to it. The room fell silent once again as Mike was finally out of surgery. The nurses blocked Lucy’s view of Mike directly, but given the amount of machines around him, he couldn’t be in that great of shape. Even Paulo did not have this much hooked up to him Lucy thought, counting three different stands with all sorts of medical gizmos and gadgets hanging off them, not to mention the IV and blood drips.
It took several minutes as the nurses turned on all of the machines, tested them out, then hooked them on Mike. All this was done in the silence in the room, for even the two pets stopped their squabble at the site of Mike’s apparent state.

At last, the head nurse looked over to Mike’s parents, tired but smiling all the same. “I guess you are this young man’s family and friends?” Mike’s dad nodded, now able to see his son since he entered. Lucy’s view was still blocked by the other nurses. She could now see one of the nurses taking the IV lines and hooking them to their respective liquid filled bags.

“Well, your son is quite the fighter. He will be just fine in a couple of days or so, but we will keep him sedated with his head injuries, just to be safe.” A doctor had just walked into the room, making this statement as he entered. He looked over all of the machines to double check the correct sensor placement on Mike’s body, noting everything on a clipboard full of notes.

“Then what’s with all of the equipment?” Mike sister asked timidly. The doctor glanced over at medical devices once again. “Oh, those? Nothing to be too concerned with. All they are going to do is monitor his breathing as well as his heart rate and brain activity. Just to make sure that we know that his breathing tubes are remaining open and his head doesn’t swell while he keep him sedated.”

Silently the nurses left the room, allowing Lucy to see Mike in his bed. It wasn’t a pretty site. He had a large amount of bandages around the top half of his body, extending beyond where the sheet began to cover him up. His left arm had a hard cast placed on it all the way from the shoulder to the paw; the right had the same soft brace Paulo did around the wrist and forearm, an IV line running into a vein in the top of the forearm. Mike’s neck was turning a bright red ring underneath his fur, while Mike’s face…

Lucy wasn’t listening to the doctor anymore, who was describing the injuries Mike had taken to his family. As quietly as she could, she got up and stepped around Mike’s huddled family and the doctor, to better get a look at Mike’s face. Mike’s face was almost the same as it always was, apart from just a few small scratch marks appearing on his cheeks as well as a mask for O2 placed over his muzzle. The rest of Mike’s head was covered in dressings, small stitches appearing at his forehead.
“Mike?” Lucy whispered to the prone form. A hand twitched, and one of the machines blipped loudly, drawing the attention of the doctor.

“Ah, that’s a good start.” The doctor noted it on the clipboard in his hand. “That one monitor is for brain activity. Some activity is good, but too much can be a bad thing.”
Lucy still ignored everything around her, seeing Mike’s eyes flicker open once, then stay open with a cloudy look in his irises. He groaned wearily, the effects of the many drugs floating around his system making him barely able to focus.

“Lucy?” Mike croaked. The brain monitor started to blip intermittently, bringing the full attention of the doctor. He walked over to Mike’s side, monitoring the machines next to him with slight concern. He adjusted the IV drip connected to Mike’s arm.

“Slow down there, young man.” The doctor stressed to Mike. “Don’t push yourself. You have had a long day already.”

Mike’s eyes focused on the doctor, then back to Lucy. The medication was already taking effect once again, but Mike had one thing on his mind, one thing he had to say before he went under again.

“Lucy, I am sorry about worrying you.” He said quietly. Lucy shook her head.

“You idiot. You already told me that.” She said, placing her paw on top of his.

A slightly confused look passed Mike’s face before he passed into his own drug-induced rest. Lucy smiled, a tear falling down her cheek and onto Mike’s hand. The doctor took one last look at the now silent brain monitor, satisfied that everything was in working order, then excused himself from the room, muttering about another patient to attend to, muttering about a improperly treated gunshot wound as he left the room.
_____

Like i said, i have no idea how to describe anything medical, be it machinery or condition. It is a good thing that this is not a medical drama, and more focused on other things, like friendship.

Once again, comments are welcome and appreciated. Next chapter will be up in another couple of days.

This post has been edited by Argius: 12 March 2011 - 04:52 PM

Argius, on 12 March 2011 - 01:39 PM, said:

ಠ_ಠ since when did Yashi sprout wings and become a bird. I thought she was a yoshi

Well, i failed there... miserably...

In my defense, yoshis can "fly", but not to the extent i wanted. That's going to be changed.

Still, no excuses.

UPDATE- Man, do I feel the fool that i did not see that before. Items corrected in the work.

This post has been edited by Argius: 12 March 2011 - 04:54 PM

I like it. Its all very real feeling. The emotion is conveyed very well and harris' PTS Is portrayed really well also. Its great so far and i cant wait to see whats going to happen next.

So, Mike's out of the ER, which leaves one more. But why should we care?

Chapter 9- Transition

Everything remained relatively quiet in Mike’s room for about half an hour after the doctor had left. Mike’s parents kept near their son, both holding his paw while whispering things into him about what the doctor said to them. Mike’s sister left the room with Blur and Yashy a little after the doctor departed, claiming the room was too depressing for her. Lucy sat in one of the chairs near the door, not sure what to do: whether to leave the room and go check on the other two or to remain at Mike’s side with his parents. She tried to reason with herself, to allow for some private time for Mike’s parents to be with their son, but she could not budge her emotions, which were resolute in their drive to not leave Mike again.

In the end, it was her father who made the decision for her. He popped his head into Mike’s room, looked around, and then said loudly ”Lunch is here. Come get some in Abbeys room.”

He looked at Lucy, a look that all parents had to perfect, meaning that she did not have a choice in the matter. She got up and went into Abbey’s room, where a couple of trays of sandwiches were laid out on folding tables around the already small room. It did not help that there was a lot of people already in the room by the time Lucy arrived, followed by Mike’s parents and then Lucy’s dad. He closed the door behind them as he entered, then nodded to Paulo’s dad.

“Excellent, now we can eat. After that, we have something important to discuss.” Paulo’s dad announced to the group. Both the parents and the kids looked confused as to what there was to discuss, but everyone got together plates of sandwiches and tried to find some room to eat. Abbey whiffed down several sandwiches in several seconds, having not eaten anything in about a day. This caused some good humor between his friends, who remarked that he had a “black hole of a stomach.”

