Soldier Boy

07

Cameron's POV.

I had rejoined the marines.

At first, Cissy was hesitant for me to rejoin. She didn't want me to be killed or become a prisoner of war and leave our children fatherless. But I had a duty to fulfill. I had to protect this country, even if it meant leaving my family behind.

The call came the next morning. I always liked to go for a run to clear my mind before the sun rose. But when I got back to the house, Cissy was crying on the steps.

"Cameron, Corporal Marston called. You're being shipped back to Iraq. Immediately. He asked that you drive over to the base in uniform. Your cell phone stays here. That region is very dangerous and if it goes off, well, you're likely not going to make it back here alive. Um, Logan is in the kitchen with Gavin. He's asking to see you before you leave," Sonia said. Tears were building up in her eyes but she wouldn't ever let anyone see her cry.

"How long will I be gone? I just found out that I'm going to be a father again and— and I have to be there to walk Nicole down the aisle at the wedding... Logan will think I've abandoned him, just when things were starting to get better with us. I can't leave. No matter what happens to me. I won't leave you all."

"You have too. It's your duty," Sonia said, her chin trembling as she walked over to me and hugged me so tight I couldn't breathe. "Go see your son before you leave. Please."

I looked over at Cissy who was an absolute wreck. She wouldn't even look at me. She had one hand resting on her stomach and the other silencing her sobs.

"Dad!" Logan said. He came running out of the house and into my arms. "You'll come back, right? Mom's sick and you make her happier. And you told me you'd be here to help me with my homework because you're the only one good with science equations. You'll come back. You should."

"Yeah, buddy, I'll come back. I swear on it."

He smiled just as the sun rose and hugged me again.

"Here's your bag," Gavin said. He handed me the marine blue duffel bag. "Mom ironed your uniform. It's laying on the table in the dining room. I'm really gonna miss you around here."

I nodded and smiled at him, at all of them. "I'm coming back. I swear."

Cissy wiped her eyes and looked over at me. "I love you, Cameron Langford."

"I love you too."

~~~

"Hey, you're Cameron Langford, right?" A guy beside me on the bus to base asked me.

I nodded, then looked at him. I'd know those brown eyes anywhere, the crease of his brow. When we were kids, we'd hang out a lot, often riding our bikes down to the lake with our reels casting into the water.

"Patrick Beautré?" I laughed. He nodded and grinned at me.

"My grandmomma said that you'd possibly be in the same boat as me. Heading back to fight for our freedoms," he said. "I promised her and my girlfriend, Leanna, that I'd come back to them. But, uh, I'm really scared. These guys we're up against in Iraq, they don't play around."

I knew that much, that what we were up against was scary. It was a death sentence. Patrick, the other guys on the bus, even the bus driver knew it was a death sentence. We wouldn't make it back.

"I have my family back home. I just found out I'm going to be a dad again— Carissa's expecting, and everyone is so excited. I proposed and, you know, we knew there wouldn't be a wedding, not when I'm having to go back out there, so we got married in secret. I just told my son that daddy is coming back home, and now, I feel like I've let him down."

Patrick sighed. "Logan's a good kid," he said. "I was a substitute teacher for a few months back in the fall and he was so respectful and really just a bright student. He's lucky to have you as his dad, Cameron. But, if we want anyone to blame for shipping us back overseas, blame the government. I swear, they find joy and pleasure in sending us overseas."

I laughed and patted his shoulder. "We signed up for this, though. But there isn't anything we can do now. Just make the most of this tour. I just hope to return home to see my kids grow up with both parents around all the time. Get some sleep, Patrick. We still have an hour ride to base. It may be the last round of sleep we'll get in a while. Oh, and congratulations on the girlfriend."

He smiled. "Congratulations to you too, brother. Goodnight."

As the ride got quieter with the men asleep on the bus, the only hum that sounded being the whooshing of the wind outside, my mind wandered.

I thought back to the time I got that letter in from Mom while I was in Afghanistan. It was marked 'Urgent' and I knew it wasn't a good letter.

"Cameron,

I want to inform you that, on August 2nd, 2005, you became a father. His name is Logan, and he's the exact replica of you as a baby. He's just darling. We're all doing well. But your father, he's taken a turn for the worst. A cancer diagnosis, that's what the doctors said. He doesn't have much longer to live, I'm afraid. We all miss you. Come back home soon."

But see, the mind can play tricks on you. Make you believe things happened when really, they never did. I never received a letter marked 'Urgent' from anyone, and my father didn't pass away until last year— he died from suicide. He was always easiest to talk to when he was drunk. And, Logan? I haven't even known him for a year. I'm going to be a father again, and don't get to see this baby grow up. All because of foreign nations starting wars that American soldiers have to give aid too.

Life isn't fair. It never will be. That's why it's called Life. But life really threw in the towel on this one. It's not just another tour. I'm meeting my death.