Adam babysat Emily the next morning when Cathy went out to show her editor the manuscript. Currently Emily was doing nothing but holding onto Adam's index finger. Looking at it like it was nothing's she's ever seen. She started sucking on it, Adam could barely feel her first tooth coming in. He smiled at her, he grabbed her pacifier,
"Here." he put it in her mouth, she looked up at him with her big brown eyes, reminding him of Drew more.
When Cathy wasn't around, he had absolutely no one to talk to. Not since high school was over anyway.
After Eli graduated, he got accepted into an arts university in California the lucky bastard. While he promised he'd keep contact, they haven't talked since. Clare was out in the world somewhere, completing her life long dream of traveling. What her career was, Adam didn't know. He was actually shocked when Eli and Clare went their separate ways. He was sure Clare would be rolling on the floor in heart break once he left. Adam was also fine with Wesley, Connor and Dave. However, they weren't exactly the 'socializing' type anyway.
He'd know.
He'd been stuck with Wesley since 5th grade all the way to high school graduation.
Then Dave…he remember he invited him over once…then his mother told him to never invite him over again. He liked Dave, but he's not an outside school type of person he'd want to be with.
Currently, he had Emily, Cathy, and his brother. And that was a lot for him. It suddenly hit him that hadn't told his parents about Drew leaving. No! he thought, then she'd be coming down and…lets just say Emily was not ready to live with her grandmother just yet. He'd tell her if things were going wrong…in which everything was going great.
At least he thought. He heard Emily wining. He looked down, she looked scared of something, he held her,
"What? What's wrong buddy?" he bounced her.
She suddenly stopped. He lifted her higher and kissed her cheek. She was so…soft. He smiled at her again. He suddenly drifted off, thinking about Drew. What time was it in Afghanistan right now he thought. It was 9:30 in the morning, Afghanistan was 8 hours and 30 minutes ahead…it would be about 5 in the afternoon. How weird, they had just woken up, and Afghani's were finding places to have dinner. He wished telepathy existed at that moment,
He'd be able to talk to Drew. His usual weird little fantasies. If he could just hear Drew's voice at that moment, he'd feel so much better. But all he could do was hope that everything was fine.
Until then, he'd keep his promise, and make sure his baby girl was doing fine.
Out in Afghanistan, the sun was slowly falling, it beamed down on the soldier's faces as the helmets were no help. No attacks appeared the night before, much to their surprise. Currently they were scouting about their base, groups scattered around every corner, Drew was with Turner.
"Drew, this is weird." They were circling the multiple shelters where they slept (if they ever had time).
"How so?" They had their guns tucked under their arms, loaded and un-cocked just incase.
"The Libyans arrived over 15 hours ago, why haven't they attacked us yet?" The uneasy tone in his voice was stressing Drew out,
"Man, I know! Just calm down! They want to catch us off guard,", he looked around both ways, "So that's why its our job to be on guard." They turned left,
"Ok, I know. It's just, I'm not exactly that used to being shot at, and I think if we were off guard, we'd be in deep-" Out of no where, there was an explosion about 3 feet away from them, the two fell into the dirt below, "SHIT!"
All of the other guards frenzied, running in every direction, people shouting in Persian, English, and unfamiliar voices shouting in Arabic. There were swarms of Libyans appearing through the dust cloud. Drew lifted Turner by the neck of his shoulder,
"I THINK THERE HERE!" He could hear gunshots, Drew aimed, he saw one, right in front of him, like a ghost rising out of the mist. He shot…clean in the head. It was over for that one, "TURNER, FIND MORE!" they ran their separate ways.
Drew, Turner and about 300 more soldiers fired, re-loaded, fired, re-loaded, and repeat. It was safe to say they were winning. That is, until Drew saw the man directly next to him get a bullet, straight through the chest. It was over for him. The attackers started to get confident and were stampeding towards them. Drew was the first to jump out of hiding and attack. Turner the second, the rest of the army followed, Libyans getting shot, pinned down, beamed in the head with guns, and vice versa for the other troupe. Although it didn't matter who won at this point, things were getting ugly for the day.
Cathy came home to find Adam asleep on the couch. She shook his shoulder, he let out a shocked gasp. After he put Emily down for a nap, he found himself taking one as well, he startled Cathy himself by that awakening. He figured out where he was and sat up,
"Hey, how'd your story go?"
