Storm

by Lagomarsino, Giulia

  “Fine, you’ve made your point.”

  She turned to leave, so I ran ahead of her and blocked her path. “Please, I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”

  She looked around and then grabbed my hand, dragging me into an empty room. Shutting the door, she crossed her arms over her chest and fucking turned the tables on me.

  “If you need my help that bad then you’re going to tell my why.”

  I looked at her in confusion. “Because an innocent woman is locked up.”

  “What’s she to you?”

  “She’s a friend.” She gave me a knowing look and I gave in. “She’s a woman I’m sleeping with.”

  “I know exactly who she is. Do you love her?”

  “Love?” I rolled my eyes heavenward and sighed. “I don’t think I even know what that feels like. I like her. She’s not like other women I’ve dated.”

  “Are you dating her?” Becky asked skeptically.

  “I will if I can get her out of this.”

  She studied me for a minute and then turned to go. “It’s not good enough.”

  I slammed the door shut again and she slowly looked up at me. “I’m begging you for your help.”

  “First, that’s not begging. Second, I’m not convinced. She sounds like another damsel in distress and I just don’t have time for that.”

  “What more can I say?” I asked incredulously. “What do you want from me? I don’t know what else to say!”

  “I want to know what makes her so special. I want to know why you need this so bad from me.”

  I stood there staring at her, refusing to give in to her demands. “It’s to help someone innocent. Since when do you need more than that?”

  She shook her head slowly like she was disappointed and opened the door again to leave. My heart pounded in my chest and sweat built up like it was ninety degrees in the fucking room. I either told her or I let an innocent woman suffer.

  “Because I can save this one,” I shouted.

  Becky stopped and shut the door. Looking at me, she walked over and took a seat, motioning for me to do the same. I sat down, resting my elbows on my knees. Fuck, I didn’t want to go through all this, but if this was what it took to get Jessica back, I’d fucking do it.

  “It’s the same story you’ve heard before from the other guys.”

  “I don’t care. I want to hear your story.”

  I scrubbed a hand down my face and took a deep breath. “I was deployed and…it was fucking dangerous. We shouldn’t have been there, but our orders got mixed up and…”

  I stood and started pacing the room. I hated talking about this shit. I felt itchy, like I wanted to crawl out of my own skin.

  “We had no warning. Not that you ever do in war. Shit happens all the time and we learn to deal with that and move on. But…my best friend was there. We’d enlisted together and…” I took a deep breath, trying to keep my emotions in check, but the overwhelming feelings took control of me. “He died that day with some of the other men in my unit.” I swiped at my face angrily. “If we hadn’t been there that day, he’d still be here with me. We did everything together. Except die,” I laughed humorlessly.

  “It wasn’t your fault.”

  I huffed out a laugh. “That’s what everyone tells you. It was war. Shit happens. You can’t blame yourself. They’re all a bunch of fucking platitudes to make people that have never experienced war feel like they’re helping. I fucking know that it wasn’t my fault, but that doesn’t clear my conscience. That doesn’t do jack shit for me when I’m sleeping and my best friend comes to me in my dreams and talks about the future we were going to have. Do you know what the last thing he said to me was?”

  Becky shook her head.

  “He said….” My breath caught in my chest and the pain was as real as it was the day it happened. I could see him lying on the ground, the lower half of his body missing and his face filled with such contentment. “He said that it was supposed to be him, that I was meant for something else.” I shook my head as a tear slipped free. I told her the rest of my story as I relived it in my mind.

  “It was… supposed to be me.” Mike gasped for breath and searched for my hand. I gripped his tightly as my best friend started to slip away. His body was torn in half and there was no fucking chopper in sight. I knew I was going to lose him. But it should have been me. He was only here because I was. I had believed in this war, but Mike just wanted to do what I did. He would have just as easily followed me to college if that’s what I had wanted.

  “No, Mike, it’s not supposed to be you.”

  “You aren’t supposed to die here,” he chuckled, as if this was all a joke. “You have to do something for me.”

  “Anything.” I tried to keep my tears at bay, but I couldn’t handle this. It was bad enough half my team was dead, but Mike, he was my brother at heart. Every memory I had was with him.

  “Do you remember that little girl in third grade? We used to chase her around the playground and pull her pigtails?”

  “Yeah, I remember,” I laughed. “Flaming red hair and sassy as hell.”

  He nodded slightly. “I never did work up the courage to ask her name.”

  I didn’t understand why he was bringing her up. Probably his brain responding to the pain, trying to grasp onto good memories to get him through. “What about her?” I asked.

  “Take care of her. She’s waiting for you.”

  “Who?”

  He stared past me, his eyes peaceful and accepting. “Jessica. She’s gonna need your help.” His words were so soft that I thought I heard him wrong, but then he gripped tightly onto my hand and tried to lift himself off the ground to get closer to me. I placed a hand behind his neck to hold him up and leaned in closer. “Love you, brother.”

  His eyes slowly closed as he took his last breath. I stared at him, shaking him slightly.

  “Mike.” But he didn’t answer. “Mike. Come on, man. Don’t do this to me. Don’t leave. Mike.” I shook him harder, but he still didn’t respond. “Mike!” I gripped him in a hug and held on for dear life as I yelled at God for taking him away from me. My heart broke right then, tearing my soul in two. It wasn’t right. A man like Mike, so good and caring, he shouldn’t have died like that. I sat with him for a few more minutes. I didn’t want to let him go, but he had already moved on. I was alone for the first time in my life. I wouldn’t shoot the shit with him anymore first thing in the morning. I wouldn’t go home on leave with him and see all our old friends. That part of my life was over now.

  I laid him down on the ground and reached into his pocket, pulling out the envelope that was for his parents. Sucking back the tears, I stood and tucked the envelope into my own pocket along with my letter. I turned around, unable to look at all the dead bodies on the ground anymore. The chopper arrived two hours later and took Mike away. That was the last time I saw him.

  Becky was staring at me in shock. She was probably thinking the same fucking thing I was, that it was too eerie to be just a fucking coincidence. It was her. She needed me. I didn’t know how Mike knew her name or how he knew she would need me, but it was the dying wish of my best friend and I knew I had to find a way to help her.

  Becky stood and held out her hand. “Give me the folder.”