Ian Comes Home

by Danielle Dixion

IAN COMES HOME

  Text Copyright ©2013 Danielle Dixion

  To my Best Friend: KM

  Thank you so much! I never could have accomplished any of this without you! Thank you for pushing me to make my writing better and for putting up with all of my annoying texts while you were proof reading. I appreciate it! This one’s for you!

  Table of Contents:

  Chapter one

  Chapter two

  Chapter three

  Chapter four

  Chapter five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter one: Ellie.

  “Beep! Beep! Beep!” I roll over in my bed and turn off the alarm clock. Today is finally the day! I’ve waited six long months for this day to come! Ian finally comes home from Iraq! Ian’s plane arrives at noon but it’s a three hour drive to the closest airport. While the arrival time the Army gives isn’t always right, I have a feeling it will be today. I have missed so much about Ian while he has been gone there is no way I could choose just one thing to miss. The thing about Ian is he is every girl’s dream guy; he’s 6’6, muscular with short dirty blonde hair, and icy cold blue eyes that you could get lost in if you looked too long, his smile can make you melt at just a glance. And he smells so good! He smells like a mixture of mint gum and his favorite cologne. I am so lucky to have him in my life. I rush to get ready and hurry out the door, excited to finally see my wonderful boyfriend. When I arrive at the airport, there are about twenty-five people waiting for their loved ones to return. I’m lost in the moment, until I feel a tug at my shirt. I look down to see a little girl about five or six years old, holding a teddy bear. She is just the cutest little thing I’ve ever seen. I bend down to her level and she asks me, “Are you waiting for the soldiers?” “Yes, I am,” I tell her smiling. “They’re really brave aren’t they?” I ask with a smile. She looks at me and asks, “Will you give this to whoever you are waiting for?” I take her hand in mine, “Why don’t you give it to the person you are waiting for? “I would, but my brother isn’t coming home.” She tells me sadly. I look at her trying to keep the mood happy. “Hey! I have an idea how about you give the bear to the man I’m waiting for? I’m sure he would love it!” Her face instantly lights up! “Okay! Who are you waiting for?” She asks with a smile. “My boyfriend Ian” I tell her standing back up. “Is he cute?” She asks giggling. Before I can answer her mother, Saundra, comes rushing over quick to apologize over and over again. I tell her it’s no problem and that her daughter wanted to give the teddy bear to my boyfriend. Her mom insists that I wait with them until the plane touches down. The plane lands a few minutes after I joined the little girl I now know as Emmalynn and her family. I watch and clap as the brave men and women exit the plane in their digital camouflage uniform and heavy bags. Ian is one of the last ones to exit the plane. He spots me and makes a Bee-line straight for me. He stops a few feet ahead of me and says, “I’ve missed you so much Ellie.” With that he picks me up and spins me around and around, hugging me tightly like he never wants to let go. I kiss his cheek and he puts me down. “Follow me Ian; I have someone I want you to meet.” I grab his hand and take him over to Emmalynn and her family. “This is Emmalynn and her family;” I say pointing to them. “Emmalynn has something for you.” I smile at him. Emmalynn grabs the teddy bear and hands it to him. “Thank you,” she tells him Ian picks her up and hugs her tight. She smiles and Ian puts her down. “This is a very cute bear. Thank you very much, Emmalynn. I’ll take it with me on all of my deployments.” Ian says with one of his breathtaking smiles. Emmalynn runs over to me and whispers “You were right, he is cute!” into my ear while giggling. Once home Ian and I finally get some much needed alone time. “What do you want to do?” I ask tossing the car keys on the counter. “I guess we could watch a movie.” He says. Ian is the type of guy who could watch movies all day long and never get bored. I put in his favorite movie “Fireproof.” Before we are even an hour in Ian was asleep. He looks so cute sitting there. I’ve defiantly missed these little moments with him. I smile and lay my head on his shoulder and fall asleep shortly after. Next thing I know Ian is yelling “Get down!” What is going on? I look over at him and see that he is still asleep. I shake him until he wakes up. Before I know what’s going on I’m on the floor and Ian is on top of me, breathing heavily he smacks me across the face and slams my head on the floor. I scream out in pain, once Ian realizes what he’s doing and he snaps out of it. “Are you alright?” I ask him scared. “Oh my god Ellie, I am so sorry! I never meant to hurt you I promise.” He comes closer and touches my eye. It’s already starting to bruise. I am so sorry El. It will never ever happen again. I promise. Ian walks to the couch and sits down. He places his head in his hands. I can tell that what he just did bothers him. “Ian.” I say. “Yes, baby?” He asks. “Don’t worry about what just happened. I know better than to do what I did.” I say placing my hand in his. “Ellie, just because you know better doesn’t make what I just did right! Do you understand that? I just hit you. I deserve to be shot. I would never hurt you purposely, you know that right?” He asks taking my face in his hands. “Ian it’s fine, just forget it ever happened. I know you would never hurt me on purpose.” I say sitting back down on the couch next to him. We go back to watching the movie, but I can tell that him hitting me was still bothering him. “Ian, chill out it’s okay.” I say trying to hug him. He moves away from me. “No it isn’t. I need to clear my mind and just think for a little bit. I’ll be back later.” he says walking into our bedroom. “Where are you going?” I ask following him. “Out for a bit.” He replies. I place my body in between him and the door frame, blocking his exit. “Ian, if this is bothering you let’s just sit down and talk about it. I know what you’re going through Ian. All you have to do is let me help you!” Ian looks at me irritated. “Ellie, get out of the way, I don’t want to talk. All I want to do is go out and clear my head.” I don’t move. “Ian, I’m not moving out of your way. Just stay here and talk to me, please. I want to help you.” Ian sighs. “Ellie move right now.” I can tell that he’s getting angry but I don’t listen to the voice in my head telling me to just let him go. I know I’m being stubborn but I just can’t help it. “I’m not moving. If you want out of this room you’re going to have to move me first.” Ian rolls his eyes. “Ellie, I don’t want to move you. Just let me go out and clear my head. I need to get my head straight. I promise I won’t be out long.” Ellie doesn’t seem to believe me. “No! You just got home and you already want to leave. Just sit down and watch the movie with me. That’s all I want Ian. I just want to spend time with you! You’ve been gone for six months Ian. Six Months!” I can’t take Ellie being in the way anymore. I’m about to explode and I don’t want to take it out on her or do something that I’ll end up regretting again. I grab Ellie tightly by the arm and shove her across the room she falls on her butt with a loud thud. “I’ll be back later.” I say grabbing my coat and walking out of the house. I can’t believe that I just hit Ellie. I just slapped her and smacked her head on the floor and shoved her. What is wrong with me? I need to be shot. Hopefully this run will help to clear my mind, I think to myself. After running as fast as I possibly could for a while I notice that it’s getting later than I realized. I don’t want to worry Ellie so I head back in the direction of the house.