Cathy held the copy of the manuscript in her hand, confused as why Adam was acting like he was fine, "Oh-fine."
It was eleven in the morning, she'd been gone for 3 hours. She wondered if Emily was at her breaking point or not and rushed home. Apparently not. She sat next to him,
"You ok?" she put a hand on his shoulder,
"I'm fine. Why?"
She pursed her lips, raising a brow. She knew that he knew damn well why she asked.
"Just…bad dream." he shook his head in defeat, "ok?"
She rubbed his shoulder, a comforting expression, "What happened?"
"Just-" he bit his tongue, "Nothing…just a stupid dream. Ok?"
"Was Drew in it?"
Adam didn't respond, giving her the answer. She rubbed it a little more, patting his back in comfort. She stood up and walked to the kitchen, "Maybe coffee will help."
Adam was just staring at the carpet floor, "Thanks." he rubbed his eyes.
After the coffee woke him back up, the two ended up talking about how her editor said The Afterlife was a definite publish. Over 30,000 paperbacks would be made and 20,000 hardbacks. Her first success after years of trying and trying. Adam congratulated her. Cathy was giggling in modesty,
"No really! That's great! So when do I get to read it?"
"In a matter of 3 weeks." she smiled.
They suddenly heard baby noises from the nursery upstairs, "That's our cue." The two walked up. Cathy was the one to pick her up,
"Hey honey! Did you miss me?" she put her face closer to Emily's. "Did you miss mommy?" she bounced her as Emily laughed. Adam rubbed Emily's (or what was going to be) hair.
They took her downstairs to play for a few hours while Cathy actually had time to catch up on her shows, Adam watched along with her until he remembered,
"Did you send that picture to Drew?"
Cathy suddenly jumped a little, "Oh! No, in fact, the envelopes on the kitchen counter; addressed and everything, can you put it in the mail for me?" Adam nodded,
"Yeah. Sure." He found it hidden in a small pile of magazines and walked out to the mailbox, it may have taken him a second but the flag was up. He put it down and opened it.
An envelope… just one. Nothing else. He took it out, it was blank on the visible side until he turned it around, it said,
تحريك تورس تورنتو
Adam winced in hopeless confusion, then he realized, it was written in Persian…one of the Afghani languages.
He opened it up, unfolding the paper three times, it was a letter. Written in English thank god. After reading it, Adam just stood there. Dropping the envelope in his hand, landing heavily on the driveway. He stared at the note, reading it three times and still not believing it. Cathy didn't notice Adam was still outside as she was upstairs with Emily. Adam walked in, still in a trance,
"Hey…you didn't send the…"
He held up the letter.
-X-
They were all downstairs, Emily in her play crib and Adam and Cathy in the kitchen,
The note said;
Dear,
Cathy Adam and Emily,
Things aren't going too well here. Our camp was attacked by surprise a while ago…We are fine but as for recovery of the base most of us are gonna be sleeping on the cold, damp dirt. Trainings good, the last attack we lost 3 people at the most as it was only a few rookie Libyans. However, once the real deal arrives…well, I'm not sure what will happen.
For Adam, I want to thank you for taking care of my wife, and my daughter. I hope to hear from you or Cathy.
To Emily, tell her daddy loves her and misses her and he knows he will be home once everything's over.
I love you, Adam, Cathy, and Emily,
Andrew Torres
This was Adam's fifth time reading it and he still couldn't find the right words to respond with. Nor could Cathy as she stared at it with her mouth slightly open. She struggled to put her words together,
"Ah-w-wa-well…what…what are we going to do?"
Adam still couldn't speak. He was knocked back into being pre-verbal. He read the note one last time before he finally forced himself to turn away…one of the men that died that day could've been Drew he kept thinking, he knew it wasn't but he kept asking himself what if it was. What would've happened if Drew did die and they didn't get that letter? He found himself laying on his side in his bed. His brain was turning into mush with all the negative thoughts that kept repeating over and over and over. Up to the point where he covered his ears and buried his face into the pillow. No sound was breaking in nor could he try to daydream of something else. He at least wanted his mind blank.
Blank…nothing good…nothing bad either.
