I Never Left You

12. You are safe with me

Ray's POV
As soon as she's done calling the police , I take turn abit from explaining the man we knocked what the situation is and look at Azra. Blood has drained from her eyes and she's looking so pale, she must be traumatized by the incident, I pull her into a tight hug and almost whisper to her " you are safe with me ", the man gladly is willing to wait and be our witness when the police comes to arrest these robbers. All this happened because of my stupidity, if I hadn't wasted time in the parking lot talking to Pen, I wouldn't have entered in the restaurant late, I really messed up big time. The police comes and arrests the three goons, takes our statement, disperses the crowd and the jam that had gathered around us,  The driver of the cab is bleeding profusely so he's taken in the ambulance."See you soon senorita" he says when the ambulance is about to close. Azra was given anti depressants to take since she didn't look so well and advised to take plenty of rest. We get another cab back to the restaurant to get my car.Azra in the passenger seat is snoring softly .
A thought comes to my mind and I ask Azra if Leah would be in their room to which she shakes her head with a no. I didn't expect a response in her sleep.I knew it, I remember last Friday Leah was going to her boyfriend's place. Good chance Kevin won't be around for the weekend so I drive in the direction of our frat house. By the time we reach our destination, Ra is half asleep so I just carry her bridal style up-to my room. I place her on my bed ,take off her shoes and pull the covers on top of her. I walk away going to grab a drink but on taking a few steps away from her, I hear her call my name weakly "Ray, please don't leave me here alone", I abandon the drinking idea and move to my bed, I kick off my shoes and join her inside the bed. Soon enough sleep takes me slowly, guess it has been a long night. This time when my usual nightmare comes back, it's not scary but instead the woman with a hoarse voice is now Azra, she's still carrying a baby and a bag still asking me not to leave them alone, am able to hug her and assure her that all will be well and that am not abandoning her, I give her my assurance this time that am coming back. Am also able to see the baby, it has black hair just like mine and looks exactly like me, the baby smiles at me and I board the army vehicle contented, for the first time I wake up from my dream smiling. On getting up Ra is not next to me. I quickly sit up and scan the room but there's no sign of her. My heartbeat normalizes when I see the balcony door open and see her shadow. I rush to her.
"Are you photosynthesizing?" I ask teasingly
"Yes please, my chloroplasts are almost full" she replies with equal sarcasm.
I join  her on the balcony and gaze at the beautiful scenery she's equally enjoying. "Did you sleep well, " I ask her. She gives me her best smile confirming that she slept as well as I did.
"If your done absorbing vitamin D, why don't you come inside and I satisfy your enzymes too,"
"Sure why not, but before that, why didn't you take me to my room last night?" She asks as we come back inside the room.
"Because you cried like a baby and said "Ray please don't take me to my room, I will be scared if you leave me alone there", so I had no choice but to bring you here" I trick her to see her reaction. She instead bursts out laughing loudly and claim she said no such thing. " I only remember saying Leah would not be in our room tonight" Ra replies smiling. Now this is the Azra I know.  I direct her to my reading table and pull out the chair for her, she thanks me saying am learning to be a gentleman, I brush her off and open the mini fridge and pour her some juice. Am doing my best to erase the mistakes I made in the past. I know what's done is already done and there isn't much I can do to  change all that so I  focus on making her time here the best. I ask her how she loves her eggs to which she replies "scrambled with pepper." A few minutes later, I join her with two plates of scrambled eggs and toast bread. I pour more juice for us, then grab Kevin's chair and seat close to her. "Yummy, breakfast smells delicious."  I agree staring at her closing her eyes and trying to taste the food with all her five senses. When she opens her eyes, she catches me ogling at her.
"Why aren't you eating" she asks putting another fork in her mouth
"watching you eat is more satisfying" my mind says but the mouth only managed to say "sorry ,am really sorry about last night Ra, I shouldn't have delayed talking to Pen" I apologize.
"You almost got us killed Ray, if the robbers didn't, the car almost did, I don't want to die in an accident Ray or die this young" her voice starts to crack.
Am so sorry Azra, I didn't mean to come in with Pen. If I hadn't delayed talking to her u wouldn't have rushed to get into that cab. I totally regret it " I say trying to point out that am truly sorry . She inhales deeply and says am forgiven and urges me to continue eating. We finish our breakfast silently and more calm. I figure out she may want to go back to her dorm after eating so I bring up the conversation I was supposed to have with her yesterday.
"Ra, about why I left without a trace" I start off
"Am all ears" she motions me to continue.
"I don't know if ur aware but your the only friend I have always confided in" I say
" Am humbled Raymond Fisher", she truthfully replies.
"The day after your 18th birthday I didn't intentionally disappear, as you know my dad is a solider and he asked me to  join the army which I agreed to on condition that I become an Army Reserve Soldier , meaning I could serve part-time, free to pursue my career and family goals while reporting for duty but not an active duty soldier like my dad and Kevin's.
So when the ASVAB results came back, that's like college entrance results but for the military. Kevin and I had to leave right away "
"Why didn't you tell me you were leaving or leave a message, we kept no secrets by then" she intervenes.
"I know I should have and I tried by the way , so could you please continue to lend me your ears" I plead. So that morning after your party, Dad arrived from one of his trips and came to my room and explained that we had to leave right away and that was an order. He claimed he tried to contact me the previous night but he had network issues. I packed a few things all that time trying to reach you but your phone couldn't go through and we weren't going with our mobile phones . So I wrote a note and left it with mum and she promised to give it to you. But from the look of things, she didn't. So me and Kevin with our hangover from that night went for training
Our one year of training ended swiftly and soon we were set to come back to our respective countries and always report for duty when needed.  The morning of our departure, our seniors got  news that a terrorist gang was using the  Amazon as a hide out for their weapons and training. In the course of one of their training , a bomb exploded and started a massive fire in the forest. As you know the Amazon is the lungs of the earth and it was set ablaze, so we immediately had to report for duty at that instant instead of coming back home. Our regent using the GPS coordinates was able to locate the fire, we joined hands with the environmental protection agencies and we were able to save the flora and fauna. Soon enough the fire was stopped after a few weeks of constantly spraying water, and starting more fire. Did you know that wild fires are stopped by starting another fire? Anyways we managed to catch some of the terrorists and in the scuffle I got shot. You see right here in the chest", I raise my shirt half way to show her the scar and by God's grace the bullet was removed I healed, came back home safely and here I am now". I conclude.
"Is that why you were able to fight off those robbers yesterday", Ra manages to ask.
"Yes Ra, I am a trained solider" I simply say to her.