  Chapter two: Ian.

  “Ellie.” I call out walking through the front door. There is no answer. “Ellie!” I call out again walking in to the living room. There I find her fast asleep. She looks so cute and I don’t want to wake her. Slowly and carefully I pick
her up in my arms and carry her into our bedroom. I set her down on the bed and grab some of my clothes. I go into the bathroom to change. When I walk back into the bedroom Ellie’s sitting cross-legged on the bed. “Hey Ian?” She asks me questionably. “Yeah?” I reply sleepily lying next to her on the bed with my head in her lap. “Do you want to go back to the park where we had our first date?” She asks twirling her hair around her finger nervously. “Yeah, just give me a minute to put my shoes on.” I reply grabbing my black converse out of the closet and my hoodie off the dresser. “Are you ready to go?” I ask slipping them on. Ellie follows me out into the driveway. “What do you want to take the Mustang or motorcycle?” I ask. I know this is somewhat of a hard decision for her especially since she loves both vehicles. “Hmm, let’s take the Mustang.” Ellie says opening the passenger side door. “You see Ellie I knew you would pick the Mustang.” I smile and get the car. Within a few minutes we are at our favorite park. I open my door and get out.

  Chapter three: Ellie

  “It's still as beautiful as when we first came.” I tell Ian smiling grabbing his hand. “Maybe, but you’re more beautiful than anything I have ever seen.” Ian whispers into my ear while wrapping his arms around me from behind. I can only blush. The feeling of our skin being pressed together tightly makes my stomach fill with butterflies and my blood sizzle. I turn around and look at a huge oak tree. Right under there Ian and I had our first date. I think back to that day and smile. I remember it perfectly, kind of like it was yesterday. Ian picked me up at 16:30 P.M; he had his Shelby GT Mustang with him. I loved that car, it was gorgeous. I was devastated when he sold it and put a down payment on our house before his deployment. It was silver with a blue racing stripe down the side. Ian then brought me to this very park where he had set up a picnic. He had all of my favorite picnic foods like watermelon, salad and chicken. He opened the door for me and led me over to the blanket. He proceeded to pull out my favorite type of flowers from the basket, Lilies, they smelled so good. He handed them to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek. It was getting cold and I had forgotten my jacket so being the gentlemen that Ian is, he gladly took off his hoodie and gave it to me. I thanked him and told him that this was the best first date ever. In fact I never gave him his jacket back. I think I still have it stashed away somewhere. When he drove me home he opened my door, walked me to the front door and gave me another kiss on the cheek, and told me goodnight. Boy, did I miss his hugs, kisses and politeness while he was in Iraq. I smile and Ian shakes me. I almost fall over but before I do he grabs a hold of me and says my name until I snap out of it. I look at him and smile. He gives me a stern yet worried look. “Why didn’t you answer me?” he asks. “I was thinking about our first date.” I answer. “Okay, good.” He says relieved. “I’m glad you agreed to go out with me that night” He replies. “If it wasn’t for Sean then we wouldn’t have ever met, I wouldn’t have fallen in love with you.” I smile and hug him. “Thank god for Sean.” He says looking up at the sky. “If it wasn’t for your cousin taking me under his wing during my first deployment, I never would’ve met the love of my life and the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with.” He says with a smile. I go to say something but his phone rings, I frown and nod letting him know that it’s okay for him to answer it. He answers the phone and turns his back to me. This is weird I think, he’s never done that before. I shrug it off and sit down pulling out some of the grass and weeds that are around me. I can hear some of his conversation. “Hello.” He asks talking softly. “I don’t know, I just got back, I’m with Ellie,” He