Chapter 5

Emmett

I heard a steady beep that reminded me of my alarm clock back home. My eyes fluttered open, and my vision came into focus. I saw a white ceiling, the kind with removable tiles for ease of maintenance, and I slowly turned my head to see a TV mounted on the wall. I was hooked up to tubes and machines, and I realized the steady sound was my vitals.

I remembered a little of the attack, and when I closed my eyes, I had short clips of memories that didn’t seem to edit together properly. I lifted my head and started to do an assessment of my condition. My chest ached, but nothing was missing; no limbs or fingers, and I still had my feet and all ten toes. Thankfully, my junk wasn’t affected, but the thing had a damn catheter in it.

I used my good arm to push myself up to a sitting position. The movement took a lot out of me, and it felt like a thousand-pound elephant was sitting on my chest. I had no idea where I was, so I turned to the window. There was no way I was in Afghanistan, not with the beautiful greenery and budding tree that had branches reaching nearly to my window. It was a magnolia.

I sat up and wondered if I could stand, but with so many fucking tubes and things coming out of me, there was no way I’d try.

“Mr. Burke!” I turned to see a short-haired woman who was dressed in purple scrubs rush over to my bed. “You’re awake.”

“So are you.” I turned and gestured to the window. “Where am I?”

She gave me a sympathetic look and patted my hand. “I’ll get the doctor and have him explain your injuries.”

Panic set in because she didn’t seem to want to talk to me. “Where’s Hardin? Is he okay?” I moved to the edge of the bed, determined to stand despite the hardware, but she shook her head.

“I don’t know who you’re talking about, sir. Please, lay back and wait for the doctor before you rip out that IV or the catheter.” She gave me a stern look, her sunny disposition fading fast as she hit the call button.

A moment later, another woman wearing scrubs, hers sporting a wild floral pattern that wasn’t anything I’d see in a military facility, came into the room. She was an older woman who seemed the motherly type. “What’s the problem in here?” She looked over and saw me sitting up and smiled. “Never mind. It seems our sleeping beauty has awakened. I’m your nurse, Jodie. This is Ava.”

“Where am I?”

“You’re in North Carolina, honey. Raleigh to be exact. Welcome home, soldier.” She gave me a pat on my leg and then told Ava to get the doctor.

The monitor went crazy as my heart rate increased. “Why am I not on base? I need to know what happened to my friend, William Hardin. We were attacked at our base in Afghanistan.”

“I’m sorry, honey. We don’t have any information on that. All I know is, you were sent to us because your family requested it.”

“My family?” I sank back on the bed and thought of my family, my alcoholic father, and my delinquent brother. Surely, they hadn’t requested my transfer home. This had to be a mistake.

“Yes, and don’t worry. They’ve been here, and some of your friends, too. We’ve all been waiting for you to wake up. I have the doctor on the way, and we’ll call your brother to tell him you’re awake.”

“That’s not necessary. I really don’t talk to them too much.”

She gave me a look that told me my words explained everything. “We have a list of people who needed to be informed. We’ll take care of all that. You just lie back and let us care for you. The doctor will be here shortly.” She arranged the covers and raised my bed up.

I was still in a fog, and the last time I felt this way, I had the flu. I rested back on my pillow and closed my eyes, and the next thing I knew, I heard voices.

“I thought you said he was awake.”

I opened an eye and then another as I took a deep breath.

“I told you he was, Dr. Benningly.” Jodie laughed and walked around to the other side of my bed. “He’s been asking a lot of questions.”

“And getting no answers. Why am I in Raleigh?”

“You were born here, weren’t you?” asked the nurse.

“Yes, but I was in Afghanistan. I’m a gunnery sergeant in the Marines.”

The doctor nodded. “Quite frankly, because they weren’t sure if you would wake up, and you’re here because of family hardship. I’m Dr. Benningly. You’ve been in my care for six days now.”

“I don’t remember anything after my base was attacked.” I tried to remember everything in order and was frustrated when I only saw the same glimpses.

Dr. Benningly gave me a look of reassurance. “I’m sure it will all come back to you, unfortunately, but in time.”

“You don’t know about my friend, then.” I would have to wait until my sergeant got in touch with me to ask any questions regarding the service. This hospital didn’t even appear to be a veteran’s facility.

“You need to focus on your injuries and how you’re going to get better. Luckily, your wounds have been healing nicely. As a matter of fact, you’re a good two weeks into your recovery thanks to that coma you were in.”

“I’ve been in a coma for two weeks?” It had seemed like a day at the most. I felt like I might be sick, but I took a few deep breaths, and Nurse Jodie comforted me.

