He pushed me onto the floor against the wall in what looked like it should have been a living room.
“Thanks for driving,” he said to the guy as he showed him out.
I sucked in a deep breath and let out a scream. My ears started ringing and his hand came across my face hard and rough. I was bleeding from the rings on his hand.
“Just tell me what you want so I can move on with my life,” I pleaded.
“So you can move on with your life? What the hell have you been doing since you graduated? You have been moving on with your life. You are married now, in school. Your life seems rather good.”
“And what, yours isn’t?” I spat.
“Do you even know why I joined the army? Because I had to! My father cut me off right after high school because I spent so much of his time and effort keeping from being arrested or so he says. I couldn’t afford college so I got stuck joining the army just so I could have a life!”
I shook my head. “So what am I doing here?”
“You? You are just the first one that came across my path. Guess you should have thought differently on the person you married.”
“You realize you’re sick, right?”
Pain shot through my body.
“This is a nifty gadget, don’t you think?” He smiled, holding up a taser.
I groaned.
“You know if one of you would have just given me a day, you would have seen I wasn’t so bad. All I wanted was to treat one of you like a queen.”
“How could you do that? You’re broke. No woman wants to be with someone who is broke and disowned by his own family.”
“You talk too much,” he muttered.
Another wave of pain raced through my body, but this time it was accompanied with a kick to my stomach.
“Is this how you would have showed one of us you cared?” I whispered in pain.
“This is just what you get for being a bitch for all of that time.”
“It won’t change how any of us feel about you. And until I ran into you that day, I had forgotten about you completely.”
“Shut up!” he yelled, his hand coming at my head fast.
Pain shot through my body causing me to groan and sit up.
“Oh, thank goodness!” I heard Kate gasp.
I opened my eyes to a bright room.
“Where the heck?” I sighed.
“Hospital. I got your message. I went right to the police.”
I looked at her, tears filling my eyes.
“Don’t cry.” She sat on the edge of the bed.
“How did you find me?”
“They got a hold of the Uber driver. He cracked right away.” She giggled. “I think he even peed himself.”
“Anyways, he told them where he dropped you both off at. The doctor said you have some cracked ribs, lots of bruises, and some scrapes on your face. You were hit pretty hard in the head so they are checking for any concussions, but nothing serious and you should be able to go home in the next couple of days.”
I nodded, every part of me was in pain.
“What happened to Tim?”
“Oh well, the police snagged him and turned him over to the MP’s. I suggest he’s probably going to be kicked out of the military and handed back over to state police. The MP’s definitely got an earful though from the police chief. Whew. He was furious when I told him that you told the MP’s who you suspected it to be and they didn’t even investigate. Same thing with his own. He was livid when I mentioned the break-in.” She smiled.
“Damn, causing trouble every where you go, huh?” I laughed, holding my stomach. “Ow.”
“Oh, and also, I was able to get the commander to make a call to Travis’s unit to notify him immediately. He’s going to personally make sure he comes home early to be here with you.”
“Thank you.”
“And last but not least, I called your parents and Ace is at my house.”
Tears began to fall down my face and I couldn’t stop them, “Thank you so much for being there for me.”
“Girl, we are going through this together. When Daniel first introduced us, I knew we would become best friends.”
I smiled and laid back in the bed.
It wasn’t long after that my parents and siblings came rushing through the door.
They spent about twenty minutes asking me and the doctor if I was okay.
“I blame your no-good husband,” my father spat.
“Dad. It’s not his fault!”
“Like hell it isn’t. He should be here. If he was, this never would have happened.”
I sighed and closed my eyes.
“I think we need to let Mrs. Brown rest for a bit. You can all come back tomorrow and visit,” the nurse butted in.
“Fine, we’ll be back early in the morning,” he said. He leaned down and kissed my forehead and shooed my family out the door.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Kate said.
“Give Ace a big hug for me?” I asked.
“Will do.”
I looked at the nurse when the door shut “Thank you so much.”
“Tough crowd,” she noted.
I nodded. “My father isn’t very pro-military if you couldn’t tell.”
“He’ll get there. Mine wasn’t either.” She smiled.
“Your husband served?”
She nodded, “Still does. He’s deployed right now.”
“So is mine.”
“I’m going to let you rest. Call if you need anything.”
She walked out of the room, leaving me to my own thoughts.
Chapter Sixteen
Travis
I sat on the plane, surrounded by people who were traveling for work or pleasure, and here I was lost in my own mind.
Just twelve hours ago I received a call from the commander telling me that Elena was attacked. That the woman whom I spent the past couple of months fighting with, the woman I loved was being treated at the hospital. My chest ached, and I wanted to be sick thinking about what the commander told me. He didn’t go into many details over the phone.
When the plane landed, I grabbed my bags and rushed out the doors.