tells the person on the phone. I can tell he is smiling by the way his voice sounds. “Bro, I just got home, I planned to give Ellie something tonight.” he whispers. I could barely make that part out. “Is she alright?” Ian asks. “Alright, I will be right there. I just have to drop Ellie off at home.” He says frantically. He turns towards me once again. “I have to go. I’ll drop you off at home and I will be back later. OK?” he asks. I tell him I understand and walk back to the car. Ian starts up the car and drives the few minutes back home. “Bye Ian.” I say exiting the car. I watch him drive away, then go inside. Once inside I let a tear fall down my cheek. I don’t feel like doing much so I turn on the TV and flip through the channels. I stop at one of my favorite shows Criminal Minds and cry myself to sleep.

  Chapter four: Ian.

  I pull up in front of the house, trying not to make too much noise I quickly turn off the engine and lock the Mustang behind me. I notice some thick black smoke coming from the house. I quicken my pace to a run to the front door. Feeling the door with the back of my hand I can tell it’s hot. I quickly run around to the back door and jiggle with the handle. The door is locked. I take a step back and kick the door in, rushing inside; my adrenaline is running in full force at the moment. “Ellie where are you?” I call out for her but there is no answer. The further I go into the house the thicker the smoke becomes. “Ellie can you hear me?” I call once more. Still there is no answer. Where could she be? I run into the living room checking for Ellie, but she’s nowhere in sight. “Maybe she’s in the bedroom?” I question making my way towards our bedroom. The smoke is getting thicker and it’s harder to breathe. If I don’t find Ellie soon, we’re both in a whole lot of trouble. It really could be the end of both of us. I run into the bedroom finding Ellie curled up in a ball on the bed, she isn’t moving. “Ellie!” I yell. She makes no effort to move. I run over to her and roll her on to her back, checking to see if she’s breathing. Thank god she is, but her breath sounds are faint and her chest rises and falls slowly. “Ellie, wake up.” I say shaking her a little. I try not to let her move around very much. She slowly opens her eyes. “Ellie! Baby tell me what hurts? What’s hurting you?” I ask quickly. She coughs and points to her arm. I look over and can see that she has a third degree burn stretching from her wrist to her elbow. It’s getting harder to breathe and see and I know we have to get out right now. “Ellie, I’m going to take you outside. Tell me if your arm starts to hurt you more.” I tell her picking her up off the bed.

  Chapter five: Ellie.

  I nod and wince as he picks me up placing my head against his chest blocking the smoke from my airway. Ian rapidly maneuvers through the thick black smoke. He gets through the living room with no problems but that whole no problems thing is short lived. We are faced with a medium sized fire blocking our only exit to the back door. “Ellie, I need you to keep your head pressed up against my chest, okay? I’m going to go around this fire. It’s very important that you don’t breathe in anymore of this smoke.” I nod my head and tightly squeeze my eyes shut. I must have passed out again because when I reopen my eyes we’re outside. I look at Ian; his face is black from all of the smoke. He pulls out his cell phone and calls 9-1-1. I drift back into unconsciousness’ as he anxiously waits for the paramedics and firefighters to arrive. The firefighters arrive shortly after Ian placed the call to the 9-1-1 dispatcher. They bring five trucks and one rescue. The people from the rescue get their gear and rush over to us focusing all of their attention on me. I can faintly hear people around me talking. I hear Ian ask what he could do to help and an unfamiliar voice answers his question. “Talk to her.” The big muscular guy tells me. “Do you need medical assistance, sir?” He asks Ian while accessing Ian. I can hear Ian reply, “No, I’m fine just focus on my girlfriend please. I can’t lose her. You have to save her! I can’t lose her! ”

  Chapter six: Ian.