With the shrinking amount of food on the trays, and the general amount of good feelings in the room, Paulo’s dad stood up once again, getting the room’s attention.
“Alright, now that almost everyone is out of the ER I thought that we needed to bring up a couple of things…”

Abbey’s mom interrupted him, catching on to a couple of words just spoken. “Wait, you just almost everyone. What do you mean by that?”

Paulo’s dad nodded to her. “I meant exactly what I said. Almost everyone.” He gathered his thoughts, trying to get the right words for what needed to be explained. “Most of you remember that uniformed guy from before, right?” He saw nodding from everyone except Abbey, who could not remember who Harris actually was. “Well, he is in the ER right now, and the doctor is not to confident that he will make it out in one piece. Most likely, he will lose his already injured arm.”

He waited for this piece of news to filter into the minds of the other occupants. Yet, no one seemed to really take it all in, at least not in the way he had hoped.

“So, why should we wait for someone that we hardly even know?” Asked Tess from the back of the room. A lot of nods passed around the room from the teenagers, knowing what she said made sense to them. After all, everyone they cared about was now out of harms way, why should they care about this additional load as well? The only one who showed no reaction was Abbey, who was suddenly interested with something on his paw.

Paulo’s dad was ready for something like this response. “All right, let me change this up a bit. Haw many of you noticed the change of behavior from this morning from our wounded warrior, of those that went back down to wait for my son?”

Jasmine spoke up this time around. “I noticed that he was kind of shutting himself out from everyone else.”

Mike’s sister spoke up as well. “He was different, more weary and tired looking.”

Even Blur chirped up at that point, recalling the time he faced the airman directly. “His eyes. His eyes were different. Far away looking, and glassy like.”

Paulo’s dad nodded as more voices added on to what he observed as well. “And tell me, what do you think of him right now?”

“A complete two faced jerk.” Came Tess’s swift reply. “He was real nice and all when we met this morning, but then he completely shut down on us.”

Mike’s dad was softer in his approach. “Harris was certainly different then when we first met, though I think he was really tired. I mean, he was awake for most of the night and this morning.“

Paulo’s dad digested the assessments, and then spoke again. “Now, would it change your feeling about him if I told you that he has just returned from a tour of duty overseas?”

All of the parents drew sharp breaths, starting to piece together some of the sighs the young airman displayed. Most of the younger generations in the room, however, were still adamant about their reasoning of self-centeredness.

“I don’t get it.” Jasmine said, confused. “Why would that make any difference on such a drastic change in behavior, over such a short period of time?”

“PTSD” Came Abbey’s voice at last, putting together the list of symptoms to what he had remembered. He looked around at the teens, none of whom had a real grasp of the term. “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It is something my physiatrist told me about at one of her sessions. It is a condition that a lot of soldiers come home with, and develop, sometimes rapidly, while trying to adjust to home life again. If left alone, it usually…” Abbey choked at this point, unable to say the words that followed. Paulo’s dad filled in the rest of the painful information.

“If left alone, it can lead to that soldier either losing his mind or committing suicide.” He left his last words hanging in the air, hoping for some light to click on as to how serious the implications. “Maybe you all don’t realize just how close that guy is to completely losing it. He is too proud to admit it, but he is almost beyond the point of no return, to the point that nothing anyone can do to help.”

Realization dawned on Daisy like the parents in the room, but was still lost on the others trying to figure out how this was going to affect them. It was Abbey’s mom who asked the question that they were asking themselves.

“So, what are we supposed to do about it?”

“To be honest, that is what I wanted to talk to you all about.” Paulo’s dad replied. “Frankly, I feel like we can’t just turn our backs to him. He has given us not just the freedoms we enjoy here at home, but also three young lives. However, I am at a loss as to what we can do for him.”

“Why should we even bother? We barely even know the guy. He has people he can call and get help from. Why should we do…anything?” Came Lucy’s blunt response.

“Actually, he doesn’t.” Paulo’s dad answered. “I… I actually managed to talk to Harris, through his thick skin and his dark shadows. He told me of his experiences and horrors he saw over there, much of which is too much for me to even repeat. He feels he is truly alone in all of this. With no outlet to tell, he feels he must carry the burden on his own.”

“But surely, he has a wife, family, someone he can call…?” Mike mother asked. Paulo’s dad shook his head.

“Sadly, he is a single bachelor with family and friends well out of reach. And I doubt a phone call will help much when you are on the verge of breaking like he is.”

Mike’s mom hugged her husband; concern as a mother brewing up tears in her eyes at the thought of the pain her son’s savior had quietly endured. Mike’s dad was stone-faced as he help onto his wife. He looked at Paulo’s dad. “I see now what you mean, why we cannot just turn him away, not like this.”

Abbey’s mom spoke up as well. “Yes, I think we need to help out as much as we can.”

Abbey and Daisy nodded in agreement as well. “We’ll help.” They both said in unison. Tess and Jasmine, both of who were starting to feel like this was something more than the lives of their friends at stake now, quickly followed the example of Abbey and Daisy.

Lucy shook her head, realizing that she was outnumbered as far as not wanting to help out a practical stranger. “Fine, I’ll do something, but nothing too out of the ordinary.”

Paulo’s dad felt a wave of relief over his body. “I am thankful of that. Truly. Now, let’s start with the easy things, and work our way up from there.”

Throughout that afternoon a general framework was formed in the little hospital room. The main focus ended up with the treatment, and who was going to help with what. It was Abbey who came up with the majority of the ideas, like suggesting his therapist and where he might be able to recover. Tess was unanimously chosen to house the young airman outside of treatment, an idea she suggested herself. Ideas flowed in from everyone else, like Daisy’s idea to have a fundraiser for the VFW, while other idea’s, Like Lucy’s, were more on the ordinary things, like small family dinners with the wounded warrior.

As the sun started to set, and with the framework of their plan set up, the room again emptied out to see their respective friends and families, waiting for some word from the ER about the wounded airman in surgery. Each of the three teens had drifted off into some form of sleep, which was helped along by doses of medications. Everyone’s thought kept floating to the three safe teens, and the one man who brought them back.

It was near 6pm that any news of the airman came to the three rooms. Without any word from the ER, another bed had arrived in the rooms next to the other three. Paulo’s dad heard the noise outside, and scoped out the new arrival next to Mike.