“Travis!” Kate waved from in front of her car.
I walked over and hugged her, “Thanks for coming to get me.” I tossed my bags into her trunk and climbed into the car.
“How is she?” I asked as she pulled away from the curb.
“She’s good. She’s up and moving around a bit. You should know though; her parents are not happy.”
I sighed, rolling my eyes, “What else is new?”
“They are always like that?”
“Yep. You should have heard them at dinner when we announced I was being deployed.”
“Wow. Makes me happy that my parents are military. They at least understand.” She shifted in her seat. “How’s Dan?”
“He’s good. He’s ready to come home to you.”
She nodded. “One more month.”
I walked into the hospital, sucking in a breath before rounding the corner into Elena’s room.
She sat on the edge of the bed, dressed in my sweats and one of her tank tops. She looked sexier than ever.
“Hey there beautiful,” I whispered.
Her head snapped toward me, as did her parents.
“Hey there soldier!” she cried standing up.
I rushed over and pulled her into a hug careful to not squeeze her.
“I’ve missed you so much,” she whispered.
“I’ve missed you too.”
We pulled back and her lips pressed against mine. It felt like nothing had ever changed.
“Well it’s about time you showed up. You know your wife has been lying in a hospital bed for almost two days. She was attacked!” her father yelled.
“Daddy that’s enough!” Elena yelled turning to face him.
He looked stunned.
“Travis is a soldier; he’s off fighting for your freedom. He can’t be here twenty-f
our/seven. I understand that. If you and mom can’t get that through your head, then you can’t be in our lives. I’ve tried to tell you this before. Travis has tried to tell you this before.”
“I’m sorry, but he should be here.”
“No dad. He should be over there finishing out his tour.”
I looked at the woman standing in front of me. The one who just over a year ago wasn’t sure she would be able to do this. Now she’s here defending it, defending me and speaking better terms than I was. I was in awe.
Both her parents sat back down and barely spoke the rest of the time.
I stood up a few hours later. Even though I had most of the story from Elena and Kate, the commander still wanted to fill me in on post.
“You’ll come right back?” Elena questioned.
“Yes. I’ll be staying here with you tonight.” I leaned down, kissed her again, and headed out. I didn’t want to be on post long.
I met with the commander and he expressed his desire to get me back to the hospital to be with Elena.
He explained everything that wasn’t explained over the phone. He sounded furious over the fact that Elena had gone to the MP’s for support and no one even looked into the matter. He assured me that it would never happen again. I was thankful to have him on our side, and also thankful to not know who the MP’s were.
I arrived back at the hospital and the blows just kept coming.
Kate sat on the edge of the bed, in tears.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
Kate cried harder and Elena looked up at me.
“It’s Daniel,” she whispered.
I shook my head. “No. He’s not dead. I was just with him.”
“They don’t know for sure if he’s dead or one of the survivors,” Elena explained.
My chest got tight again, and my stomach was in knots. I was furious at myself for leaving. I felt torn between being here for my wife and my best friend.
I left. I left the hospital and contacted a few guys I knew that might have some more insight for me.
They were at One West again and there were casualties, but no one knew if those were soldiers or local national police.
***
A month passed quickly, and I was glad to have my platoon home, even though we were missing a few guys.
I clapped and smiled, watching the men and women from the platoon step off the bus.
Daniel was one of the first. Arm in a sling, but still here.
Kate stood next to me, crying.
“He’s home,” she whispered.
“He is.” I nodded.
“It’s good to have you home brother,” I said pulling Daniel into a hug.
“It’s good to be back.” He turned to Elena, “How are you?”
“I’m good. Things are going back to normal for me.”
He nodded.
“Would you two like to come to dinner tonight?” Kate asked.
“Are you kidding? Your man just came home. Go have some time together. We’ll do dinner tomorrow.” Elena laughed.
“Home?” I said to Elena as we watched them walk away.
She nodded. “Home.”
“Elena, can we talk for a minute?” I asked, walking out back where she was sitting watching Ace run around the yard.
“What’s up?” she questioned.
“Well I was talking to my squad leader and he wants to recommend me for a promotion to E5 which is a sergeant, team leader.”
“Is that good?”
I nodded.
“Then go for it. If it’s something you want, I say go for it.”
“I was hoping you would say that! I’ll let him know tomorrow.”
“Hey, you know what is on Saturday, right?”
I froze and thought to what day it was.
“Travis…” she sighed.
“I’m sorry, I’m still trying to figure out what day today is!”
“Saturday is our anniversary!”
A year. We’ve been married a year already. I feel like I partly cheated though. I was away for several months deployed. Our first year together wasn’t even spend fully together.
“Well let’s do something special then.”
