Our Lad

CHAPTER THREE

It was finally the morning of the day I had to return to my home away from home. Kabul. All sorts of thoughts were running through my head. Will everything be the same as it was before I left? Will everyone still greet me as a friend? Or will everyone treat me as "that guy who got shot by the Taliban"? And as I was standing at the back door, smoking a cigarette in my dressing gown, it suddenly sunk in that this is it. This is the day. The day when I return to duty.

As I was smoking my cigarette, I heard my sister coming down the stairs. I could tell that she was equally as nervous as me. "You good?" she asked.

"As good as can be expected" I replied.

"You don't want to go back, do you?" she asked. I knew that she could tell that I was feeling nervous about going back. "I'll be fine, Beck" I said. "Just every time I come back home, it always seems harder to say goodbye, especially to mum, you know what she's like" I added.

"Oh my baby, you don't have to go back, just tell me and I will get straight on the phone to the army telling them that my boy is not coming back" my sister replied, imitating our mum. "You should have seen it when she came to pick me up, you were in the car, she practically had a heart attack when she seen me causing a massive scene" I replied. We both laughed as I finished my cigarette.

"But seriously" Beck said as she instantly stopped laughing. "Don't go getting yourself shot again. That shit had me worried, Mark" she added.

"I'll be fine, Beck. Honest." I replied.

"You better be" replied Beck. "And when you come back again, I want to meet this Georgie lass that I've heard so much about" she added.

"I wouldn't have it any other way" said with a bit of a chuckle.

As the morning went on and I had my breakfast and another coffee, me and my family barely had any words for each other. We knew that this was going to be the last time we were sat in the same room for another 3 months. however. Just like that, it was midday, and I had a job to get back to. Everybody came to see me off, and as we got closer to the airport to take me back to England so I could then travel from the barracks to Kabul, I was dreading what my mum was going to say as I left. As we pulled up to the airport and got out of the car. My mum was the first one to say goodbye.

"Now you look after yourself over there, and I will see you in another 3 months" she said as she was trying to fight back the tears.

"Honestly, mum. I will be fine." I replied, "the boys have my back, just like they did when I got shot. They were there before I even knew I had been shot." I added.

"Well it sounds like you have a great bunch of friends over there then. And I want to meet them all, especially Georgie" she replied.

"Aye, no bother" I said as I let out a little chuckle and gave her a hug. Then it was my dad's turn to say goodbye. He always has been a man of few words, so it didn't come as much of a surprise when he just gave me a handshake and said "All the best, son." My sister decided that she would walk me top the terminal whilst my parents waited in the car. As we walked into the airport, I put my arm round my sister's shoulder. I could tell that she was feeling as nervous as I was.

"Now remember what I said, mark. Don't be getting yourself shot, I mean it" she said as she gave me a hug at the terminal.

"Listen, Beck. like I said to mum, I'll be fine, me and the boys are looking out for each other, and we have each other's back" I replied.

Me and Beck shared one last hug before I got on board the plane, as I was walking through the terminal, I couldn't help but look back and as I did, I seen that Beck still hadn't moved from the spot where we said goodbye and noticed that she had started crying. I felt so bad for her. I'm her older brother and I'm meant to look after her and protect her. How could I do that when I was all the way in Kabul? As I gave her a wave from the distance, a tear ran down the side of my face. Just like that it only felt that my sick leave lasted one week when in reality it was a lot longer than that.