Together

Written for ThursThreads this is also supposed to be a tribute for Veterans Day... although a bit different. No disrespect is intended. Our Veterans have given so much as well as their families. Sometimes new families may form from the sacrifice.

 

Together

By Lisa McCourt Hollar

Andrew woke with a start, the sound of his own screams dying against the otherwise silence of the night. As Jerry’s face faded, he saw Lori standing in the doorway, eyes wide. She wasn’t afraid, just concerned.

“Are you alright, baby?” She approached cautiously, he’d hit her once… not on purpose, just still living in the past.

“Wrapping his arms around her, the tears came. In his head he could still hear the sound of gunfire. It was night in his memory, but the sky was lit from the explosives that filled the night air. Around him his friends were dying. A sharp pain in his leg told him he’d been hit too, but he couldn’t stop moving. This was war… you stopped and you died.

“Go on,” his best friend was saying. “Leave me. Take care of Lori… tell her I love her.”

There was a chopper landing not far. They could make it… together. “Sorry, that job’s taken; you tell her.”

Lifting Jerry onto his back, he made his way towards the Medevac. He’d made a promise to Jerry’s wife… he would bring him home.

 Climbing into bed she lay next to him, holding him close. Jerry’s death had been hard on him… hard on them both. They had gotten through it… together.

“He would approve,” she whispered.

Two months after Andrew received his new leg she’d married him… for better and for worst, that included the guilt he felt over taking his best friend’s wife.

Word Count: 248