Dog Days

Chapter 32

When I finally stopped sobbing and screaming, I wake up from my drug induced sleep to find my nurse sitting in the chair in the corner. Her vibrant red hair sticks out of the white nurse's hat. Her face, although regularly neutral, reads with a hint of concern as she flips through the files in front of her.

I take in a deep breath and she looks up to me with a soft smile "Good morning, Staff Sergeant. How are you feeling?"

I take a moment to stare up at the ceiling as the heaviness in my chest returns. I take in a deep breath, before asking "When can I go home?"

She takes a deep breath, before declaring "Just have to teach you how to take care of yourself. We've been waiting on you to calm down before we do."

My lip quivers for a moment, before I declare "I just want to go home." A tear slips from my eye and I sigh "I just want to go home."

She gives a short nod, before standing up and sighing "Let's get you cleaned up and discharged, then."

As she steps towards the bed, I realize that, in the weeks she's been giving me drugs, I haven't asked for her name. She sits up the head of the bed and sighs "I'm going to gather the stuff we will need, and get your transport ready."

I give a short nod, before asking "What's my transport?"

She rests her hand on my shoulder and states "We'll air lift you back to Virginia. We'll have an SUV ready to take you home."

I give a short nod and she pats my good shoulder "I'll be right back, Staff Sergeant. Don't try to get up without me. You're still pretty drugged up."

She starts to leave before I state "I never asked your name."

She turns as she opens the door to tell me "Natalia Romanova." I furrow my brow and she smiles "It's Russian."

I give a short nod, before declaring "Sounds about right." She gives me a smug smile and I give a limp smile "The red head was telling me Russian or Irish. You're too monotone to be Irish."

She gives me a soft smile, before stepping out of the room.

As I sit in the bright hospital room, I hear distant footsteps in the hall, behind the one toned beeping on my heart monitor.

Tears slip from my eye as I begin to think about the last time I saw him. The fear in his eyes as he told me he'd be back for me.

And now he's just gone. Presumed dead, with no body to prove his death.

I feel my chest growing painfully tight again as soft sobs rake through my body.

I imagine the smile on his face as I held him in his cot, the night before he was ripped away from me.

I remember looking in his eyes and imagining my entire life with him. I remember every little detail of him face as he would smile at me.

And something in me aches as I imagine a day where his face begins to slip from my memory.

As my sobbing continues and I begin to sink into the depths of the void.

As the door opens, I hold my breath and try to calm myself before Natalia steps back in.

She sits my duffel down in the chair, before tossing some medical supplies on the side table and asking me "What are you upset about?"

I furrow my brow and wipe my eye, before declaring "There was this guy." She furrows her brows as she helps me pull off the sling "He was sexy, and mysterious." I give her a tired smile.

She gives me a soft smile and I remark "I found out that he was this very important guy, because of his skill set, but he and I had this dream of running away together, to my home."

She furrows her brow and asks "Your home?"

I give her a confident smile "It's a little commune in Virginia. He wanted to be a hippie with me, and I just fell for him so deeply."

I shake my head and tell her "I fell in love with his humor, and his charisma, and even the fact that he would have complete meltdowns and spin out, and all I had to do was hold him."

I wipe my eye and state "He went missing in action, and I'm finding it hard to believe that I will never smell him again, or look in his forest green eyes, or even see his smile."

She gives me a tired smile, before declaring "I hope you get to see him again."

I give her an exhausted look, before stating "I hope so, too."

She peels back the bandage on my shoulder and states "You had a piece of shrapnel pulled from your shoulder, in the field. Someone pulled it out, because if would have detonated, well before you came in. We just had to do damage control, to stop the bleeding. We went in the next morning to do nerve repair. It's going to need to be in the sling for the next six weeks."

I look down at the scar as she continues "All you have to do is clean it with alcohol or bacitracin, apply this ointment, and replace the bandage."

She use's bacitracin swabs to clean the wound, before showing me a tube of some pink cream "This is prescription. I'm sending you home with a tube, and your pharmacy will have two refills on file."

She grabs some gauze and tapes it down, before looking towards my eye "Your eye has an antibacterial spray."

She removes the gauze around my eye and asks "Have you seen?"

She gives me a neutral smile and I shake my head. She takes a moment to think, before reaching out to grab a hand mirror "I'll warn you. Your eye socket is still very vulnerable."
As she hands over the mirror, I find my eye is just gone. The socket is red and gaping. Completely hollowed and exposed.

I take in a deep breath, before asking her "What do I do?"

She holds up this spray and states "Spray with the antibacterial spray." She sprays it into the socket and states "Let it dry for a few seconds."

She turns towards the medical supplies and states "Then you take a circular gauze and an oversized piece of medical tape." She places the tape on the gauze and tapes it over my eye , explaining "Just place it, and then..."

She reaches back and grabs an eyepatch. She pulls it over my head and adjusts it, slightly. She smiles at me, kindly, before declaring "You're still an attractive guy, just so you know."

I give a soft smile, before asking "When do I leave?"

She looks at her watch and states "About an hour." She looked me over for a moment, before declaring "Let's get you dressed."

She pulls back the covers and steps over towards my bag. She tosses it on the bed and opens it up. She pulls out a pair of jeans and a sweater, before kneeling in front of me and sliding the jeans up my legs. As I stand, she buttons and zips them, before grabbing the sweater.

She pulls the sleeve over my bad shoulder, before pulling it over my head. I force my right arm through and she pulls it down my stomach. With ease, she adjusts the sling over the sweater.

As I sit back down, she grabs my boots and pulls them on with ease, before looking at me tiredly "Let's get you home, Staff Sergeant."