To his surprise and relief, it was the wounded airman, lying heavily bandaged in his bed. His view was partially blocked by the same doctor from the ER he met earlier, who was shining a small light around the airman’s face. Paulo’s dad looked at the rest of the airman, and breathed a sigh of relief. He then relayed the good news to the other rooms: Harris was out, with everything still attached.

______

Even the best laid plans don't actually happen. Why is that, you ask? Oh, you will have to wait for that to play out.

The final couple of chapters will be up in another couple of days.

Comments are welcomed and encouraged.

First, I am having to apologize. These next chapters are definitely not going to be done in the next couple of days. Will try again after the next three days. So much for a weekend.

As a make up, will try to have both chapters done at once. I got something else in the works, but i have that under wraps for now.

Just understand, my job has ever changing hours, and there is no such thing as a true weekend.

Lucy seemed a bit out of character when she said that she would help Harris. Shes mean sometimes but she is understanding. Other then that though, it's fine.

Alright, i admit, i might have made Lucy a little too mean, but the intension was not what was conveyed. I meant for her to be more getting to the point, but it may have been too blunt. Well, i'll take any criticism i can get.

But, i think i fixed that with this chapter. Maybe, hopefully.

Chapter 10- Convalescence

Life and thought slowly returned to Harris’ body. Drowsiness was all he felt as the sedation slowly wore off throughout his body. His thoughts were slurring together, his vision blurred as he tried to open his eyes, then closed them as the strain to keep them open became too much.

He was trying to piece together where he was, what he was supposed to be doing, with no clear success. All he could feel was that he was moving; what he was on and where to was beyond his grasp to understand.

Hearing was next to come back online. A dull sound was all he heard at first, then lots and lots of wavering sounds. He could not figure out what they were for the life of him. Was it voices of things distant past, or was it the here and now? As the hearing slowly became more distinct, the more feeling came back as well.

He could now feel the thing he was in turning into something, another room, then stop. His ears picked up on the sounds of conversation, though the words were still unrecognizable. Now another sense was returning, this one was most unpleasant: pain. He felt a dull aching pain throbbing his right shoulder. It got slight better as the back of the bed elevated slightly, so that he was not lying perfectly flat on his back.

With the pain as a catalyst, more things returned more quickly to a normal level. The room was filled with hushed conversations, with a few distinct voices bouncing around the room. He could not place names to voices, but the ebb and flow of the speaking was in a positive way Positive about what, exactly, was still being worked out in his processing center.

Once again Harris tried to open his eyes, this time greeted by a bright light above him. His reaction was to turn away from it, trying to bring his right paw up to shield the light. It was a bad idea from the start, for he could not even move the right shoulder, and even twitching it caused a significant increase in pain.

“Ah, he is awake, I see.” Came a voice from overhead. The light clicked off, revealing the face of a doctor. Recognition kicked in at that point: This was the same doctor whom he had seen earlier that morning, and who was working on the three he pulled out of the water last night.

“What…?” Harris’s vocal chords had come back online, though horse to start out with. “Awake…?”

“So, you don’t remember what happened?” the doctor asked, concern forming over his eyebrows. Harris thought for a second, trying to remember anything that could have lead up to him here in his current predicament. It was a Saturday, he was away from his base, he was in a hospital, and he was injured. A voice in the background jump-started his memory banks.

“That guy got what he deserved!” Came a shrill sound in the background.

“I remember, something hitting me.” Harris finally whispered to the doctor. “I remember hugging someone, white fur, pink ribbon, then I was hit in the shoulder. Then….” He shuddered slightly, not having the guts to say he had another flashback.

The doctor shook his head. “Well, I wouldn’t say you did nothing at least. I heard you were screaming and yelling for a medic, then lashed out at several nurses as they tried to restrain you and stick a needle in your arm.”

“Funny, that’s not how I remember it.” Harris croaked out. His vocal chords were starting to regain their former strength. He looked around at the room he was in, now seeing that there was a lot of people waiting there as well. Some faces he could pick out: Paulo’s dad by the foot of the bed, Daisy hovering by the middle of the bed but some distance away from the railing, Lucy hanging on the back of the room with a small yoshi in her hand.

“Well, I am sure that the nurses will remind you of it at some point.” The doctor noted, writing something on the clipboard. He handed Harris the clipboard to confirm numbers and contact information, then took the board back and left the room. Harris was aware of the fact that everyone was now staring at him with some degree of relief, concern, or a mixture of the two.

“Sorry, but is there something I missed here?” Harris asked. He heard the door open again, with another group entering the room, this one with two more faces he recognized. Tess took up a place on the back wall; while Jasmine approached the bed he was lying in, stopping a couple of feet away from the edge of the bed.

“Seriously, what in the heck is going on?” Harris was now starting to over-clock his brain capability: all he figured that something had happened, he was involved somehow, and this scenario may or may not end well. He was annoyed that HE, of all creatures in that room, was the center of attention.

Paulo’s dad spoke up. “Well, I thought that we all wanted to show our appreciation. After all, everyone is now out and resting comfortably on the rooms next door. For the most part, it seems like they will bounce back really well.”

Harris let out a sigh, knowing that his vigil was over, and he could now go back to his primary duty. “That is good to hear. But that is half of the story hear, isn’t it?” Harris’ senses, helped along by his sight, were keened on the fact that he was now not wearing anything except his undergarments, and that his upper torso was showing a few additional battle scars outside of the bandages; bruising from where his body armor stopped several bullets in a brief firefight. He was not embarrassed by this fact: he lost all traces of privacy in Basic, but he would have preferred his other wounds remained hidden from view.

Paulo’s dad continued where he left off. “Well, that is true. The other part is, well, about you. Seems like you have no place to go to for a little while at least, so we thought we would make the best of it.”

“Like…?” Harris drew out the word, partially guessing some of the things that entail “make the best of it,” and that he was not going to have much voice in the matter. After all, he did already agree to it that morning.

Paulo’s dad nodded to Daisy, who took up the cue to say her bit. “Well, for starters, there is where will you be while you are here. Since you don’t live here or have friends here, where will you live?”

“Simple, here in the hospital, or in my truck.” Harris was blunt in his reply. “Don’t have to spend money on some fancy hotel when I am released, and I have already gotten used to sleeping in vehicles while overseas.”

