Hello hello hello! Here's the first chapter of part 2! This is my second update today! whoop whoop. Thanks to Mumford and Sons and Red Hot Chili Peppers for keeping me awake! Hope you guys are enjoying dis story! :)
Mihaela: Haha I'm so so so glad you're enjoying it! I didn't mean for it to make you cry haha! You're review almost made me cry! It means so much, thank you! :D
Chapter 23
Getting on the plane back to Afghanistan was the hardest thing he had ever done. As he got on the plane, he saw more than one marine and navy recruit, as well as a couple of fellow Air force men. As he was going through the security earlier, he noticed an envelope in the side pocket of his bag. He looked and saw that it was from Allison and he slipped it in his pocket as he boarded the plane.
He put his things in the cubby above his seat and helped an older woman load her things into her cubby as well. He sat down, the letter in his lap, and buckled his seatbelt. He took a deep breath and opened the letter as the plane made its way off of the runway and into the air.
Dear Ben,
By the time you read this, I will have already told you how sorry I am for doing what I did to you. I will have already apologized a million times and let me tell you, once again, how truly sorry I am and how much I love you. Meeting you has been the best thing that's ever happened to me. These past two weeks; two weeks, can you believe that? It seems like so much longer and, in that short amount of time, I've come to believe that we were meant to be together. I've also come to realize that, together, we can do anything. And, as the seconds roll by, I'm that much closer to seeing you again. That's another thing I realized; time only moves forward. I'm that much closer to seeing you and being in your arms once again. Whenever I feel sad or depressed, I remind myself of this and it helps me to go on. I love you so much, Ben, and I promise to be here when you come back. I'll be right here waiting for you to come back to me.
Love, Allison
As he finished reading the letter, he had tears in his eyes. He also had the biggest smile on his face that he couldn't seem to wipe off. He knew that writing letters like this would be the key to keeping their relationship alive, even with a year and a half apart.
When he arrived in Afghanistan, a taxi picked him up from the airport and took him to the base. As they drove, he looked out of the window at how different Afghanistan was compared to America. In America, you hardly ever saw mothers and fathers, along with their young children, on the side of the street begging for money. But, here in Afghanistan, people drove and walked by like it was nothing.
He also read Allison's letter to him again. Along with the letter, she had also included two pictures; one of him and her at the aquarium and the other, the one of her and her family that he had seen on her desk. He smiled and looked at both of the pictures until they reached the base. When they got there, he walked to his room, where Matt was sitting on his bed. When he saw Ben come in, he hopped up,
"Hey, Ben!" He put his bag down and shook his hand,
"Hey, Matt, how are you doing?"
"I'm good; we just got back from Kuwait."
"What happened?"
"We had to rescue some hostages. Its hell down there though, man. We managed to maintain a little bit of peace, but it'll be temporary. We'll probably be sent somewhere else before too long." He nodded and took Allison's letter out of his pocket and put it on the end table beside his bed. Matt must have seen it because he smiled and motioned to it,
"Oh, what's that?"
"It's nothing, mind your own business." He scoffed,
"Don't give me that. Come on, tell me." He smiled, knowing he would never catch a break if he didn't tell him,
"It's a letter from my girlfriend." Matt sat up again,
"What? Your girlfriend? What's her name? Is she pretty?"
He looked at him and then went back to unpacking his things, not wanting to talk about it anymore. Even though he had only just left hours ago, he missed Allison terribly. He knew the next eighteen months would be the longest and hardest eighteen months of his life. But he was constantly reminded of what Allison had said. Every second and minute that passes is another step closer to seeing her and holding her in his arms again. Matt broke his concentration by laughing,
"You're in love aren't you?"
"How do you know?"
"It's plain as day, it's written all over your face." He smiled and nodded,
"Yeah, I'm in love."
"I told you man, there's nothing better. Just wait until you go back and see her and she jumps in your arms. There's no better feeling in the world." He nodded, wishing he could take her in his arms right that second, but knowing it wouldn't happen for another eighteen months.
"How long are you back for?"
"Eighteen months."
"What? A year and a half? Why so long?"
"I don't know, probably because I only came back for a couple of days before going on that emergency leave."
"Man, that's a long time. You better call, e-mail or even write as much as you can."
"I know. Speaking of, do you have a pen and a piece of paper?"
