Chapter Eight
Mathew
I LEAN MY HEAD BACK against the seat and rest my eyes behind my sunglasses. It’s been a long day. No, it’s been a long couple of months. I’m to the point where I miss the suffocating humidity of Monroe. It’s dry as fuck out here in the desert. Not only is it dry, but there is sand every-fucking-where. There’s sand in our clothes, our beds, in all of our things. There’s sand in our fucking asses. The desert is a brutal and miserable place. Monroe is a paradise when you compare it to this hellhole. Aside from the weather, Monroe also has the only thing I truly ache for: Tabitha Thomas. The only girl worth suffering through all of this dry dusty heat for. I would do just about anything, if it meant I could be good enough to keep her forever. Scratch that. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for Tabby. They tell you nobody’s perfect, and that we all have our flaws, but not Tabby. She is perfect, and she is flawless.
Tabby was always it for me. Since the moment I laid eyes on her. That first day of preschool was just a couple weeks after my family moved into Monroe, and it was the end of my world as I knew it. She came in wearing some frilly ass dress and pigtails, clutching onto her mom. Tears falling down her face. I looked up from my blocks, and I was a goner. I hated that she was so sad, and I could not let her leave, so I walked right up to her and asked her to be my friend. I’ll never forget the smile I earned in that moment as she agreed, and then released her mom’s dress and took my hand. The tears stopped, and we became best friends from that point on. I tried my hardest to ensure that tears never streaked her face again. I liked being the one to make her smile.
I didn’t get to keep her to myself for long, though. She already had another best friend: Beth, the policeman’s daughter. Now, that girl was trouble from the very beginning. She ran around with the boys, and she was probably tougher and meaner than all of them combined. She was nothing like Tabby, but then, when you think about it, they kind of completed each other in that way. Tabby was sweet, and Beth, well, Beth was just something else. We all lived around each other, which made it easier to spend almost every single day together. We became more like family.
When middle school came, I began to pine after my best friend even harder, and eventually, when I had built up enough courage to ask her out, I did. I just about lost my mind when she said yes. We only grew closer after that. We were there for each other and our friends through every up and every down. Not a single life experience was spent without each other. Tabby and I were the perfect couple stereotype. The friends to lovers. Childhood sweethearts. King and queen of the prom. I played football, and she was a cheerleader. Everything was always perfect when it came to us. That is until my scholarship never came, and Dad lost his job. I was forced to make a choice. I chose a future with Tabby. So I signed up for the Army, and I did all the training, only to be immediately sent away to the desert. Away from my girl. Now my girl is pregnant, and I’m going to miss it all.
I should probably be freaking out that I am going to be a dad, but I’m actually looking forward to it. Tabby and I had already planned to get married and raise a family. We just get to do it all sooner than we expected. I’m okay with that. When I get back, we’re going to get a place. I’m excited to start this next step in our lives. I just wish I could meet my kid at birth instead of almost four months later. Being a dad before I can legally drink is a little weird but totally worth it, if I get to do it with Tabby. Tabby is going to be a great mother, and an even better wife. Our future is filled with nothing but positives.
I’m torn from my happy thoughts a minute later, when the Humvee suddenly hits a large bump in the road. It’s not unusual to hit potholes out here in the desert. The roads are complete shit, but I always make sure to check my surroundings just to make sure that’s all it is…a shitty road. I lift my shades and scan my eyes across the bare, colorless terrain surrounding us. I spot nothing out of the ordinary, so I flip my sunglasses back down into place, and I lay my head back against the headrest. I shut my eyes again, hoping to sneak in a small nap on the way to our next checkpoint. It doesn’t take two seconds until I find myself getting pelted by little rocks from behind.
“Cut it the fuck out, James, or we might just leave you at the next checkpoint.” I growl. “You irritating little fucker,” I mumble under my breath. “Don’t make me have to kick your ass.”
“I’m bigger than you are, Summers. These guns put your limp little noodles to shame!” he retorts, while making a show of kissing each of his biceps through his sleeves.
“Wasn’t talking about your arms.” A slight smirk lifts to the side of my mouth.
“Whip it out, asshole, let’s see who draws the shorter straw.”
I look over toward Chambers beside me. “He sounds a little eager to play swords, don’t ya think?” I ask him.
He barks out a short laugh and directs his eyes toward James. “I won’t ask, but dear Lord, I hope you don’t try to tell us,” he says, and it causes a loud round of whoops and hollers.
“You motherfu—” James shouts back, but the moment is interrupted by a large, deafening blast. The vehicle flips, and we’re instantly surrounded by a suffocating heat. Everything is spinning. The oxygen is gone. There is another large bang, and then everything goes silent. My ears are ringing loudly.
I come to a few moments later to find that I was somehow thrown from the vehicle. My body’s covered in flames, and my legs don’t seem to be working. My adrenaline spikes, and I manage to roll around in the sand, so I can smother out the flames that were aggressively licking at my flesh. I end up on my back, and the pain is already leaking through the adrenaline pumping through my veins. I squint up at the afternoon sky, as the sun burns down bright on my face. I wish I had my shades, but they’re currently MIA. My hearing is completely gone, except for that faint ringing piercing through my brain. I get small amounts back, but it’s not enough. I feel like my head is under water, but short pops penetrate through the fog, clueing me into the fact that someone is opening fire on our troop. I can hear James scream, and it’s one of the worst sounds I’ve ever heard before. I wish for my ears to stop working. My body betrays me when I try to get up, and there’s nothing I can do to help my fallen friend. I can’t stop what’s causing him to scream out in agony. I hear another pop pop pop, and his screams stop completely.
The silence is almost worse than the screams. Not willing to stick around to find out what happens next, I use every ounce of strength and energy I can muster to roll onto my stomach. Ignoring the raw pain covering my entire body, I paw at the sand, digging in, and I try to pull my body forward, away from the wreckage. I don’t make much headway before my arms begin to shake, and my vision gets spotty. The burns on my skin become more and more apparent when that adrenaline disappears. It feels like someone took a cheese grater to my flesh. The sun beams down on my exposed skin, and it deepens the burns that are already ripped across the surface. My energy is waning, and my body has stopped producing the sweat I need to keep me cool.
I’m exhausted as I roll over onto my back, and I cry out, but no words or tears can be produced.
This can’t be it!
I need to get home. I need to get back to Tabby. I want to scream out, but my body is shutting itself down against my will. It refuses to work, to do the simplest of actions.
I love you, Tabby.
I picture her face, and moments we’ve shared flicker on a loop through my mind.
I am so sorry.
I hope she forgives me for this.