05 Sept 2006
Phil,
You are such a kiss ass! No wonder we gotmarried. I was too young to realize all the bullshit you slung. Youjust want someone to spank Ryan so you can watch. If it turns youon that much why don't you do it?
Kenneth said to tell you he got a hold ofBeaver. I'm not going to ask what that means because if I find outyou been telling my boyfriend to get some beaver, I may have tokill you. Katie would be upset...But hey since Ryan is in thepicture I may be able to swing it. She likes Ryan more than youanyways. (Kidding. Katie wanted me to tell you she loves and missesyou.)
Sandy
***
They communicated through emails, phone callsand the occasional cam-to-cam chats. For Mark it became routine. Hewoke up at three am just in case Patrick would send him an IMthrough Yahoo. Most of the time he had several emails waiting forhim in his inbox. He might or might not go back to bed afterwards.It all depended on what was going on that day, or if his friendswere keyed up over something. In a war zone everything was subjectto change and it did so daily.
He had been deployed and knew the drill. When hedidn't get any messages for a while he knew that it was normal.They could be on blackout due to a death or the Internet could bedown. So the fact he hadn't heard from anyone for a week didn'tmake him nervous. What made him nervous was the cold ache thatentered him. It was the chill of foreboding. Like, subconsciously,he knew something was wrong.
Even knowing that didn't stop the tendrils offear when he heard a knock on the door. Patrick had named him ashis POC, point of contact, if anything should happen to him. Healways paused when he heard a soldier was killed. He knew that theArmy would contact him before news leaked, at least he prayed theywould.
It was seven in the morning and he was makingcoffee when the persistent knocking began. The cup in his handclanged into the sink. He never had company this early. Even thoughthe sun was already peeking through the curtains it was still tooearly for people visiting. There was only one knock that would becoming this early.
He walked slowly to the door, staring at it, notwanting to believe it was happening. His brain began to work inoverdrive, telling him that he knew this could happen. He knew thatthis could be his reality but he didn't want to think in it. Hewanted to remember that he and Patrick were getting married whenPatrick came home on R & R. That…he watched as his hand reachedout for the door knob. It was like it was on slow mo and it wassomeone else's hand reaching for it.
The door opened slowly. In Mark's mind, behindit would three Army officers: the CO, a chaplain and another guystuck on Rear D. Mark only prayed it wasn't Brandingham. Patrickhated the fucker. He wouldn't be held responsible for what he didto that homophobic bastard.
When it was open he was shocked to see Kennethand Sandy. At first anger coursed through his body. They knewbetter than to do this shit. He nearly told them so, but as soon ashis mouth opened he noticed the looks that were on their faces.
“Oh. Oh,” Mark said, stepping back. It felt likea boulder was sitting on his face. “I…You shouldn't...”
Sandy was shaking and crying -crying too hard tospeak. She tossed up her hands and looked up at Kenneth, who was anunnatural shade of white. He too was shaking, but tears weren'tfalling. They just pooled in his dark-blue eyes.
“It's Phillip,” Kenneth croaked out.
“Fuck. No.” Mark stumbled backwards. He couldn'tbelieve it. Not Phillip. Phillip was larger than life. Out of allof them he was the guy who could survive anything.
“What? When?” Mark asked, clearing his drythroat.
“A...suicide bomber...They were clearing thestreets...he wasn't in the Brad...They...He tried to get…The bombwent off fifteen feet from him. His back was turned...They...uhh.Don't know if he's going to make it. They're airlifting him toLandstuhl...If...When he is stable.”
Mark turned, not willing to look at them.Sandy's soft sobs filled the room, making him swallow hard.
Then he grabbed Kenneth and pulled him to theside. “What's your professional opinion, Kenneth? What do you thinkwill happen?”
Kenneth swallowed and shook his head. “Itdoesn't look good, Mark. Both of his legs were broken in theexplosion. They said he has multiple fractures. Muscles and tendonswere torn. They had to pump five pints of blood into him. Hisback...they said he has to have skin grafts if he survives. Theyhad to put out the...fire. The concussion threw him twenty feetaway. They said it was pure luck he didn't break his back. If...IfI were there...I would red tag him and possibly lean toward blacktag. He's tore up, Mark. Bad.” Kenneth swallowed hard
“So what's...the…fuck...” Mark felt a tear rolldown his cheek. “Chances?”
“Forty to sixty if we're lucky.” Kenneth saidquietly. “But I haven't seen him and I've not taken his stubbornstreak into consideration.”
Mark nodded and didn't say anything. “Has hisfamily been notified?”
“We're going to head that way. They don't needto have this told to them over the fucking phone. They called atsix this morning and fucking TOLD Sandy all of this over the phone.I had to take the phone and talk to them,” Kenneth saidbitterly.
“What about Ryan? Any word?”
“No. If I know Ryan he's ready to kill everyonestanding in his way. Has Patrick called?”
“No, haven't heard from him in a couple ofdays,” Mark said. “Want me to go to San Antonio with you two?”
“No, we wanted to know if you could keep Katiefor a bit. We're going to get her. She needs to know.”
