"Keep them safe for me Jack."
That was the last thing Jamie said before he left for the war.
He had looked so professional and grown up in his uniform that day.
When Jack asked why he had decided to join to join the military, Jamie had replied that it was all thanks to him. "I want to protect people in my own way. Just like you Jack."
Jack had agreed to watch over Sophie and all of the friends and family that Jamie would be leaving behind, and Jamie promised to come home safely in return.
Where Jamie was going, Jack could not follow, the desert was no place for a winter spirit, and so Jack couldn't insure Jamie's safety himself. So he made Jamie promise not to do anything too reckless while he was overseas.
Jack had seen the plane that was taking Jamie there off, waving to Jamie, even though he knew Jamie couldn't wave back.
A few months passed, before Jack could find time to check in on the small town of Burgess and its inhabitants. He was expecting to find young Sophie in the backyard, ready to talk his ear off, asking if he had seen Jamie. Despite having told her several times that he couldn't go to the desert, she held on to the belief that Jack could do anything.
Jack knew something was wrong the minute he laid eyes on Sophie, sitting in Jamie's old room crying in front of a picture.
Jack tried to slip into the room, but the window was locked, and when Jack tried to knock on the glass, but Sophie didn't even look up.
Jack hung around the house, as people came by, mostly dressed in black, offering condolences and casseroles.
Why do people bring casseroles? As if it would help ease the realization that was dawning on Jack.
Jamie, his best friend, and first believer, the boy who would stand up to not just his own fears, but the fears of others in order to protect them all, was gone.
Over the day, Jack slowly gathered the bits and pieces that made up the story of what happened to his friend.
Jamie had been on patrol with his squad, when they came across a street that was empty except for two small children huddled against the wall, looking too afraid to move, and a woman on the same side of the street as them, calling something to the children.
The translator with their squad talked with the women and children, before relaying the information that the children were too afraid to move, because they had seen some men digging earlier in the day, and place something in a hole.
The squad called EOD and tried to get the woman to move further back so as to ensure her safety. Instead of listening, she made a run for her children, and Jamie, reacting only on instinct, ran after her. The woman made it to her children unharmed, and picking both up with a strength that she didn't look like she had, ran the rest of the way down the street, never looking back.
Jamie stopped, and realized too late what he had done. Now he stood out in the middle of the road, with nothing to cover him, and no way to guarantee his safety.
He called back to his squad and told them to get to a safe distance, and he would wait for EOD to come.
Five minutes after the squad had found cover, and radioed the new information, EOD showed up. They had jokingly called Jamie a bonehead, and started procedures to extract him from the precarious spot he was in at the moment, but before they could do anything, the hidden IED's went off, and Jamie was gone.
Jack was beside himself, but that wasn't the worst thing.
Sophie couldn't see him.
She had stopped believing in him after hearing about her brother's death, thinking that if Jack was real, then he would have saved Jamie.
All of Jamie's friends had long since grown out of their childhood beliefs, and hadn't been able to see him in years. The Bennett Children had been the only ones left from his original group of believers, and now, with the death of one, both were gone.
Jack attended the memorial service, and was there when they lowered the empty casket into the ground.
Seven men stood tall and straight, and performed a twenty-one gun salute, as Ms. Bennett was presented with a folded up flag, which she clung onto like it was her son himself.
Jack could see how upset the entire ceremony was making The Bennett's.
Jamie had asked him to protect them, that meant whether or not they could see him.
Jack laid a hand on the coffin, right before it began to lower, and if anyone noticed the small amount of frost that formed on the lid, they didn't say anything.
"I'll keep my promise Jamie, even if you didn't keep yours."
Jack took to the sky, leaving the family to their grief for now, but making sure to check up on them later.
V_V_V
And that's the end. This was written because of a dream I had, but I changed it up slightly because for some reason, it just wasn't working right.
Death is a scary thing, one that our men and women on the front lines face every day. One that they make peace with, because they have to.
But the families left behind, they're the ones that deal with the fear that a man will come to their door, telling them that their son, their daughter, their husband, wife, sister, or brother, won't be coming home. Often times that is the thought that scares us. Not death, but rather the thought of being left behind, and leaving others behind.
At least, that's the part that scares me.
Please review, I don't think I've posted a more personal story since "Memories and Voices" and I would like to hear how this is being received.
Thank you, and have a nice day.