Tess said her piece from the back of the room. “Or how about another option? I got lots of room at my place, and I am sure that my folks won’t mind someone new in the house for a little bit.”

Harris shrugged with just his left shoulder, isolating the movement so not to increase the pain in his right side. He really wasn’t going to fight over where he was going to bunk for a few days. “Whatever, one place is as good as any to lay your head for sleep. I warn you now, though, I am trying to adjust from being deployed, so my actions may be a little…unusual to a civilian.” Tess just shrugged the information off, and not really taking note of the warning.

Daisy picked up where she left off. “Well, now that you have somewhere to stay, what about your….ummm….” She fumbled over her next words, trying to choose the most politically correct phrasing.

Lucy took up the slack, not one to mince words. “What she means is getting you help for your other, more mental problem.”

Harris blanched a little bit, quite a feat since his fur was white and he had lost a lot of blood already. He looked over at Paulo’s dad. “So you told them. How much did you say?”

“Paulo’s dad shrugged. “Nothing about your memories or experiences, but enough to show that you were struggling with all of this alone.”

Mike’s mom pitched in her bit as well. “It must be so difficult, being alone with no one to talk to. I mean, without a family to support you. If you want, we could be… your supposed family…”

“No.” Harris was stone-faced as he said this. “It is not as simple as… as telling this to someone, getting it off one’s chest. It helps, yes, but I cannot just break down as I already have at the slightest amount of stress. And as far as having a family to help, what good would that do? I can’t just say to my parents about what I did over there, they would not understand. Not only that, how am I supposed to explain it when they can’t even pick up a phone when I call?” He tried to keep it out of his tone, but a hint of anger and anguish clipped some of the words about his parents.

“And what about a fiancée, or a girlfriend?” Asked Abbey’s mom. Harris shook his head vigorously.

“Hell no. I could never, in my life, treat someone I love like that. That goes along the lines of torture in my books. Military life is hard enough without a wife or kids, and I have always shunned personal relationships of any kind, avoided them like a plague. Besides, my life is no life to live for a family, always with one parent gone for six months to a year.”

Paulo’s dad nodded towards Daisy. “We thought that this might come up, so we thought of someone who could help you. Someone that does this for a living.”

“Someone outside of the military, I assume? All the psyches I went to wanted to prescribe pills.” Harris thought of all of his military consolers, all of whom were more concerned about him not committing suicide than actually treating the problem of living with the visions.

Paulo’s dad was about to answer when a knock at the door stopped him. A nurse, holding the airman’s cell phone in his paw, interrupted any further conversation. “Excuse me, but there is someone that needs to talk to you, soldier.“

Harris nodded, sighing and thinking back to one of the numbers that he told the doctor to contact. “Fair enough. I was waiting for this. Tell me, did the other end give a name and a rank?” Harris asked, half hoping it was his supervisor or other enlisted rank rather than an officer.

“A Colonel… Zucer…Something?” came the nurses’ nervous response. Harris stiffened as well. Great, a bloody full bird Colonel. Man, just my luck. Harris thought, knowing that news of his hospitalization had traveled faster than he had guessed. He held out his left paw for the phone, and the nurse obliged and quickly left the room.

“Senior Airman Harris, Weather…” Harris took up his military tone that he picked up from briefing pilots in the warzone. His body tensed as he greeted not only his squadron commander, but also other commanders from his career field as well, all the way up the chain to his commander’s commander, a one star Brigadier General. Lying at the position of attention, he waited for his turn to speak, and when he did, he did not mince words to his higher ups. For the next several minutes described his current situation to the group of officers, as to why he was in the hospital, and what led up to the events prior to his admittance. It was several minutes after his status update, and a lot of “Yes Sir,” “No Sir,” kind of responses following the update, that the officers were satisfied with his answers and wished him a speedy recovery, and to standby for new orders upon leaving the hospital.

As he hung up his phone, Harris relaxed in the bed, making sure that he breathed in a couple of deep breaths to loosen the muscles and calming the mind. “Ok, that was very unusual.” Muttered the airman, not quite registering what he had heard, especially with that last bit about new orders. He did not linger on it, and pressed on with the previous discussion. “Sorry about that; military’s worried about my health, that’s all. Anyway, back to the point at hand. Someone was saying that they were going to help me with my mental stress, and they wanted me to see someone in particular?”

Harris’ comments seem to break the barrier in the room that had formed with the phone conversation. Daisy blinked for a second, then regained her train of thought. “Oh, right. Well, It was Abbey that suggested it, but there is a physiatrist that he sees that has treated others like you.”

“Like me? Harris was not so thrilled with the idea. “What, does this phyche see members of the military too?”

“Some.” Abbey’s mom spoke up once again. “I have seen a couple when he went to therapy earlier this year. And they were going thru the same transition you are going thru now, coming back and all.”

“And… you have already given my name, haven’t you?” Harris asked. He already knew the answer, but he could not stop himself from asking the question.

“She has already agreed to see you, even coming here to do the sessions.” Abbey’s mother nodded with her response. “Even better, she is going to do this as charity work.” Harris whistled, knowing that a gesture like that was not something to ignore. Even the folks at his military installation were not doing their work for free.

The small yoshi pitched in her thoughts as well, though it only got her a one-way trip into the ceiling, courtesy of her caretaker’s fist. “Gonna get you straitened out, you freaking perverted screwball!”

“Sorry about that. She really needs to learn to not say such things.” Lucy responded, looking at the new hole that matched the outlined form of her pet. Harris let out one snort of laughter at the outline as well, muttering “Noted and logged.” Harris looked upon the faces within the room once again. All of them friendly, all of them were willing to help him, a complete stranger. He could not help but think of those who wish they had this kind of luck and support.

“Well, I am thankful of all of the good feelings in the room, but I think I have to be the realist here.” Harris finally needed to get something off his wounded chest. “It is hard for me to think about all of this help, when I don’t know any of you. I almost feel like I am… taking advantage of the situation somehow.”

Lucy spoke up once again. “So, you’re saying that you won’t accept based on the fact that you are going to get better? What kind of crap reasoning is that?

Harris shook his head slightly. “Don’t get me wrong, it is just accepting help is, well, not really something I am accustomed to. I have been a bit of a lone wolf now for…. Several years now, even before I joined the military. Always looking out for others, be it in my squad or someone else, I put the care of others before my needs.”

