It was about 9:30 a.m. when her phone started buzzing on her desk.
Amy picked it up and saw her brother's name and an incoming videocall on messenger. That was enough to make a chill go down her spine.
She looked at her students who was reading through a chapter in chemistry class. A few of them looked up questioningly.
"Excuse me, this is one call I need to take." She informed, "Keep reading."
After she closed the door to her classroom, she accepted the call.
"Hey little sister." Her brother looked exhausted, that didn't help settle her worry.
"Hey…" she tilted her head and studied him, "Is everything alright? You look tired."
He shook his head. "I should have expected you to call me out on it immediately."
"I know you're on deployment. And you text if it's just mundane stuff, you might call if it's important and you haven't gotten an answer. But when you facetime… That's usually a bad sign."
He shrugged one shoulder. Pulled a deep breath.
"Scotty…"
Almost half a minute passed before he answered.
"We were out on an OP." he sighed, "We started taking fire. It escalated. All of the sudden we had an incoming RPG."
Her legs felt weak. She had to find a place to sit down.
"The wall next to me collapsed."
Neither of them managed to speak for about a minute.
"You're hurt?"
He nodded.
"Bad?"
He squared his jaw and nodded.
"Did anyone else get hurt?"
"Thankfully not." He furrowed his brows, "I was the only one."
She hadn't found a chair or anything, but she had slid down onto the floor. Her eyes were stinging like crazy, she silently cursed herself when she felt the first teardrop drip down her cheek.
"Are you in pain?"
"I was." He admitted, "The nice nurses here give me some kickass drugs."
She wiped her tears, "What kind of injury is it?"
"Crushed my left leg."
"Crushed?"
He nodded a little, "Yeah, crushed."
She wrapped one arm around her midriff, in a self-hug. "Can I see?"
"Not sure you want to, kid…"
"Kid?" she rolled her eyes a bit, "I'm 30-something year old teacher."
He smirked, "Exactly. You're barely 30…"
"34." She scowled, "Now, I need to see it."
"It looks bad." He warned, "I've got metal rods poking into my leg. It's bruised. Swollen."
"May I see?"
He nodded, "Just need a bit of help by this nice nurse here. I can't uncover my leg on my own."
"You want me to lift this off now?" a woman's voice asked off screen.
Her brother looked up and nodded, "Hey, Emily… Are you okay with being on camera?"
"Sure…" the woman's voice answered.
"Okay, let me just flip this camera…" he said as his brows knitted tightly together, and suddenly she saw white covers instead of his face.
A set of tan arms came into view, and the nurse asked if her brother was ready to have the covers lifted away. He obviously nodded, because a second later the nurse carefully revealed the mess that was her brother's leg.
"Oh dear…" she gasped, "That looks bad…"
"Told you so…" he sighed, "Do you want a closer look?"
She paused for a beat before she answered, "Yeah."
The picture moved a lot as if he was attempting to sit up straighter, but that attempt got cut short by a pained grumble.
"Easy there soldier…" the nurse's voice cut in, "How about I handle the phone, and you try to avoid jostling that leg of yours?"
It took him a second or two more to answer than what Amy had expected, and when the nurse took the phone and turned the camera on him, she could've sworn her brother was at least a shade paler.
The screen then panned across his injured leg, first along the outside, then the inside of his leg.
"So, you're coming home this time, right?" Amy asked.
"Yeah, but I think they might want to keep me here a couple of days more…" he replied.
"At least." the nurse shot in.
"At least…" her brother repeated as the nurse handed his phone back to him, a moment later he had managed to turn on the front facing camera again, "I'm also going to have at least one more surgery, and I'm going to get some other hardware around my leg. But we don't know if that surgery will take place here or back home yet."
Amy nodded, "Would you like to stay here for a while when you get back home, or do you think the kids would wear you out right now?"
"Look, I love my nephews and my niece…" he rubbed one of his hands against his stubble, "But, unless I feel 20 times better before I get back home…"
Amy nodded, "How about I stop by to make sure you're doing alright every now and then? Maybe bring some leftovers?"
He nodded, "I've missed your kitchen skills for a couple of months now…"
"I'll be sure to cook up some of your favorites."
"Best sister ever…" he smirked.
She smiled back, and looked left as the door to her classroom opened.
In the distance Full Metal could hear one of her students ask her if she had been crying. His sister answered truthfully. The student asked if something was wrong, and his sister shrugged a little. Then she answered truthfully once more, letting the student know that brother had managed to injure his leg pretty bad. That she felt very sorry for him, and that she worried a bit as well.
The student asked what kind of injury, and Amy stalled a bit before giving a mild version of the truth. "He broke his leg in a very bad way."
He could hear the student wince, "I hope he's not in too much pain."
"Yeah…" Amy nodded and looked back down at the screen, "Hear that Scotty? We hope you're not in too much pain."
He chuckled, "No… Already told you that my pain right now is just okay…"
Amy nodded again, "Have you told mom or dad?"
"I'll have told them by the time you're off work."
She nodded.
He sighed.
"I should get back to class. Hope that nurse is taking good care of you, and I can't wait until I get to hug my older brother again, so consider yourself warned."
He chuckled slightly, "But no jumping hugs. I'm not up for that."
"No jumping hugs, of course." She nodded, "Love ya, bye."
"You too sis. Talk to you later."