Mhm, short chapter. People who read my story tend to dislike this. I think it's actually good to throw in a short chapter every so often to cover a few points and to give readers a break from longer chapters, because reading them can become tiresome, difficult and such like. Anyways, I also wanted to throw in a little interaction between Blackburn and his fiance/girlfriend Charlene. That's actually real; according to the wiki, he actually does have a fiance/girlfriend Charlene. So I thought it might buff up the story with a little romance between the couple.
Chapter Four: Bad News
SSgt. Henry Blackburn – 1st Recon Marines
April 1, 2014. 1130 Zulu Time
FOB Havoc
A couple weeks had passed since the earthquake. The marines in Iraq had regrouped and were going to be reinforced by fifty-thousand more. They were going to be invading Iran to remove Faruk Al-Bashir from power.
That meant no one was going home anytime soon, which also meant Blackburn had to tell Charlene.
Blackburn had been allowed to use one of the computers in his camp to have a video chat with Charlene in their home. Needless to say, he was nervous. Matkovic had offered to be there for assistance, which was in his nature, but Blackburn declined.
The window opened and the video chat connected. Charlene appeared on the screen and Blackburn smiled.
"Hi Henry!" she said with a mixture of happiness and relief. Blackburn found that he was speechless. Charlene looked more radiant than ever. Her short dark hair was shining, her green eyes sparkled. More freckles dotted her nose and cheeks.
"Hey Charlene, how're…" Charlene interrupted.
"I heard everything about the earthquake Henry! Were you there?"
"Yes but…"
"Oh my god; are you alright! Did you get hurt!" Blackburn chuckled a little and held up his arms. Charlene gasped and covered her mouth. Both of Blackburn's forearms were wrapped with bandages up to his elbows. Charlene couldn't speak, even after Blackburn lowered his arms. He could see the tears forming in the corner of her eyes.
It was a minor wound and Blackburn knew she knew it was. But Blackburn knew that it wasn't the wound that was tearing her up. It was the fact that he was so far away, that he was actually in the disaster, that he was hurt, that he had almost died. And Charlene wasn't there to help him with any of it, which killed her the most.
"The rest of me is alright." Blackburn smiled and Charlene laughed a little, wiping at her eyes quickly.
"God, I'm just glad you're okay Henry."
"Me too…" Blackburn sighed and looked down a little.
"Henry? What's wrong?"
"You remember Jack? Jack Chaffin?" Charlene nodded. "Chaffin got wounded and we thought that he got evaced, but he got hit again and died on the way back." Blackburn shook his head and rubbed his forehead.
Charlene was familiar with Chaffin- with all of Blackburn's team. A few years back, they were all getting ready to go on leave when they decided to accompany Blackburn to Charlene's college to surprise her. They spent the next two days eating out and walking around town. Charlene befriended each one of the squad and invited them all to the wedding.
She knew it was hard for many military men to stay in touch, but somehow Blackburn and his buddies had been able to stick together all this time.
"I'm sorry that you lost Jack. He was a good man, Henry, and I know he felt really close to you." Blackburn nodded.
"He was a good man." Blackburn looked up and smiled a little. "I miss you Charlene." Charlene smiled back.
"I miss you too, but you'll be home soon, right? Your enlistment is supposed to be up soon, and you can come home." Charlene squealed a little and started going over the wedding plans. She was so happy, so delighted to be talking to Blackburn about the decorations, the people coming, how she planned to have it behind the old church among the pink leaved trees that grew there.
Blackburn listened, feeling the dread of having to tell her build up inside his chest. Eventually he couldn't bear it anymore and he stopped her.
"Charlene they're sending us back in."
Charlene stopped midsentence. She blinked a few times, staring at the screen in disbelief.
"What?"
"They're sending a large force to bolster our numbers here, and we're heading into Iran to eliminate the PLR."
"But, your enlistment is almost up; they just can't send you in there, not like that."
"They can, Charlene. They need every able-bodied man they can get, so I won't be sitting out the rest of my enlistment on the base or going out on patrol to the places I'm used to."
Charlene was allowing the tears to stream down her face now and it just increased the pain and guilt for Blackburn. "Honey, I…I…" Blackburn didn't know what to say. What could he say? Sorry? For what, he didn't want to go back in.
But as much Blackburn hated to admit, part of him did what to go back in. Half was for revenge, for Chaffin and the other marines who had died. The other half was a new drive he had. What Blackburn had seen that night, the man without the uniform taking the marine away was etched into his mind and nagged his memory constantly. It puzzled him, and Blackburn found himself wanting answers. Somehow, he believed that going into Iran would bring him the answers he desired.
"I'll keep an eye on'em Charlene." Blackburn looked sharply over his shoulder at Matkovic, standing a few feet away.
"This is a private thing Chris. Were you here this entire time, asshole?" Blackburn growled angrily, looked over his shoulder.
"Nah, I jus' showed up." Matkovic walked with a smile and sat down beside Blackburn. By then, Charlene had dried her face. "Hey, don't worry Charlene. Me and the fellas will make sure Blackburn stays outta trouble. He'll be safer than the President."
Charlene smiled.
"Thanks Chris, I know you guys'll take care of my Henry." Blackburn looked at his watch.
"Charlene we gotta go, it's someone else's turn now."
"Promise that you'll be careful."
"I promise Charlene." Charlene seemed to take some comfort and smiled so beautifully it made Blackburn smile back.
He touched her cheek where it appeared on the screen, running his cheek along the lines of her face. He wished he was actually touching her smooth skin, he wished he could feel the warmth of her touch again.
"I love you Charlene."
"I love you too Henry." Blackburn ended the video chat. He stared at the screen for a few moments and then covered his face with his hands. All of a sudden he felt very tired, like he just wanted to fall down.
Matkovic patted his back before wrapping an arm around his shoulder.
"God awful, shitty thing isn't it?" Blackburn lowered his left hand slightly.
"What is?"
"War- ya know what I mean? Keeps people apart, like you and Charlene. It's a terrible thing to keep people apart."
"You can write that in the book." Blackburn joked.
"You know I can't spell that well. I'll leave the writing to you."