“But there is a time when you must put yourself ahead of others.” Paulo’s dad crossed his arms across his chest. “I think now is one of those times. After all, if you can’t save yourself from yourself, then how can you save other people?”

Harris nodded. “It is just… I don’t know…. different…. that’s all.” The words were starting to become a little harder to put together in his mind, and his vision was starting to blur around the sides. “But, your right. I need this. I have to put aside my hubris to take care of this… this damned past of mine.” Now he felt the effects of the meds really start kicking in. He yawned uncontrollably as sleep started to close in. “But I think some sleep is a good place to start.”

“That is a good start.” Paulo’s dad moved to the head of the bed as he said this, knowing that he had one last thing to tell the wounded warrior before he drifted off like the other three in the recovery area. He bent over the Harris’ head, and whispered to the airman, “Rest easy, now. And, thank you.”

Harris, nodded, sleep coming over him like the sheets he was under. “Thanks, but really, I am just doing my duty…” Harris quickly drifted off to a deep sleep, saying the last words as the world turned black around him. It was the first night after long tours of duty that he was not awaken by his bloody memories of the past.

____

Well, there is one more chapter left in this tale. Still, why is the phone call important? Well, that will be explained later.

Comments are welcomed and appreciated as always. And don't be shy, it will help with my next tale getting the character's just right. After all, this was meant to be a bit of an experiment, making sure that i can write something decent.

Well, I have finally gotten to the point of finishing this tale out.

Chapter 11- Duty

The days passed uneventfully in the small town, as the four in the hospital were finally on the mend, some more than others. The families returned the following day, finding that almost everyone was awake and somewhat alert to their surroundings. Mike was still under the influence of painkillers that day, which made for an interesting time with his younger sibling and Blur.

While all three wanted to get out of the hospital, the doctors wanted one more day of tests and observations on the three teens. They really wanted to make sure that the concussions that Paulo and Mike suffered were in fact not as serious as they first appeared to be, and would not impact their normal activities before heading back to daily activities. Even though he know it was for the best, Paulo sill made his voice of displeasure heard loud and clear.

Yet, nothing was heard from the injured warrior personally just next to Mike’s room. No one managed to see the airman, as everyone was turned away that day due to Harris not being responsive throughout the night and morning. The doctor’s had feared that any outside contact, besides medical personnel, would now hinder the recovery with additional stressors to his significantly compromised immune system, coupled with the extensive blood loss making him temporarily out of energy. Added to that were a few new signs of mental fatigue and stress that appeared that morning, in which the doctor’s needed some time to study and correctly diagnose the symptom, effectively ending any outsider visits for the stoic airman.

As with all wounds large and small, time slowly moves on, and heals most wounds on it’s own pace and schedule. Monday came around to see Abbey get released to his family without any lasting injury to his body. His cuts had sealed up, and his doctors had given the all clear for him to return to his home. The next day, Paulo was let out late in the afternoon, with great fanfare from the nurses and doctors that treated him. He had complained nonstop of the quality of food and sanitary conditions, even on his way out. That is, until his dad boxed his ears, reminding him of his manners at the doorway of the hospital exit.

Mike was released the day after Paulo, though he did not make as much of a fuss as his friend did. He was just glad to be out and away from the sterile conditions and constant fretting of the nurses and doctors that oversaw his care. It was also good that he was not to have any cast on his arm as he left, since all of the X-Rays showed no fracture where the doctor’s thought there was. Mike had asked about his scarf earlier the same day, and was told that his old scarf was now being used as evidence in his case to find the juveniles that attacked him several nights ago. While worrying about finding something to hide his neck scars, a package arrived for him just as he was about to leave.

A nurse brought it in just as Mike was moving about the small room to get the blood moving in his stiff legs, while also fretting about going out into the world with nothing to hide his neck from view. Mike looked at the small box, not even expecting anything in the mail.

“This just arrived for you several minutes ago. Not sure who it is from, though. Can’t say I recognize the zip code.”

That caught the attention of the young Korat. He grabbed the outstretched box, and opened it before the nurse had even left the room. Inside were several things; a card, a manilla envelope, and a new scarf, similar to the one he lost. Mike looked at the card first, opening it to reveal a small message, and a whiff of perfume.

A small bird told me that you were not doing well, and about your old scarf. Here are some things that will make it all better for my Maishul. Love, Sandy.

Mike looked at the card over again, feeling the heat radiating of his head and cheeks as well as smelling the perfume off the card. It had been some time since he had even heard from her, and he had not even thought about telling her about this short hospitalization. Someone else, however, felt the need to say something to save him from explaining.

Mike then felt the new scarf, sniffing it as he rubbed his paws on the fabric. Sandy’s perfume had indeed permeated thru the card, and was wafting soft essences of fragrance with each slight movement. He quickly threw on the scarf, feeling the comfort of having something around his slim neck once again. That, and the soft smell wafting from the cloth provided an additional comfort.

Finally he picked up the manila envelope that came with the package. Curiosity overtook him as he pulled the tab, and first pulled out a handwritten note, once again from Sandy.

These are from a recent shoot I did about a month ago. A couple of the shots are meant only meant for your eyes, Maishul. I trust you to not reveal them to anyone else. With lots of Love, Sandy.

Mike reread the note, then pulled out one of the photographs enclosed. He turned beet red, and quickly returned the photo to the envelope with the note, now seeing why she wrote that in the first place. It was definitely something that he would be embarrassed with if someone else saw it, and it was certainly meant for the privacy of his room, and not in such a public place such as this.

As he repacked the box, a voice in the doorway caught his attention.

“Hey, Flea! Your face is on fire!”

Mike turned to face the accusing voice of Yashy, accompanied by Chirpy, Lily and their caretaker.

“So, what was that about?” Lucy was looking at the box in mike’s hand, the new scarf, and the deep shade of red on Mike’s face and a look that tried to be blank, but failed miserably.

“A care package came in from Sandy. Had this new scarf in it, and a get well card.” Mike said, still feeling the heat emanating of his face. “I don’t know how she found out, but it was appreciated all the same.”

Lucy shrugged. “Well, wasn’t my doing, but I am glad she sent something to replace you old scarf. But, that is not the only thing that was sent to you.”

“What do you mean by that?” Mike asked. The redness had finally started to ebb, returning his face to it's normal color.

