Max
sat on my bed watching me pack. There wasn’t a whole lot I could bring in this
large duffle bag. A huge list of forbidden items was held in her hands. Her
only job was to make sure I packed what I was told. Most of the drawers in our
room were pulled open and half empty—the other half being Max’s stuff. It
looked as if someone tried to rob the place with everything lying open.
Glancing to my sister, I watched her eyes skim down the list, occasionally
checking off the things I was supposed to bring. This wasn’t going to be easy,
leaving her here, but I couldn’t take her into the war zone either. Somehow it
was a miracle that we found a classmate of both Jade and I to watch Max here on
the base.
Otherwise it was back to mom and dad
she went—her being here and suddenly having to go back there was not something
I wanted. It was one giant leap
backwards. Leaning against the dresser, I looked at Max, waiting for her to
give me the final instructions.
“That’s everything, Mark,” she said,
setting the list down and flopping back on the bed. She was not at all pleased
to see me—us—go. Things finally seemed to be going right for all three of us
and then this had to happen.
Pulling the draw string taut, I sat
down next to her. My mind raced with things I could say, anything that could
help ease this pain of watching me leave her behind. Max still had school to
attend and the frontlines were too dangerous for a child—despite the rise in
child soldiers that were being seen on the enemy’s side.
“Come on Max. I swear we won’t be
gone too long. You’ll get a letter from me every other day, I promise,” I said,
looking down at her. Her eyes avoided mine, mostly for the fact that she did
not want to let me see her tears.
“You better be sending me mail. I
have to be stuck at school and here,” she said, arms now crossed. I laughed,
hearing her spirit return.
“And if I don’t send you mail, you
have the right to beat me up, okay?” A smile slid onto her face. Drawing her up
next to me, we hugged before finally returning to our other tasks for the day.
Taking my seat at the table, I began to look over her homework and class
choices for the coming semester. So far, I was rather impressed with what she
had chosen, but I was positive she could be doing better. My eyes skimmed the
report card, before finally landing on her working on some kind of science
homework. “Remind me again why you’re signed up for so many science classes?”
Her eyes glanced up at me for a brief moment before returning to the worksheet.
“You can find out once you get back.
Keep checking my homework,” she said, tapping the sheet with her pencil. I
shook my head, very confused as to
the goings on in her head. Turning my eyes back to the paper, I submerged
myself in history, math and English. A loud rap to our door brought both of us
from our reverie. The knock occurred again after neither of us moved to answer.
Pushing my stiff self up from the chair, I walked over and pulled open the
door.
“Jade, what brings you over?” I
said, knowing mentally it was a stupid question to ask. She did not ever need a
reason for coming over—just merely showed up and we were fine with it.
“Ah, I see you were checking over
homework. Well I wanted to see if you two wanted to go out to dinner as a going
away thing? We leave early tomorrow morning, and it really would be a shame to
waste the opportunity,” Jade said, sauntering to the table where she took a
seat. Picking up a paper, she started to read it over. I returned to my own
chair and went back to my read through. It was another hour or so until we all
finished—Max with her homework and Jade and I with our corrections—and started
to get ready to go out for dinner.
The city felt more alive as we
wandered the streets. Many of the stores were open, despite what their normal
schedules were. Word must have spread that another large group of soldiers were
headed to the frontlines and in their honor the shops chose to remain open for
their last night of freedom.
Some hours after dinner we finally
made our way back to our dorms. I was carrying Max on my back as she had
started to fall weary over the time we were walking around. Laying her down on
her bed and tucking her in, I returned to where Jade stood. Leaning forwards,
we kissed for a few moments before finally separating.
“We can’t get attached, Marcus. If
one of us doesn’t return the other will be devastated. Let’s just vow to come
back alive,” Jade whispered, resting her forehead against mine. I walked her to
her dorm—where we made out a bit longer—until at last I returned to my own
dorm. Collapsing on my bed I fell asleep after setting my alarm. Hours later I
groaned hearing it go off. It was already three AM, at least that’s what the
red numbers glaring at me said. Damn. Forcing myself to get up I showered and
got my uniform on. Looking over at Max watched her peering at me from her bed.
Opening my mouth to say something, I watched as she slid out of bed and also
got ready.
Double checking that I had
everything I possibly could need, I grabbed my uniform hat and examined it.
Carefully sewn into the inside was a picture of my family—Max, myself and Jade.
Just seeing it brought a smile to my face. Hearing the door to the bathroom, I
glanced up to see her dressed and gathering her things to see Jade and I off.
We left the dorm together—stopping at Jade’s door—and headed for the train
station. Other soldiers lingered around the platform, many of them saying
goodbye to their family and friends. Thomas—with his girlfriend Lucy in
tow—stood with Max before Jade and I. Shaking Thomas’ hand, he pulled me into a
tight embrace.
“You better come back, Mark. Or else
the three of us will be after you,” he said, patting my back rather hard. I
nodded, pulling away. Bidding our farewells, I stopped, looking down at Max.
Picking her up, I hugged her tightly.
“I promise I’ll be back and write
when I can, okay? But you have to promise to not cause trouble for Lucy and
Thomas. I don’t want them to have to deal with any problems at school or at
home that you might cause,” I said, our eyes meeting. Squeezing her tightly
once more, I set Max down and grabbed my bag. Scaling the tall steps of the
train, we managed to find an open bench. Forcing open the window after stowing
our stuff, we waved to our friends. With a loud hissing, the train started to
pull away. Our waves—everyone’s on the train—became more frantic as we headed
for the frontlines.
No comments:
Post a Comment