She beamed, “Good. Kate and Daniel are going to watch Ace and you, and I are going back to the hotel in Savannah. My mom and I already booked it.”
“And what if I was working this weekend?”
“I knew you weren’t. Daniel checked for me.”
I shook my head and kissed her lips. Every time I kissed her; I was thankful. Thankful that I didn’t let our argument create a bigger problem. Thankful that she was still here, and thankful that I was still alive. Even though every time I thought about it, my stomach twisted, and I wanted to puke.
I hadn’t been to Warrior’s Walk yet. I was terrified. I didn’t want to see his name on that stone, because once I did. It was real.
“You okay?” she questioned.
I nodded, pulling myself out of wherever my mind was going.
“I have to run out for a few, I’ll be back before dinner,” I said kissing her quickly again before rushing out the front door.
I dialed Daniel's number.
“Hey dude,” he said.
“How did you make the thoughts of Andrews not hurt as much?” I questioned.
“You’re not going to like my answer.”
“Try me.”
“You need to see someone. Only way you will get through this.”
I sighed; I knew he was going to suggest that. But talking about my feelings? That wasn’t exactly something I wanted to do.
“Thanks man,” I said.
I hung up the phone and called the one person I knew I could talk to.
“Hey you,” Gina said, getting out of her car and walking over to me.
“Hey yourself.”
“How’s Elena?”
“She’s good. She’s a trooper.”
“And you?”
I shrugged, “I’m struggling. Having nightmares almost every night. Normally I wait until Elena has fallen asleep and I go sleep on the couch. I’m terrified I will wake up and scare her.”
She shook her head and motioned for me to sit down with her on a picnic table.
“Walk me through it.”
I gave her a pleading look.
“You have too. Come on.”
I sucked in a breath and walked her through everything. Andrews' death, being notified about Elena, our argument. It took so much out of me to tell her. My body felt weak and my chest was hurting.
“You’re grieving. You are feeling guilty about the fact that you are still here, and he isn’t. By what you’ve told me about him, he wouldn’t want you to feel this way. You need closure.”
“How do I do that? It’s not like I can just go up to him and talk to him.”
“No, but you can talk to his parents, his wife, visit his grave. Do whatever you can to get the closure you need. Until you do, you won’t get out of this hole you are in.”
“You don’t think that it will break me more?”
She tilted her head, “Honey, everyone is broken in some way. You just need to decide how broken you let yourself be. You are alive, you are up for a promotion at work, and you have a beautiful wife.”
“Thank you for talking to me.”
“Anytime, that’s why I’m here.”
I hugged her tight and headed home. Elena was probably wondering if I had gotten lost or run away.
***
Months passed and I was finally settling into my new rank. I had passed the WLDC and the board. I got all the required points I needed easily without issues.
I still hadn’t taken Gina’s full advice yet, but it was time. Daniel wanted to go with me, so we took a road trip to the next town over where Andrews' parents lived. His wife was already back in California, but Elena said she was doing good.
“Mr. and Mrs. Andrews?” I asked the man who answered the door.
He nodded.
<
br /> “I’m Sergeant Brown. This is Specialist Collins. He and I were good friends with your son.”
The man moved to the side and let us in. He led us through the house, and I couldn’t help but notice the photos of Andrews hanging on the wall.
“Honey, these are two guys who served with Peter.”
“It’s so nice to meet you! He talked so highly of all those he served with.”
I nodded, “It’s nice to meet you too, ma’am. I wanted to come by and extend my deepest condolences. He was a great soldier and a great friend.”
“Thank you,” she said, her head hanging.
Daniel and I pulled back our sleeves and revealed our tattoos honoring their son.
She cried and walked closer to us, “May I?”
I nodded.
She touched the tattoo. Her finger ran across his name.
“I miss him so much.”
“Thank you for honoring him like that.” His father sniffed.
We sat and talked to them for as long as they wanted. It was therapeutic for me. It helped me learn more about him and helped me realize that I wasn’t the only one missing him like crazy. His parents were missing having their son around.
“Would you mind if I called you two sometime? Just to check in?”
“Not at all ma’am,” I replied.
“Call me ma. Peter always said you guys were his brothers.”
I nodded, holding back the overwhelming feeling of wanting to cry.
“Next stop?” Daniel questioned.
“Warrior’s Walk.” I nodded. I looked at the road in front of us. It was time. Time to visit the memorial for him. I wanted to go to the cemetery, but after this morning, I just couldn’t.
We pulled onto post and drove down the street until we reached Warrior’s Walk.
“Geez, this field brings back memories,” Daniel noted as we stepped out of the car.
This was the same field where we shipped out from and returned to. This field was surrounded by what we call Warrior’s Walk. It is where memorials are of all the soldiers who were killed in action. We walked around reading the stones for each soldier. There were more than I wanted to see.
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