My Journal of Letters

Chapter-9

I woke up in the morning out of breath and with sweat streaming down my face. I had a nightmare. But it was a memory not a hallucination that was made up in my mind. I can still feel the cold, it felt real. Wanting to hold something, I rolled over and noticed Vic wasn't next to me anymore.

"Kellin Quinn Bostwick! If you're not out here in 30 seconds I'm coming in there with a water gun!" My mom yelled. I slowly made my way to the kitchen and saw Vic and Mark covered in what looked like pancake mix.

"What's going on?" I asked taking a slice of bacon from the rack. My mom pinched my butt with the tongs when she saw me and I gave a little yelp.

"Don't eat it then. We're making breakfast would you like to help?" She asked. I went for another piece and she slapped my hand away. I cradled my hurt hand and sat down on the counter.

"Nah I think I'll just watch." I sighed. Vic and Mark looked at me.

"No no little man. You're helping." Mark said coming up to me with a bowl filled with powdered mix. "Or else." He picked up a hand full and looked at me with a smile tugging on his face. He wouldn't do it.

"You're bluffing." He raised an eyebrow and looked at my mom and she smiled. Everything got quiet as Mark came closer to me mix in hand. "Mom?" No answer... "Vic?" Mark was getting quite close.

"No one to save you Kellin." He said while throwing the mix at me. All three of them started laughing. I looked at Vic because he was supposed to help his damsel in distress.

"Some boyfriend you are." I said getting the whipped cream from next to me. His smile faded when he saw me coming towards him. I quickly grabbed him with all my strength and sprayed whipped cream in his face. My mom and Mark were dying of laughter by this time and I smirked at the work I've done.

"Hey Vic I think Kellin needs an 'Eskimo' kiss." My mom laughed. I looked at her mortified because she was supposed to be on my side. Vic, being the strong military boy he is, grabbed my face and rubbed his aginst mine. "Okay breakfast is done all three of you go get cleaned up."

"Bathroom!" I yelled out dragging Vic behind me.

"Your mom and her boyfriend are awesome." He smiled as we left the room. I looked at him and giggled at how cute he looked. "You looked adorable right now, not gonna lie." He said taking whipped cream off my nose and eating it.

"I think you read my mind." I said doing the same to him but instead of eating it I put it on his bottom lip and did something I never even thought of doing before. I kissed him and licked his lip before pulling away.

"You tease." He smiled. I laughed and took a wash cloth and wiped my face before handing it to him. When we were done we went down sat at the table as Mark and Mom served us.

"So Vic, how come we haven't heard of you before?" My mom asked. He looked up as he just put a piece of pancake in his mouth. "Oh got you at a bad time." She giggled. He quickly chewed and swallowed so he didn't seem rude.

"The first day I moved back I met Kellin in gym class." He explained.

"Where did you move from?" Mark asked joining the conversation.

"Georgia. I went to an all boys Military boot camp when I was in the 7th grade. My dad thought it would be good for me." He said taking another bite of his food.

"That's cool as Hell man!" Mark said getting giddy. "My dad sent me to a military school when I was younger. When I got out of high school I went straight in to the Army." He smiled seeming proud of it. And he should be proud.

"What'd your dad say? Like was he proud?" Vic asked seeming so intrigued at the story. I too was interested in it. It's not every day I get to hear stories of my future stepdad.

"I'll never forget what he told me before I got deployed to Iraq. He said 'Son! It's the real world out there and you're gonna see shit you never wanna see, but you have to so get over it! No more smoken and joken with your buddies. Embrace the suck and make me proud.' And I did I made him proud. On November 12th, 2004 I was honored the purple heart after being shot in the back by enemy hands." He smiled Vic and I looked as though we were five years old listening to a story about grandpa's time in the war.

"Dude that's awesome." I said just listening in amazement.

"It hit you're back?" Vic asked still as much as amazed as I was.

"Yeah." Mark nodded. "You wanna see the scar?" He asked. Like the little kids we are, Vic and I nodded like our heads were about to fall off. Mark turned around and lifted his shirt showing us a long scar that was a few inches away from his spine.

"It's so cool!" I said looking closer at it. "It's so close to your spine." I added.

"I know the doctors said that if it was just a few more inches closer I would have been paralyzed." He said pulling his shirt down.

"You got lucky." Vic smiled. Mark smiled too and got up.

"Well, nice chat boys but I have to help Cassie clean up." He said picking up mine and Vic's plates. This was good my mom and Mark getting along with Vic.

"Hey can I talk to you?" Vic whispered in my ear so no one could hear. I got up and followed him to my room where he took out my journal from under his shirt. "I saw it on the table before your mom got out of the bathroom. I was gonna go back and put it on your desk but she asked me to help in the kitchen, so I hid it under my seat cushion at the table." I took it from him and opened it to my latest letter. I glanced at the date of the previous letter, so I could write today's on the new one, and froze quickly feeling my blood run cold. Wow that was fast.

"I guess I was too tired to even think of putting it back." I mumbled feeling tears form as I slipped it in my bag. "I have to be more careful." I was to focused on getting Vic to bed that I completely forgot I left my journal sitting where my mom can see it or what day it was. Noticing my hesitant stance and mood change, Vic carfully took my hand and kissed it. A sweet little gesture to tell me it was going to be okay.

"We should head down before they start to wounder where we are." He said. Before he could walk away I pulled him back and just walked to my bed, my depression suddenly kicking in.

Not wanting to be any where near people, other then Vic, I climbed in bed with him following behind and just layed there. He wrapped his arms around me and held me closely to him, kissing the top of my head every once in a while.

"What's wrong Kell? Please tell me."