  “Ellie, can you hear me? If you can I need you to open your eyes for me. Can you do that for me? Ellie open your eyes.” I repeat that until the paramedics arrive and take control of the scene. They strap Ellie to the backboard and start an IV in her hand. I hear one of the paramedics ask a firefighter to help them load Ellie into the rig. “This can’t be happening. I never should have left her alone.” I repeatedly think to myself. I try to get in the ambulance but the paramedics tell me that there’s no room and that I can meet them at S
t. Mercy’s. I nod my head and pull the ambulance doors closed. The engine of the rig roars to life as they take off running with their lights and sirens. I can hear someone walking up behind me. I quickly turn around and face an older man most likely in his sixties wearing a turn out jacket and a white helmet. “Do you live here son?” he asks handing me a towel. “Yes sir I do. My name is Ian Bradshaw. May I ask who you are?” I ask wondering who in the world this man could be. “My name is Marshall. I work for the Arson Investigator’s department. I just need to ask you some questions it’s a routine thing so there isn’t anything to worry about. As soon as we are done you can go to your wife. Why don’t you follow me over here to this command vehicle?” He says pointing to a red SUV with the name Marshall’s Arson Investigation painted across the side. I don’t think I have much of a choice in this so I follow him to the SUV. I get in and before I even have the door shut he starts questioning me. He asks at least four questions but I don’t catch any of them. “Excuse me sir, but can you please just slow it down a bit? I have no idea what you just asked me.” I ask him trying to stay calm. How can I stay calm when I have no idea how Ellie is? “Were you home when the fire started?” He asks pulling out a tape recorder. “No, I was out on a run.” I say confused as to why he needed that information. Am I a suspect in this? “Why were you not at your residence sir? It’s pretty late to be out and about.” He asks talking in to the microphone. “Ellie and I had gotten in a little fight and I needed to cool off. I don’t see what any of this has to do with the fire itself though.” I say. “Did you start the fire and then leave?” He asks raising an eyebrow at me. “What? I wasn’t even home. How could I have started it? I should have been here with Ellie. This never would’ve been this bad if I was home.” I say ranting. “Okay last question for right now, was anything wrong with the house? Maybe some faulty wiring, a gas leak, perhaps a candle or something got knocked over.” “We don’t burn candles, there was nothing wrong with the wiring and if there was a gas leak the house would’ve exploded a long time ago, idiot.” I spit at him, quickly getting out of the car. I start to walk towards my car but I notice that the firemen are cleaning up. I spot the chief, an old family friend, and hustle over to him. “Hey, Critchfield can I talk to you for a minute?” I ask. “Hey Ian! It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you. What do you need?” He asks. “I need to know how this happened. Can you tell me?” I ask “We suspect that it’s arson. There is evidence of the use of an accelerant. Now what I don’t understand is why they would leave Ellie, basically untouched. Besides the burn on her arm her only other visible injury is a black eye. When I know more Ian I’ll let you know. You need to go be with Ellie right now. She needs you.” He says shooing me away. Critchfield didn’t have to tell me twice to go be with Ellie. I get into my mustang, and speed off towards the hospital. Once I arrive I go to the nurse’s desk and ask where Ellie’s room is. She tells me the number and I make my way to the room. I really don’t know what to expect. Critchfield said her only injuries were her black eye and burnt arm. Could he be right? I stop at room 124, Ellie’s room. I knock and then open the door; there is a doctor and a nurse checking some monitors that Ellie is hooked up too. “Excuse me Doctor, can I talk to you for a minute?” I ask putting my hands behind my back. “Yes?” He asks handing a clipboard to the nurse beside him. The doctor looks young, maybe mid to early thirties with short dark brown hair. “My name is Ian, I’m Ellie’s boyfriend. How is she doing?” I ask kind of scared of the answer. “Well, Ian, I hear that you’re the one that rescued her. Is that true?” He asks. I just nod my head. “Well it’s good that you got there when you did because she wouldn’t have made it if she was in that house any longer. When she came in her nose hair was singed and she has a bad third degree burn on her arm. She also has a black eye and a small fracture on the back of her skull. You and I both know that a fire will not do that to someone. Someone had to have hit her. Was it you, Ian? I have an obligation to report domestic abuse and if that is going on here I will not hesitate reporting you. Just because you’re in the military doesn’t mean you get special treatment. Do you understand?” He asks folding his hands in front of him. “No, it wasn’t me. I wasn’t home when this whole thing started. I just happened to come home at the right time.” I say swallowing my guilt. I did do some of this to Ellie. She deserves someone way better than me. I know it. The doctor seems to believe my answer.