Keeping Secrets

Chapter Twenty-Three Kira's Pages

"Hearts not supposed to hurt like that; they're not supposed to break so fast. They say that time's a healer."

It was three days before thanksgiving and the nerves about going back home had already begun to settle within me. To a certain extent, I was actually really excited to be going back home. If I knew anything at all it was that I needed a break from this life and my draining and chaotic thoughts. Going home may very well be a good thing, to be surrounded by people I loved and that loved me might actually set my head right and give me time to get my life back on track. Not that I would be telling my parents everything that has happened because I knew better than to make them worry about me even more than they already did.

As I finished packing my bags memories of the last time I had done this came flooding back. It was reassuring to think that this time was different. I wasn't running away this time, I wasn't trying to escape nightmares of a past I'd tried so hard to forget. This time it was different because I was going to come back. That simple thought kept me at ease until Owen knocked on my front door.

I made my way through the house making sure that everything was locked; Spencer was by my side as I did this. It was very rare that she didn't follow me around the house. I guess she also required constant comfort that someone was always with her just like I did. I was constantly amazed at how much we were actually alike, personality-wise. Spencer was the perfect companion; I knew that the moment I saw her.

I picked up my bags and Spencer's before opening the door. "Hello, Owen. You good?" I asked. "Hey Kira, I'm as good as can be. Here let me help you with those." He said taking my bag off my shoulder. "Thanks," I said as we made our way toward the rental car. Cathy and Owen's service dog, King, were waiting patiently in the running car. Owen and I put my bags in the boot and got into the cool air-conditioned car, I let Spencer jump in before me so that she was sitting next to King. Owen and Cathy each had a car; Owen drove a gunmetal grey Dodge and Cathy basically drove a tampon on wheels, something that both Owen and I had discouraged her to get. But like Owen Cathy was also stubborn and refused to see reason.

It didn't take long to reach the airport. I was happy that we had arrived an hour early and I could tell that Owen was too. I guess that was the thing with us, a force of habit that we couldn't break thanks to the army. Owen led his wife to the first-class waiting area before we made our way to processing. That's the thing with having service dogs, despite their special privileges you still had to declare them for an onboard flight. It wasn't a very long process or a difficult one I just found it annoying but I understood why it had to be done, especially for international flights. You were required to produce vaccine cards and papers that declared that they were indeed service dogs.

Ten minutes later we joined Cathy in the first-class lounge, both Owen and I ordered coffee instead of something to eat like Cathy did. She, unlike us, liked flying and never worried about the plane going down or anything. Her carefree nature reminded me of someone else but I dared not think about her. After we had finished, Owen and I had enough caffeine in our systems to keep the whole plane awake for two hours, we made our way towards the gate stopping at the security checkpoint.

Owen and I had a lot in common, and that is probably why we got along so well. And after we left the army those similarities only grew, one of them, in particular, was security checkpoints at airports. Just another thing to thank the army for was our PTSD. The long, tortuous process felt like it took longer than expected, by the time we had gone through and had been cleared to board the flight my nerves were shot and I could sense that Owen was suffering just like me. Both of our dogs stuck close to our sides. I loved the way they almost put themselves between us and everyone else like they were protecting us from everybody that passed by us. It was interesting that they could sense exactly what we needed when we needed it and performed accordingly.