“She means your schoolwork.” Lily provided the response, following Lucy into the room. “She has been getting the assignments you missed over the past week, leaving them on your desk at home for when you get back.”

Mike groaned at the thought of all of the schoolwork from his missed classes. Especially his English teacher, whom he swore would come up with an essay just to prove the word ain’t was not a word. “Damn, I was hoping to take it easy for a few days. Was there a whole lot?”

Lucy was about to respond when a shout of “The hell, medic! Can’t you see your killing him?” from next door caught the attention of the room. Lucy peered out into the hallway, hoping to see the source of the sound, with Mike joining her a moment later.

“What was that, girl kitty?” Chirpy was nervous at the sound, which had ceased almost as fast as it had started. Lucy shook her head. ”I am not sure. I thought there was no one else next door. No one except…” She did not finish her thought, as Abbey’s therapist came slowly out of the room next door. There were sounds of someone weeping uncontrollably in the background, which were muffled by the door closing again. She took a moment to compose herself, and then walked off in the opposite direction of the two teens, speaking softly to herself as she walked away.

Lucy approached the door, not hearing the words, but Mike put his paw on her shoulder, catching most of the murmuring from the therapist. “I don’t think that is a good idea. Whoever that was, she was saying something about letting him alone for now. Something about finally breaking through, and he needed time to cope.”

Lucy looked at the door, a sigh with “No Visitors Allowed” boldly placed on the front of the room. She felt a twinge of guilt about not entering the room, remembering about whom still was in the room next door, wondering what kind of progress he had actually made in his fight against his inner self.

Mike walked down the hallway to the entrance of the hospital. “Come on. My parents are sure to be waiting for us.” He called back to Lucy, wanting to leave this sanitary environment. Lucy took several small steps backwards, still looking back at the closed and barred door. With great effort, she turned away from it, returning to her life and her long time friend, followed closely by her pets.

Mike did not return to school the next day or the day after, but was glad of the extra days of reprieve of school. He did not yet feel that he could cope with an environment of half-truths and rumor mills that was the heart of every high school. True, his friends would be there in all of his classes supporting him, but he still could not quite the strength to deal with it on his own.

Instead, he spent the days working on all of his missed schoolwork, keeping the window open to circulate the stale air that had formed from not living in the room for over a week. Thursday he devoted to his English essays solely, his teacher finding some way to torture him from a distance. Friday found the studious Korat on his history lessons in the morning, and then had spent the majority of the afternoon knee high in math studies. He was trying to comprehend a difficult set of fractional division computations when his mother interrupted him, carrying a phone in her hand.

“Mike, phone call.” His mother walked it over to his desk, and placed it near his head. Glad to get his head out of the book, not making head or tail of the equations, he grabbed the phone.

“Hello.” Mike spoke into the handset.

“Mike, it’s Tess. How are you doing?”

“Well, trying to get some of this work done for school, but could be worse.”

“Sounds like you.” A chuckle was heard from the speaker. “Anyway, I was wondering if had any plans on Sunday to do anything.”

“Plans? Uhh…” Mike thought it over in his head. “No, no plans that I know of. “

“Well, you do now. You are coming to my place for dinner. Be there around six-ish, alright?”

“Hey, wait a minute. Tess, I gotta…” Mike felt the need to find someway to squirm out of this.

“Don’t worry, everyone is already on board. Besides, there is someone else you have to meet that will be there. Later Mike.”-Click- The other side hung up abruptly on him.
Mike stared at the phone in his hand. His mother had not left the room, watching her shocked son. He looked back at her, not believing that this was being crammed down his proverbial throat.

“Sorry, honey, but she talked us into it. Besides,” Mike’s mother looked at the stack of books, notes, and handwriting on Mike normally clean desk. “You are going to need a break from all of this and time to relax a little bit.”

Mike looked upon his mother. “But, mom, I have to catch up, I can’t fall behind, not this close to the end of the year.” His pleas went unnoticed.

“Mike, I am sure that you can make up all of this, but you are still not back to your normal self. It would do you some good to see your friends, and not worry about your schoolwork so much.”

Mike tried to come up with another excuse, but found that his biggest one had just failed him. With this notion that he was being forced into this, he folded to his fate. “Alright mom, I get it. I’ll go.” With that, she left her young son to his schoolwork.

The “dinner” that Mike and the others were gathering for on Sunday was all part of the plan that Daisy and Tess had formed just after Mike had left the hospital, along with news from Abbey. They were being mum as to the details, but the two of them were promising that it was going to be fun.

Mike was one of the last to arrive at Tess’ house, as the evening fell slowly upon them. Mike got out of his family’s vehicle, wearing a red polo and khaki slacks along with his scarf. As they entered the house, they saw Tess rush past them, talking on a cell phone, and into a waiting vehicle, which left as soon as she got into it. Not thinking too much on it, he went into the main room, seeing all of his friends there.

Mike realized just how much he had isolated himself the past several days, and how much his mother was right. He looked around to all of his friends, all of who were acting like nothing had happened over one week ago, helping bring a sense of normalcy and peace to Mike’s mind. Both Paulo and David were playing the fools, pulling petty pranks on everyone present, including the parents. Abbey and Daisy were sitting on a couch together, chatting quietly about something. Lucy was playing something with Jasmine on the large TV on one corner of the room, and had just won by the stunned look on Jasmine’s face.

Yet, there was one more guest that had yet to show. Daisy and Tess, who had kept this person a mystery, had carefully planned his entrance to the gathering. His arrival was after everyone was well caught up with each other, Paulo and David were starting to run out of gags to pull, and Lucy was starting to run out of other competitors to pummel into submission on the big screen.

Tess entered the room, and then pronounced to the group “Ladies and Gentleman, the man of the hour.” She stepped back and allowed the person behind her to be revealed to the room. Airman Harris, now free of the hospital, slowly walked into the room. He wore a different uniform now, one much more formal than the camo he was wearing one week ago. This time he had on his dark blue full service dress, complete with his newly awarded medals of service on his coat and polished black dress boots to compliment the attire. His right arm was in a sling to isolate the movement “as a precaution” he was heard saying to the gathered group of parents later on. Yet, he had changed both physically and mentally, with both showing drastic improvements. He had cleaned up nicely, his white fur showing a healthy gleam, his eyes gleaming and focused, his composure full of the confidence and military poise, and not a thing was out of line.