The next couple of months dragged by. Like Matt had predicted, they were sent down to a city called Tehran. There was chaos down there; a couple of men had decided they were going to try and take over their small city singlehandedly. So Ben and his team, including Matt and other men that he had talked to, were sent to 'restore the peace' even though 'restoring the peace' wasn't in their job description.
While they were down there, everyone came up to them, begging them to help with problems that weren't theirs to solve. Eventually, the marines showed up and took over, helping the local people with their problems. So, after three months in Tehran, they were finally sent back to their base in Afghanistan.
During these three months, he wrote to Allison as much as he could. With the location they were in, there was no way to set up an internet connection and the line to use the phone was always backed up. So they constantly wrote letters back and forth. He usually received her letters about every five or six days and, by the time he returned back to the base, he had received sixteen letters from her.
He missed her terribly and he could tell by her letters that she missed him, too. Their letters were the key to maintaining their relationship for the eighteen months they were forced to be apart. He always found himself looking for her letters, even when it was a day when he knew they wouldn't be coming. But, whenever he did receive her letters, he couldn't wipe the smile off of his face. He loved to hear how she was doing and what she was doing. In those three months, she had done a lot of things.
About a week after he went back, she received a letter, telling her that she had been accepted to UNCW. She was ecstatic and immediately applied for the nursing program they were offering. The next couple of weeks 'flew by' for her. She moved out of her parents' house and into her dorm on campus; every freshman was required to live on campus for their first year.
After she sung with the church on the Sunday after he had left, more people had come up to her after the service and told her how good she was. They could tell that she was 'spiritually-filled with the lord' and this excited her so much; she couldn't wait to keep singing with them. Though he loved to hear how and what she was doing, he loved the ending of her letters the most for, every time, she would tell him how much she missed him and how much she loved him. Like this paragraph he received in her third letter,
I miss you so much, Ben. I think about you all of the time and I can't wait until these eighteen months are up so we can be together again. I understand you have a job to do and I can't tell you how proud I am of the job you're doing. But, when these eighteen months are up and I see your face again and feel your arms around me, I know these months without you will be forgotten. I'll be the happiest girl in the word at that moment, for you're the thing that makes me the most happy. But, until then, I'll continue to write you and count down the days until I see you again. I love you so much, Ben.
And this one he received a couple of days after the Sunday she sang at the church,
When I was singing with the church this Sunday, you're face kept popping in my head. For you're the reason I'm standing up on that stage today. Every time I heard Lead Me to the Cross, I think of you. I love you so much.
And this paragraph from one of the most recent letters,
I'm so happy to hear that you made it back safely. Even though it scares me to hear you talk about what you do, I need to hear it.
Last night, I drove down to the beach; the first time in three months, since you left. I went to the same spot that you took me on our first official date; the night you first told me that you loved me. I sat there, replaying our two weeks together and, for a second, it felt like you were sitting beside me. I looked up at the stars and found the two constellations you told me about that night.
Fifteen months; that's all we have left. As the months roll by, it gets harder to imagine your face. You should really consider sending me a picture; you wouldn't want me to forget what you look like, would you? I'm kidding, of course. I could never forget your face, even if I wanted to. I replay your smile and goofy expressions all the time and recall the feeling of your hand in mine. This helps me to move forward and crossing the days off of my calendar make it possible for me to continue my somewhat routine. I have to go for now; I'm actually going to visit with your father. He surprised me with a phone call the other day and asked me if he could make me dinner. How sweet, huh? :) I'll leave you with these last few words; I love you, Ben, with all of my heart forever.
Love, Allison
When they arrived back from Tehran, the days and months that followed were eventful. They were watching the Iraqi's closely, waiting to see if they were going to do anything that would make them spring into action.
It was quiet for the next two months. They stayed on the base in Afghanistan, taking classes and going over mission plans that might be needed if the Iraqi's surprised them and made a move. So Ben and his fellow airforcemen fell into an easy routine. For Ben, he woke up at 6:30 every morning and did the same thing he did when he was home; jog. He jogged around the base every morning for a full hour. Then, he would return to the base, shower, eat breakfast, and, depending on the day, read one of Allison's letters or take out a pen and a piece of paper and write one himself.
He also received letters from his father. He got them almost every ten or eleven days. He enjoyed getting letters from his dad; he wanted to know what he was doing, if only to make sure he was doing okay without anyone there with him. He sounded fine, great actually, in his letters and told him everything he was doing. He had kept his word by going to see Allison sing at her church the Sunday after he left and, afterwards, had taken her and her parents out to lunch.
