Ricky POV:
"Hello everyone, I'm Dr Jason Tarrel, y'all can just call me Jason. I'm very glad you all came to this support group. Whether your family forced you to, you came voluntarily, or whatever. I promise no matter what you all have faced we will help each other get through it together." He says as we all sit in a circle.
"So I have a bucket with everyone's names in here. Im going to randomly pick a name and whoever I pick can tell as little or as much as their story as they feel comfortable to." He grabs the bucket from in front of him.
"Richard Bowen." I look up as I here my name called.
"Uh, hi...... I'm Ricky. I was drafted into the war in Ukraine about ten and a half months ago, I got injured multiple times of course but these are probably my worst." I say as I raise my hand and tilt my head showing my injuries.
"My team had to hide in an abandoned office building abs I got a cut on my hand and it got infected and by the time we got back to base I had to get it cut off and I got a prosthetic for it."
"That's a lot to go through, may I ask what happened to your neck?" A guy across from me asks.
"Uh........um." I start getting teary.
"You don't have to if you don't want Ricky." Jason says.
—————
I'm by the snack table when the guy from earlier comes up to me.
"Hey, sorry about that." He says.
"It's ok." I stay while looking down.
"You were the guy I read about...."
"Huh?"
"In the article about the American soldiers that have been sent home."
"I didnt know about this."
"Oh, that's weird. You should look it up, it's pretty cool." He walks away, that was weird.
—————
(Three months later)
"Hello everyone, once again can't believe it's been 3 months talking to you. It's been very special learning all of your stories. Today I'm just gonna let you guys talk to each other." Jason says.
EJ leans over. "Do you wanna get out of here?"
"Sure."
—————
EJ and I are walking down the sidewalk.
"So....... What made you want to join the army?" I ask.
"Financial issues."
"Oh, how long have you been in?"
"Five years or so."
"Were you in the first group of our army that got sent to Ukraine?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Did you know a Nina Roberts?"
"Yeah. But she got shot in the neck and...."
"Bled out, wasn't able to make it back to base. When I got shot there, and had to the metal plate put on my neck, all I could think about was how if they had the right equipment at the time. She would still be here."
"You knew her pretty well I'm assuming?"
I nod. "She was my best friend."
"I'm sorry. Is that why it's hard for you to talk about it?"
"Yeah."
"What are you doing tonight?"
"Uh, both that I can think of. Probably sit on the roof of my house and question my life choices."
"Do you wanna get noodles together?"
"Noodles? Oddly specific but yeah, I'd love to."
"Cool."
"Let me give you my address."
"Okay, I'll pick you up at 17:00?"
"It's a date. We should probably get back though."
"Uh, y-yeah."
AN
I'm working on writing the ideas that have been requested, but I had this idea and wanted to finish it.
Thx for reading