At his arrival, all of the adults approached the airman, shaking his uninjured paw and welcoming him and asking him what all of the decorations meant. Yet the teenagers hung back, unconsciously gathering together with the arrival of the uniformed newcomer.

“Who is that guy?” Paulo asked the group. Mike shook his head, having never seen the man before him either. Abbey was trying to remember the newcomer’s face, and something clicked. Jasmine beat Abbey to the punch, however.

“Oh, him. He is a military guy, who just so happen to be in the area when he found you three.” Jasmine stood next to Paulo, who still did not quite put two and two together.

“So, this is the guy that we have to thank for pulling my carcass out of the water?” Paulo was looking at the airman with a slightly changed perspective on the newcomer.

“Yeah. He is.” Lucy had gotten up from her spot by the TV, and joined the group. “After all, he is the only one here that even looks like someone who could carry one of you.”

“Still, why invite that guy? Looks like he’s no fun.” Dave was looking at how he interacted with the parents, not really laughing at any point, but just kind of standing in the middle of the talking adults and smiling politely.

Daisy slid next to Abbey, rubbing her head on his shoulder. “Well, he just got out of the hospital today, and he has yet to really meet any of you face to face. That, and Abbey’s therapist said that it would be a good idea for him to open up a little bit more about what he’s been though. So, we thought that is would be a good idea for him to have a nice dinner and hear some of his experiences.”

“That, and he is kind of good looking. In uniform, at least.” Tess had appeared behind the group. She got several looks from everyone, but she shrugged it off. “Just saying my thoughts. Shame he won’t even stay for one day.”

Mike looked at Tess. “Wait, he’s leaving?”

“Tomorrow morning, apparently. All he would say was that he would explain over dinner.” Tess was looking at her watch as she spoke, and then excused herself to check up on something.

Harris did not fail to notice the gathered teens, and separated himself from the parents. He approached the teens, his focus on the three he had pulled out of the water only one week ago. “About time I actually got to see each of you walking around.” He extended his uninjured paw to each of the three recovered youth, shaking them. “ Name’s Harris. I… I pulled you three out of some trouble last week.” Abbey took the paw of the wounded warrior, putting his face together with what he remembered from that night.

“I remember now. You were the one who also waited for us in the hospital, right?”

Harris nodded. “Yeah, that was me. But, I also have to thank you as well.” Paulo and Mike looked confused, but Daisy spoke up for the group. “Your welcome. It is for the recommendation for the therapist, right?”

Harris nodded once at Daisy. “That therapist is just amazing. Once I broke out of my shell, once she got into my head and broke down my thoughts, it made it easier to talk about my life. And at least now I can cope with the memories instead of shoving them back onto my mind.” Harris reached back for something in his back pocket, and pulled out a large coin from it. He then showed it to the group. On one side of the coin, the symbol of the air force, with some writing on the face, while on the flip side was a weather vane, with a number at the bottom and the slogan “For Excellence in Weather” at the bottom of the vane.

Harris held the coin out to Abbey. “I want you to have this. Think of it as a thank you for what you have given back to me.” Abbey held out his hand, and Harris shook it, letting the coin slide into Abbey’s open palm. “But, be careful with it.” Harris warned as Abbey looked for a place to put the device. “In my neck of the woods, miss-use of that device ends up costing a lot of drinks on the abuser.”

Before he could explain a voice sounded from the back. “Dinner is served. If you would follow me.” Tess was near another door, leading to a dining room, then outdoors to a large deck area where a table had been laid out for an early spring meal. There were only a few name cards around the table, with everyone else sitting where they pleased. Harris was one of those name carded, so he sat at the head of the table where his name card sat, Mike to his left and Paulo on his right.

Before she sat down, Daisy said a few brief words of thanks, and a quick grace. A loud “amen” was heard after the grace was said, and Harris stood up and gave a toast, tentatively raising the glass of water at his place in his left hand, of which he was not dominant in.

“To friends young and old, to friendships new and long standing, for friends here and far, and for those buddies living and gone to their eternal sleep. May each of us honor the friends that helped us on Life’s path.”

Glasses were raised and the food was brought out to the deck, setting up a buffet style on the back of the patio. At first it was quiet as everyone piled into the different servings of fish, steak and grilled chicken, piled with potato salad and other picnic type foods. As the first plates cleared, and some prompting from the two curious teens on either side of him, Harris finally opened up to what he had seen over in his tour, at least the strange, the funny and the unclassified things he could say. It was the first time he had even laughed since coming home; a sigh of recovery was under way for the injured veteran.

After that, some pies of different varieties were brought out for a dessert, albeit one of them was booby-trapped with a spring-loaded catapult on the bottom. Harris was the near victim of the party antic, but was saved by good reflexes and an unlucky Dave, who happened to be walking in front of him. Harris appeared a second later, his uniform still immaculate, though he could barely stand due to he was keeling over with laughing so hard.

As the night sky revealed the stars and the moon above, the air steadily cooled off and the mood had become comforting with all of the small talk around the table. Harris was leaning back in his chair, enjoying the small respite from his confining military lifestyle. Yet, he knew that it was to be short lived. In fact, it was to be very short lived, and it was about time he disappeared for the night so he could rest up before leaving in the morning.

With that, he stood up once again, and got everyone’s attention. “Well, folks, I know that it really has been a nice evening. However, like all good things, it must come to an end. I am sure most of you remember the phone call I got about a week ago, from my higher ups?” He saw that there was a lot of nodding from the people who were present that day. “Well, I got another call from my commander this afternoon. My leave has been cancelled, and I am to report back tomorrow night for new orders.”

Most of the good feelings in the air left with that, filled by outrage at this injustice. But before anyone could say anything, Harris held up a paw and continued, smiling as he spoke. “However, this is not quite what you think. In fact, this is better for me, simply due to the fact that I am being re-assigned temporarily to our unit in Hawaii, to help out with our humanitarian mission in the northern Pacific right now.”

He looked around at the faces. A mixture of jealousy, awe, shocks were well apparent. Paulo was the first to speak. “Hawaii? As in beautiful beaches and the cute girls with grass skirts, tropical paradise and Hawaiian shirts, that Hawaii, right?”