He was surprised when he read this, for Allison had never mentioned it. He wrote to her and asked her why she had never mentioned it and she replied by saying that he had asked her to not say anything about it; he wanted to tell Ben himself. This made him smile and, in the same letter from his father, he told him that he and Allison had begun to have dinner together every Sunday after church. As well as going to see Allison sing, he had stayed for the message and found himself taking a liking to the preacher and also found himself going again the following week, and the week after that. Going to Allison's church and having dinner afterwards had become part of his weekly routines. He always closed his letters by wishing Ben good luck with everything and asking him to be safe. He also ended with the promise that he would write again.
It had been almost nine months since he had left and, in that time, Allison had applied, and gotten into, UNCW and moved out of her parents' house and into her dorm on campus. She had informed him that it was an 'all-girl' dorm and he had to admit, this didn't bother him. He trusted Allison with all of his heart, of course, and he knew she wouldn't do anything to hurt or betray him but it was the college guys he was worried about. When he had told her about these worries, he could almost picture her laughing when she read it. She replied by saying,
Believe me, Ben; you have absolutely nothing to worry about. We've been apart for nine months; we're halfway there! Can you believe that? We've made it through the first half and I have a feeling these final nine months are going to be a piece of cake. Though we've been apart, it feels like we've grown closer, despite the many miles between us.
Once again, you don't have anything to worry about. None of the guys on this campus, or on any campus in the world, could make me feel the way you make me feel. I continue to flip the calendar months and count the days until I see you again. I love you so much and, until next time,
Love, Allison
All in all, they stayed on the base in Afghanistan for almost six months. At the end of December, a couple of days before Christmas, they were told they were going to be sent to Iran on a mission at the start of the new year. He was also personally told that he would be one of the few that would be leading teams in the air; their job was to provide air support for the marines on the ground. The marines would be advancing, trying to get into enemy territory, and it was Ben and a couple of other people's job to lead their team in providing air support, which, he was told, included shooting from the rattling gun in the plane and dropping bombs behind enemy lines.
They were told this on the twentieth; five days before Christmas. After they were released from the meeting, he rushed back to his room. He had to get Allison's Christmas present to their 'postman.' He usually came around 4:30 in the afternoon. He took all of their mail and put it on a helicopter, where it would be delivered to whoever it was supposed to be delivered to, in his case, Allison.
A couple of days ago, he had went to three different jewelry stores and finally found what he was looking for. He had bought her a necklace with a silver cross on it and a matching silver bracelet.
He rushed back to his room and grabbed her present, as well as his letter to her and to his father, and rushed to where the mailman was walking up. Ben jogged up to him and handed him the two letters and the package.
"Hey can you deliver this for me?"
"Yes sir, no problem"
"Thank you. Be careful with it, okay?"
"All right, I'll give it to them right now."
"Okay, thanks again."
"No problem."
The next couple of days were quiet and, on Christmas Eve, he and Matt sung Christmas carols in their room for almost two hours. They ended up going out and buying a small, fake tree and putting it in their room. After setting it up, a couple of guys came by their room and asked them if they wanted to go with them to grab a beer. Matt accepted, but Ben stayed behind.
For the rest of the night, he stayed in his room and lay on his bed, thinking about a lot of things. He took out the two pictures Allison had include in her first letter and stared at them for hours, especially the one of her and him. They had gotten someone to take their picture while they were at the aquarium and, in the picture, they were standing in front of the shark exhibit and he was standing behind her with his arms wrapped around her stomach. She was leaned into him with her head laid back on his shoulder. They were both smiling and he stared at it for almost two hours, wishing, more than anything, that he could take her in his arms.
After about two and a half hours, he finally put the pictures down and climbed into bed. Before going to sleep, he prayed, like he did every night. On his first night back, he had thanked the Lord for bring Allison back to him. He prayed every night and found himself praying at random times throughout the entire day. He had even when and bought a bible and, whenever he had quiet time, he would begin reading and studying it. He had even found a small group that met on Sundays and he went to more than a few of their services.
When he finished praying, he closed his eyes and eventually drifted off to sleep.
Hmmm so nothing too terribly important in this chapter. But I thought it was pretty cool to see what they've been doing and how they're making it with being apart. I don't think I could be apart from someone I loved for eighteen months do you? :0 I guess if I loved them, I could. Kudos to them. Well, see you next chapter! And please hit dat review button! ;)
