I hobbled over to the seat next to Willis, and sat down. Willis set his hand on my shoulder and chuckled.
"Told you I'd get you outta 'Nam alive." He said with a smile.
"No you didn't." I replied.
He stared at me for a second. "Shut up."
We both shared a laugh, and then went silent. People around us kept on talking, but everything seemed to stop for a minute or two… but that didn't last, I sorta miss the peace and quiet. Willis stood up, and looked around. I shot him a funny look before remembering where we were. Hell yeah, we were home… back in the US of A. After we got to the evac zone, the chopper took us to the only non-hostile airport for miles… too bad I can't remember the name… well we landed in an Airport in south Maine. Turns out Willis has family in Maine, and they came to pick him up. Don't understand why he's coming home early with me? Maybe this will help explain.
Earlier on the plane
The plane was filled with casualties, such as me. Most of the seats were taken out to accommodate, but not all of them. Willis and I sat in two of the remaining seats.
"Willis, not like I'm not happy to see you, but why are you on a ride home for casualties?" I asked.
"Never told you, did I?" Willis replied with another question.
Willis stood up, and pulled his shirt up. His chest was bandaged, with a red spot up on his left shoulder. I shook my head silently.
Back to now.
Willis looked around for ten minutes before he spotted his family. I could tell, one, because I saw them too. Two, I saw him light up, and he took off running. I chuckled to myself as a full grown man ran off like a five-year old towards his family. But I can't blame him. If my "family" were there, I'd of reacted the same way, if I could've ran, at least. I closed my eyes, and almost fell asleep… Almost.
"Marcus! Hobble your ass over here!" I heard.
I sighed, and pushed myself to my feet. I groaned as I limped over to Willis. I planted my hand on his shoulder, mostly as a crutch. There stood his family. Nice bunch of folks. Well, in order to cut shit short, I'm just going to explain what happened, instead of writing it all down.
So, I told Willis I had to get going. But instead, he invited me to stay with him for a while. So, I accepted. While staying with Willis, he and I got tattoos. Hell yeah, right? They were matching skulls, with the same hats the Viet Cong, and flames in the eyes. Under it, it said in bold letters, "TANGO DOWN". It looks bad-ass to say the least. Well, after a week with Willis, I got on a train back home.
A three hour ride on the train, and then an hour walk back to the house. The walk sucked, since I was limping the entire way. I wasn't expecting what happened next.
I knocked on the door. But there was no answer. I knocked again, to no avail. I opened the door, and peered inside. The place was empty. Fucking empty!
"Hello? Anyone? Son of a bitch…" I mumbled as I leaned against the wall.
I tossed my bag to the floor, and collapsed. Today was turning out to be really, really terrible. I walked around the house a few times, and just took in the memories. Good and bad. That's when I found an Audio-Diary. I picked it up, and flipped the switch. Eleanor's voice came on.
"Marcus, if you found this, it means you came back early… I'm sorry, but we moved. Mother and Father don't know I'm recording this, so I'll have to be quick. We moved because Father got a new job, in San Francisco. I'm not sure if you'll even care anymore… but if you do, please come find us. We miss you Marcus. Eleanor! Oh… that's Mother. Goodbye…" the recording cuts off.
I wanted to just hurl the diary at the wall, but I just couldn't. I dropped it, and fell to my knees. San Francisco? Damnit, that's across the damn nation. North-West to South-East… I was pissed. But I still moved on. I walked back to the train station, bought a ticket, and waited for another hour for the next train. It was a three hour ride back to the airport, and I was tired as hell. I stayed awake though. And then, after getting my shit together at the airport, I boarded a plane to San Francisco. It was another three hour ride, but I was way too tired. I fell asleep on the plane.