“Yes, sir. Now you see why no one knew if you were going to bounce back. You lost a lot of blood due to the penetration of an artery, and one lung was pierced and collapsed.” Dr. Benningly looked over at the machine and silenced its beeps, as if he couldn’t stand it anymore. “You shut down almost immediately, and after you were triaged in the field, you were sent to the nearest facility, which then flew you out of there. Your family was notified, and because of your condition, they allowed them to decide where to bring you, and we are proud to have been chosen.”

My brother and father had actually cared enough to bring me back home? I wondered if the old man was so drunk he hadn’t known what he’d done, or perhaps he was so wasted that he didn’t know he disowned me in the first place.

“How long do I have to be here?” I couldn’t be in that place forever. I had things to do, and I needed to get back to—back to where? I had no place to go.

“I might have you out of here by the weekend if you’re good and listen to everything that Nurse Jodie here tells you. We’ll make sure to start a bit of rehab before you go, to make sure you’re in top shape.”

“Will I ever be in top shape again? With this hole in my chest and lung? I feel like someone parked a truck on me, and all I did was sit up.”

“That’s what the rehab is for. Trust us to do our jobs for you, and I promise, you’ll be better soon.”

“We’re going to become good friends, you and me,” Jodie said.

“Don’t you go spoiling him now. He needs to work hard to recover fully, so you keep from bringing him any cookies from downstairs.” He turned to me. “You’ve got to watch this one; she’ll mother you. And we need a nurse.” He gave Jodie a warm smile.

“I keep those cookies in the nurses’ station. I know better.” She gave me a wink, and then Dr. Benningly held out his hand for me to shake. His hand was like a vise grip, and I did my best to give it right back, but it was like everything in me just wasn’t enough.

“I’ll be back to check on you. Until then, I’m leaving you in her capable hands.” Jodie walked around, and he gave her a pat on the back before heading out.

“I’m going to get you something for pain, and then I’ll let you rest. I know you’ve been asleep a long time, but don’t think that you won’t be tired.”

“Trust me, the way I feel right now, I know better.” I felt like I could close my eyes and sleep another two weeks away. Why not make it a full month?

She walked out of the room and came right back in and then hooked up another bag to my IV. “I’ll see you later, honey. You get some rest now.” She left, pulling the door to, and then I turned on the TV to see if I could find anything interesting to watch. Daytime TV left a hell of a lot to be desired, so I just left it on for some noise and closed my eyes, pretending I was someplace else.

A while later, I opened my eyes to find that the room wasn’t as bright as it was before, and then something moved at the foot of my bed, giving me a start.

“Sorry, man. Didn’t mean to scare you. I just got here. They told me you were awake.” I’d know the voice anywhere, but the face? The face was much older and not quite as round as the last time I’d seen him.

“Paul?”

“It’s me. It’s been a long fucking time, huh?” He raked his hand through his hair, which was a shade darker than mine, like our father’s, and then he folded his arms in front of him and turned toward the window.

“Yeah, it has been.” I wasn’t quite sure what to say to him. It had been a long time since we’d seen each other and a few years since we’d talked. The last I had heard, he’d gotten in trouble and had to do a little time.

“Looks like you got yourself pretty fucked up. But the doctor said you’re going to be fine in time. I didn’t know what to tell them when they asked me what to do with you, but I figured if you were going to die, it would be better to have you close to Mom.”

“Yeah, thanks.” I guessed I couldn’t blame him for not knowing what else to do, but I was surprised that they contacted him and not our dad. “So, the old man didn’t want to tell them what to do with me?”

“I’m sure he’d tell them to take you to hell if he could. That’s where he’s put me the past ten years if you’re interested.” I had always felt guilty about leaving him with my father, even though it wasn’t my responsibility to look out for him. I had hoped that without me there to be mother and father, our dad would step up, but he hadn’t. I could only imagine how bad it had been.

“I’m sorry, but I had to go out and live my life. I had hoped it would change him.”

“Yeah, it did. He got even worse, and without you there to buffer the blows, I got it twice as hard.”

I raised the bed until I was in a sitting position. “How is the miserable old bastard?”

“Well, let’s just say that until you woke up, I had two family members non-responsive.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s laid up in a home on the other end of town. The doctors say he won’t get any better. He’s damned near pickled himself, and he isn’t able to get out of bed, his feet are so bad. He ignored everything the doctors told him a few years back.”

“What did they tell him?”

“Well, aside from the fact that the alcohol was going to kill him, they said he had diabetes from his weight gain and poor diet. He’s lucky he hasn’t lost a leg yet.”

“Damn, Paul. Why didn’t you let me know all of this? I never said you couldn’t write or that I didn’t want to keep in touch.”

“And that’s why you picked up a pen every week, right? I don’t recall any letters coming my way.” Again, I couldn’t argue.

“Well, thank you for looking out for me.” I owed him that much.

He shook his head. “Yeah, well, I didn’t have it in me to turn my back on my brother and abandon him like some people.” He turned and without another word, headed out of the room, leaving me to my guilt.