Drew needed him he kept saying…but he also needed him to take care of one of the two people he loved most in the world. But currently, Drew was the person he cared most about in the world. He had to do something…letters don't stop the Libyans from invading he thought…nothing would…
He still kept asking himself what was he supposed to do. He was racing back and forth between the two choices he now had…a never ending race between 'yes' or 'no'.
"When I wake up…" he thought bitterly to himself, "The first thing I think when I wake up…I'll choose that."
And he fell into a forced sleep.
In Afghanistan, it was pitch black out, some of the injured soldiers were recovering while the rest had to sleep outside on the ground. Drew was happy he'd be able to rest and not get penalized for it. He shared a shelter with Turner, who slept in the bunk next to his.
"What a fucking day!" Turner plopped down back-first onto the bed.
Drew unbuckled his helmet, "You can say that again…" the two were covered in bruises, gashes and dirt. Ironically, mostly dirt.
Turner sat up, "Holy shit! I don't know how I'm gonna sleep tonight I mean, what if we get bombed-?"
"Please don't talk about this right now!" Drew yelled, looking at his reflection in his helmet.
"Ok sorry." Turner took off his helmet, "What's with you? You alright?"
"I'm fine." Drew sighed, "I'm fine. I'm just, tired."
Turner looked at the inside of his helmet,
"You know Turner, I can't stop thinking…I mean, as a soldier all your supposed to do is FOCUS and AIM and FIRE! But I keep thinking about-" he saw Turner was drawn into the inside of his helmet, Drew walked over and sat next to him. Inside of Turner's helmet was a photo of him and his younger brother, only 13, taped to the top of his helmet. Drew sighed, knowing what was going on with him.
"Funny, there is something you worry about."
Turner chuckled, "He always looked up to me…and before I left for Afghanistan, he told me there was one thing he always wanted from me…my badge from boot camp." Drew looked closer, on the picture, Turner's brother had on his badge, "But as long as this picture remains undamaged…and untouched," he turned his helmet over, "I know he's ok." he sighed.
Drew patted his back, "Hey, I bet he's a good kid. He's doing fine I bet…" Turner smiled, but Drew looked over at the wall,
"It's that Emily is too young to understand that her dad may never come home…it's so weird…she hasn't even been in this world for that long and she barely knows me…yet whenever she looks at me…it's like she does. As in, she knows I exist…like I'm there." He looked at Turner, "Do you get what I'm saying?"
Turner nodded, "Yeah man…" his smiled dropped, "No…no."
The two laughed, Drew walked over to his bed as Turner went to kill the lights, "Night."
"Night."
The next morning when Drew awoke the next morning, Turner was still dead asleep, he looked out the doors of his shelter, the sun was just rising, very few soldiers were standing guard. He got dressed back into his uniform and latched his helmet on…grabbing his gun. When he walked out, sergeant Cassel was outside his shelter,
"Any sign sir?" he asked in the most powerful voice he could muster,
"Not yet…just wait until given orders." he walked off to the other shelter. Drew stood guard outside his shelter doors for the rest of the morning.
Finally, after hours of target practice, Drew decided to break for just a minute and get a bite to eat. There was very little food where they were, but all he wanted was water at that point. When he arrived to the small 'café' they made up, there were only two other soldiers there, having a conversation in Persian. Drew grabbed whatever bottle of water he could find and swallowed nearly the entire thing. It was hot and old tasting but he didn't give a fuck. Water was water.
"Torres?"
He wiped his mouth, turning around. It was a fellow soldier, "Yes?"
"We need you to come with us…" Drew was confused but he swallowed what was left of the water and followed them.
They were a mile away from camp and Drew finally asked, "What is this? Where are we going?" Ahead of him, he saw a small shack where the soldiers checked in and where relatives dropped off letters and other miscellaneous items. He was inside, it was crowded and unbelievably hot. He could hardly breathe in there. At the counter where a few Afghani men took in the deliveries, he saw someone look at him,
"…Adam?"
Adam was there, he could see tears in his eyes, albeit smiling, "Drew!" he ran over through the crowd,
"Adam I-" he was stopped when Adam suddenly squeezed him, he cried,
"Your ok!"
Drew held him tightly, delighted and happy to see him…but confused and worried at the same time, "Yeah…I am."