Kiss My Last Day Away

Chapter 4: From Light to Dark

"Ellis, Dakota! Dinner" Mrs. Edwards yells

Ellis "shell we?"

Dakota "we shell. Lets eat"

Dakota and i went down stairs, it was a full home tonight. Both my brothers, sister, mother and father. Nathan brought his girlfriend over too, so there was one less seat. Ellis "thanks for making sure there was enough chairs! If i may have a moment Dakota, just so i can get a seat for myself"

"ya of course" Dakota whispered to Ellis "where am i to seat?"

before he could answer Ellis father pipped up "come dear, you and Ellis can sit down here if that is alright with you"

i looked at Dakota and smiled giving her a nod to go sit. I went to the kitchen and grabbed a circle stool that was lined up against the countertop. I went back to the dinner room, they had already started serving the food out. Dakota was sitting right by my father who sat at the head of the table.  I went over to her and asked Jonathan my second oldest brother to move over so i could sit. I notice that the table was equal on both sides. There was Dakota, my girlfriend by my father. Ella Nathan's girlfriend by my mother. Susie my little sister by my father and Jonathan by my mother with me and Nathan in the middle. So there was mother and father at the ends of the table two guys in the middle and all girls on the corners, because Jonathan was a girl in all reality. No but it was funny to me that it just happened to be set like this.

we were having T-bone steak with fried onions for dinner with steamed vegetables, and garlic potato slices. Unfortunately, once again we didn't know Ella was going to be joining us for dinner. Jonathan had a bad habit of not informing everyone of his actions. So we had one less steak. Instead of telling Ella we were short i just cut mine in half and shared with Dakota. Its no big deal, they were big steaks and it made me happy to be romantic and share with Dakota.

"so Mr. Edwards, Ellis said you had a reunion with your old unit from when you did field work" said Dakota as she smiled with a slight hint of awkwardness.

my father took a second to finish his fork full of dinner before answering. "Please dear, call me Marko.  And yes we had a delightful time. We talked a lot about the old days and our missions." My dad pushed a second and looked down with a cracked smile "then we payed our respects to our brother in blood"

"i know you hear this a lot most likely, but im sorry for your lost. Im not a soldier but i know they are family to each other"

my father lifted his head with a real smile and looked at Dakota "You know, that is best response I've ever heard. You knew it wasn't anything new to hear an apology for my brother in blood but you gave it with respect and you didn't fear saying what you thought. I like you." Papa looked and pointed at me "you better not fuck this up Ellis, or it might make me sad haha"

"Marko! Watch your mouth at the table" my mother shouted out.

"im sorry carino mio"

"carino mio?" Asked Dakota "what does that mean?"

"it means my dearest in Spanish. I learned it on my last operation with Nicole, my brother of blood"

"god, I'd love to hear of your missions and such"

"if you would actually, I'd be delighted to tell of one"

"really? It'd be my honor to hear you talk about it"

"ok, what one would you like to hear?"

"while I'd actually like to hear about your last operation with Nicole. I understand if you dont want to talk of it though"

"no its fine Dakota. I'd be happy to tell you the story" my father took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair "we were in Guatemala. Our mission was to take out a rolling death squid. It was me, Nicole, and Connor another member of our unit. At first site you'd be breathtaking, but most dont see the darkness from the light. It was so beautiful, making it so hard to believe what was happening. We located their field base. We acted under the cover of night" Dakota was about to say something when i grabbed her hand and whispered in her ear "he's in a trace like flashback. He wouldn't even hear you" then she leaned back down and listened again "so we were at the doors, and we had no real idea how many were in there so we took it slow going in. As we moved forward all a sudden the lights went up and we were surrounded from above." Papa took a deep drink of his English-dinner tea "i looked to my men and smiled. I had a back-up plan. I pushed a botton in my pocket and got ready. Within a few seconds the roof blew open from chopper fire. We drew are guns and started fighting." My dad took a moment "Nicole took a shot to the shoulder. I ran to help him But then a piece of the roof fell knocking me out. When i woke Connor was dragging me to the helicopter, there was a shard of metal in my left leg. I was barely conscious. In the copter i asked where Nicole was." At this point a tear was falling from his eye " they said he didn't make it. That it was me or him and he was already done for. But i know. He told conner to save me and leave him behind. I know he gave his life to safe mine; and for that i, and my family can never thank him enough for hes sacrifice"

i spoke up "my papa is a hero himself though. Remember when...." i was interrupted by a cough. I was about to speak again when i starting coughing again. I reached for my napkin to cover my mouth and the now violent coughing. I put my hand up to tell my family i was excusing myself. As i ran to the kitchen i saw my father pick up the napkin i coughed in.

Marko "excuse us everyone"

my dad walked in as i was coughing in my sleeve and showed me the napkin. I looked at it to see the lightly coloured blood, than i looked at my sleeve and saw more.

i asked "whats wrong with me" as i sat down by the sink.

"Do you remember when i asked you about your health not to long ago?" I nodded "it was because the results of your checkup. There were abnormal results for your blood. So i demanded a reexamination."

"the one im having tomorrow." I pushed "Why didn't you tell me?" I asked becoming angry. "I have the right to know"

"i didn't want you worrying. I have done far enough of that myself. I wanted to wait till the second results came back before i told you" i was about to say something that was perhaps going to be to much when i saw Dakota clinging to the door watching us.

"whats going on?" She asked with a scared look in her eyes" i looked to my father who said "ill take my leave now...." he left and i got up as Dakota walked to me. I held her in my arms, with no words we stood there. I laid her head on my shoulder with my hand on the back of it. I didn't know what to say, so i told her what papa told