“Yeah, something like that.” Harris was trying to remain as stoic as he could, but it still showed in his face. “How it is I got this assignment, I really don’t know. But the only catch is that I have to report back to my squadron tomorrow to get the paperwork started, and that is a long drive to make, so I need a decent night sleep to start early tomorrow.

Tess looked at her watch. “But it is only nine in the evening. Are you sure?”

Harris nodded. “Positive. It will take several hours of driving, plus a couple of small stops along the way. So, I got to be up at the crack of dawn.” With that, he got up from his seat, and waved to the group. “Well, it was really nice meeting all of you, really and truly. And, thank you for giving me something that I might have lost if I had not come here. How I can repay all of you, I don’t know. But, thank you, and goodbye.”

And with that, Harris walked back inside, and up to the guest room provided to him. It overlooked the main entrance to the house, with a nice breeze allowing the room on the second floor to remain relatively cool. It was a little sparse in the furniture and décor areas, with just a bed and a dresser as well as a table lamp in the cream colored room, but it was all he needed for the one night. He watched as the other families started to leave, observing and noting how some of the teenagers, like Abbey and Daisy, Paulo and Jasmine, and finally Mike and Lucy interacted with each other, and the bonds of friendship that formed between them all.

He started to remove the service coat as he realized he had not closed the door to his room. He turned to see Tess in the doorway, leaning on the edge of the doorframe.
“Thinking about something?” Tess wondered, watching the airman ponder his response.

Harris turned back to the window, and watched as Mike got into his family’s car, and drove off. “Mike mentioned something tonight, something about his girlfriend, Sandy, sending that scarf to him. Funny thing is, I don’t remember anyone named Sandy. Long distance relationship?”

Tess nodded once again. “Yeah, I called her to let her know about Mike. He never realized that I kept her number in my contacts on my phone from the summer. I wonder if he will ever come to realize I told her.”

Harris slowly pulled off the service coat with great care, hanging it back on the garment bag on the foot of the bed. “Maybe, maybe not. Either way, I think it was a good call. Those kinds of relationships are the hardest to be a part of. Seen it way to many times with other soldiers overseas, most of it was spent over the phone. Ended that way most of the time as well.”

“Well, those two are making it work. Anyway,” She asked, looking back to the airman. “You going to need anything else?”

“No, I think I have everything already. However, I have one request. One that I must ask you keep.” He had started to unbutton his shirt, making sure to not agitate his right shoulder that much. “If you hear me sometime throughout the night, all I ask is to be left alone.”

Tess nodded. “I can do that. Anything else?”

“Yeah.” Harris blushed a little at the request, but it was not for his sake he was turning red. “The door closed please? I would rather not show anything else to the outside world, if you get the drift. Not that I care, but …”

Tess got the hint. “All right. Good night, Harris.” She whispered, closing the door behind her. Closing the window drapes, he finished changing out of his service dress, hanging up all of the other articles in the garment bag as well, and got into a pair of athletic shorts. He paused one more time before turning off the light and sliding under the covers. He thought aloud, “Good night indeed. That is, if the memories don’t surface again.” With that, he flipped the switch off and went to sleep soon after. Indeed, the memories surfaced momentarily at the beginning of his slumber, but then he felt the dark thoughts reside as the night progressed, a sure sigh that he had started to overcome the darkness of war.

Night slowly passed into day. As the sun started to peer over the horizon, Harris was already awake and dressed in his military camo. He watched, as the small town got ready to start the new week, the school buses already making the rounds throughout the neighborhood. He heard Tess getting ready for her school, but he waited until she left the house before he made his departure. He wanted no fanfare, no final goodbyes, none of that emotional nonsense. All he wanted now, as he made his way to his truck, was a quiet ride into the sunrise.

He got his wish, and left without saying a single farewell to anyone. He passed the area he met the three teens over one week ago, and stopped once again. This time, he rolled down the window, and listened to the sounds of the creek and the water, and of the nature surrounding the peaceful area waking up to the sunny day. Funny how one week changes so many lives, so many different ways. The airman thought as he pulled back on the road, turning on the stereo, with one final destination in his mind.

As he passed the town entrance, he pulled into the cemetery that he meant to go to that night over one week ago to perform this one final duty. Killing the engine, he got out and attached his combat knife, the one he had on him every day of his deployment, to his belt and went into the quiet cemetery on foot.

As the sun continued to rise, he searched for two specific headstones. He found both of them next to each other, near the back left corner of the graveyard, near an area reserved for fellow fallen soldiers. Harris pulled out his combat knife from his belt, digging two small holes at the base of each gravestone. He then pulled out several large medals and a set of dog tags, and placed them into each hole. He stooped before filling the two holes, letting his tears show as he remembered his two fallen comrades from overseas.

“Both of you may not even remember me, but I remember both of you.” He said quietly to the silent graves. “I remember seeing you both, as I arrived at my FOB. Both of you were shooting the breeze, trading jokes with those Helo pilots from Britain.” He paused, remembering this first week at his deployed base. He smiled, knowing how his life had changed in that year since.

“Well, I met your buds. Saved their butts when they flew back to base directing them around a sandstorm. They remembered you two, and wanted to give those as presents. Why they chose me for this duty, well, God only knows.” He slowly filled in the small holes, covering the medals and the tags with the freshly turned earth. Putting the knife back, he stood up, came to attention, and slowly saluted the two fallen airman.

“Rest at ease, my brothers in arms. Be at peace, and know that you are not forgotten.” He slowly put down his salute, then got back into the vehicle, and left to return to his base, now with his mission complete.
___

In Memory of the members of the Military who fought and lived thru the hells of war, only for war to claim their lives away from the battlefield.

Rest at Eternal Ease, for your sacrifice has not, and never will, be forgotten.
___

And with that, this tale comes to a close. It is definitely a long chapter, but there was a bit of ground to cover here. And hopefully, i managed to cover it. Alas, i think i missed some minor spelling things.

Comments are welcomed as always. Also, i must ask, where did i royally screw up, and where do i need to improve, and where did this story truly shine?

Your story is very nice
I love it
I can`t say nothing about grammar because I have the worst english in this forum >.<
The most shine part for me is when Mike unconcious said "Lucy"
Is a pity that happened nothing more following this

This post has been edited by andresm: 31 March 2011 - 12:33 AM