Author's Notes: I don't know what I'm going to do with this quite yet. I'm more or less just writing to get some stress off my chest for now. If I get a review or two I'll probably write some more. If not, I might add on another few chapters just for fun. This is my first time actually publishing something on fanfiction so if something isn't italicized or in bold or whatnot, I'm sorry. I'm sure with practice I'll get it down. Also, sorry that this chapter isn't full of glory. Haha. Again, this is more-so a stress reliever than anything else. I've read quite a few stories on here for about 6 years now so that's about all I'm familiar with when it comes to this wonderful site. So, questions, comments, flames? Leave a review and I'll get back to ya'. Tahtah for now. :)
The Aftermath
Sigh.
There it is again. That same old sigh, just another time. The woman thinks to herself, her mind once again wandering back to a year ago. A year ago... has it only been that long? How time flys when you're having fun..
She could see it clearly, her husband laying stiffly in the hospital bed; a sterilized smell kept making the hairs on her arms raise. They both had known what was coming. The cancer had hit hard and fast, spreading quickly through the bloodstream to his brain, among other organs. They had prepared for this moment for a long time. She could remember him looking dead, wondering if maybe he really was already gone but it just wasn't showing yet, and then he'd take another shallow breath. By the time the end came, Jeff was down to 22 seconds between breaths...
Elizabeth sighs again. And I thought that was the worse that could happen... She stares ahead, her grey eyes relaxing before misting over with memories from just a few months after her husband's death.
It had been all over the news. The plane with the Army's new recruits that had been headed to the Middle East had some type of mechanical failure halfway across the ocean. The plane that had been carrying her little brother. The same little brother she had pleaded with not to join the Army. Not to get himself killed... For all anyone knew, they could still be out there somewhere, a few of the soldier's still alive; no one for sure actually knew though since none of the plane had been found, it was just assumed that they went down in the ocean.
Why did it have to be them? She thinks before taking another deep breath, grabbing her empty coffee cup and scooting her chair back from the table, the chair making a loud scraping noise in the small coffee shop. Her face turns a light shade of red as a few eyes glance over to the 'noise-maker'. She lowers her head a little in a silent apology before heading over to the counter. The young clerk smiles at Elizabeth as she walks up.
"See you tomorrow, Ms. Hargly?" Benjamin asks politely as she drops the change she had been given earlier into the small tip jar.
She smiles back, creases forming along the edges of her eyes; creases that she had earned from the past year's worries. "Of course. See you tomorrow, Ben." Elizabeth gives the teen a nod farewell before heading toward the door. She stops by the overflowing trashcan on side of the store's door, dropping her empty coffee cup on top of the trash before pushing the old, creaky door open and stepping outside.