"Sean?" she whispered, walking slowly into the living room. "What are you doing?"

"Uh, well…I" he turned to face her; trying his best to block her view of his packed duffle bag. She unfortunately saw right around him.

"You're leaving." She said.

"What? Oh, uh, yeah. I…I found a place." He stammered.

"Where are you going this time?" she asked forwardly, her tone stern. "Back to Wasaga?"

"Em, you don't…"

"The Peace Corp?"

"Emma,"

"Or are you just running away because my parents know you deserted the army?"

"I…" he gave the girl a look. "How did you…"

"The night you got here, I heard them talking in the kitchen. So where are you going?" She glared at him hard. For a second, Sean thought she'd burn a hole through his skull if he made any sudden movements.

He stood there for a moment, nervously scratching his scalp as he tried to come up with an excuse.

"Why didn't you tell me," Emma asked.

"I…" he looked to her. She stared at him, waiting for an explanation. "The day I left… you just seemed so proud of me, all of you did. I didn't wanna disappoint anyone."

"Well how do you think we feel now?"

"You? How about how I felt? I signed on to protect my country... I signed on to risk my life, maybe even die. I couldn't go through with it… when have I ever gone through with anything? I'm Sean, A Waste of Life Cameron."

"You're not, you were just scared."

"Yeah, I'll be sure to tell that to the judge." Sean sat down on the couch, continuing to brush through his messy hair. He thought for a moment as Emma continued to glare at him.

He stopped fidgeting with his hair and cupped his hands in his lap. "In the time I was there, I became somewhat of friends with this guy, Daniels. Didn't know his first name, he usually introduced himself by his last name. He was a cool guy, always telling jokes, making people laugh; everyone loved him. He talked about how he couldn't wait to get back home and see his girlfriend, his mother; we'd barely been there for a week and he was already prepared to go home. But as much as he wanted to go home, he knew he made a commitment, something he couldn't break." Sean looked up at Emma; he had a feeling she knew where this was going. "He said we'd all get through this. Pretty soon we'd be home in our comforting beds, ready for nighty night stories on the Cinemax late night block." He giggled at the last bit, Emma gave a solemn half smile. "A few weeks later, his squad was called out to escort a General on a peace keeping mission. They were ambushed, and only three men survived." Sean's voice began to tremble, the tears were beginning to fall. "Daniels…wasn't one of them." He cried, the tears came down fast and painfully. Flashes of Daniels swept by his mind. The day he received the news of his unfortunate death played over and over again in his head.

Emma rushed to his side and put her arms around him, he buried his face in his hands. "I believed him; I believed that we'd make it through all of it." He nearly sobbed, trying hard to keep the tears from coming. "I didn't wanna wait for it to happen to me; I just couldn't stay there. One night, a helicarrier was going back to the U.S. to get some supplies. I stowed away and ended up here. I got enough money to take a train into the city… and now I'm sitting next to you." The reminder of him being back home calmed him a bit, but the decision he still had to make frightened him. The tears settled a bit once he looked to Emma. "Pretty wimpish of me, huh?" he sniffed.

"No, but I don't think it was wise of you to leave like that."

"I guess you think I should go to county and confess,"

Emma stared at him for a while before responding. "Look, ever since the day you told me you were going into the army, I thought it was a stupid idea. Till this day, I still think it's stupid. But, when you came back that day, from training, I saw the commitment in your eyes. How proud you were to be doing something you believed was right. When you left, I felt for you so bad and I wished you the best. And if it were up to me right now, I'd want you go back and keep that commitment. But you can't, you've crossed a line. I understand you were scared, I was scared for you too but that doesn't mean you should break your promise."

"So you want me to confess?"

"I want you to do what you think is right for you. Whether that's confessing… or staying on the run. You could probably get away with it, but it wouldn't be the right thing to do."

They sat there for a moment, looking at each other. He saw the wisdom and truth in her eyes; she saw the confusion and frustration in his.

In that split second, Sean knew what he was going to do. His mind was made up.

…

This was what he wanted to do; he felt it was the right thing to do. Emma was right, he made a promise, a promise he couldn't break. He'd go through with this. He'd finally go through with something, and that made him proud. So why did he have this enormous knot in his stomach, why did his decision make him cringe?

Because deep down inside, he knew it was the wrong thing to do.