DECODE - Simon Ghost Riley [Editing]

21| Phonebooth

The Chinook was in sight, as John pulled the handbrake and forced me to lurch in the back of the truck. Alex held onto me for dear life as the blood oozed out of the bandage, and as stupid as I felt right now, I knew that the dirt was working. My weird, unorthodox methods of medicine came in handy as it was the one thing keeping me alive right now.

"Fury, we're going home!" John announced over the sound of the blades as they whirred against the soft flowing snow. If I didn't think I was going to die in the next few hours, then maybe I'd be able to consider this to be beautiful.

I'm not saying goodbye when I've just hurt you.

Simon's voice flooded my ears, repeating over the sounds of the evacuation vehicle. I couldn't imagine what would happen if I died out here, without him knowing if I was alone in my last moments, if I was loved for, if someone held me in their arms as I bid my eternal farewell, I couldn't imagine him laying alone in my house, smelling my bedsheets because they smelt like me. I couldn't.

I love you.

My body was lifted out of the truck by John, and he started to sprint across the field with me in his arms, "C'mon sweetheart, stay with me," he begged as I felt my ties to life growing thin. "We're going to Germany, just hold on," he urged and ran me up the ramp. I felt my body shudder with every step he took, his arms wrapped around me as though I weighed nothing.

"I'm so tired," I whispered, and allowed my eyes to start their decent into drooping. My lids shielded my vision as I was placed on a stretcher and two medics swam into vision. Their blue armbands told me that they weren't 141, but this was the Ukrainian military giving us aid in their country. "Let me go, please," I said.

I think my heart isn't as cold when I'm with you.

Simon's voice filled my ears once again as Alex swam into vision, though he wasn't talking to me. He was talking to the medics as the Chinook lifted into the grey sky.

You've shown me that I can exist as Simon Riley, without relying on Ghost.

I clung to every word as they swam into my ears and drove through my brain. It was the only thing keeping me going as I fought the drowsiness.

My eyes fluttered shut, plunging me into a comforting darkness. "I can't do this anymore, Riley," I whispered out.

I'm not going anywhere.

His voice repeated the same words he'd said to me in the cathedral. How he'd fought his way through a city just to get to me, to make sure I was alright as he made his way through blood and destruction just to get to me.

You don't know what I'd do for you, Spencer!

His voice flooded me with... something indescribable. Almost like homesickness for a place that never physically existed as a home.

I remembered the first thing he said to me, British? and how that was the start of this whole mess. The start of how I fell for Simon Riley, but was too selfish and stubborn to admit it. How, no matter how much I tried, I couldn't bring myself to say 'I love you,' like he had.

My last, final mistake was allowing my eyes to shut.

Ghost

Tired eyes stared back at me as I stared at my reflection, or, what I could even call my reflection. Following my argument and departure with Fury, I couldn't sleep, I couldn't bring myself to eat, and I couldn't bring myself to brush my teeth knowing that she was in some corner of the world, alone.

I was wearing the shirt I'd leant her, and it smelled exactly like her, the cherry perfume, the smell of her cotton-scented deodorant and her almond-scented lotion. Wearing this shirt was like I had her pressed up against me in an embrace that would never end, so long as this shirt remained in my property.