To Hell and Back // Alex Keller.

Hope.

The summer heat arrived unannounced on a quiet afternoon. The nature was silent. Not even a single leaf on the tall trees moved under the hot sun, as the temperature slowly but surely had reached the top of the thermometer. A thin blanket of clouds covered the bright blue sky, adding grayness to the picture. Rare patches of blue fought their way through the clouds, trying to let the sun's rays fall onto the dry ground of the small town.

Somewhere down the state, wildfires took the opportunity to ignite back again in the dryness of the weather. Lazy, warm wind from the south brought nothing but the smoke on its back. Tall heels were covered in the smoke blankets, hiding everything over the horizon from the town's residents. The wind travelled up and down the deserted streets, spreading the unforgettable smell of fire smoke. For a split moment, it felt as if one of the neighbours was burning dried leaves in their backyard, but everyone knew that the truth was more terrifying.

The burning smell entered the old house through an open window and reached Alex before he could even look outside. His blue eyes sat on the calendar, seeing how another month just passed and July decided to bring the wildfires back to the state. It was about time, with dry ground and fewer rains each week, the beginning of the wildfire season was just a matter of time. The muscles on his hands tensed, as the man closed the window, keeping the polluted air outside of the strong walls of the dark house. Keller's attention came back to the book, as it sat in his tattooed hands. Fragile paper felt the touching of the rough hands of the man, as his eyes jumped from one paragraph to another until the quiet knock on the door forced the officer to escape the fictional world back into the cruel reality.

The hardwood floor creaked under the weight of the man, as the crunches took over the place of the book in Keller'shands. Somewhere in his thoughts, Alex cursed the floor for being too loud, when he hadn't expected any visitors on the hot summer day. The tracks of Kelly's car were still visible far away from the house on the dirt road, as their agreement of her visiting the house every other day was still in place. For a split moment, the officer couldn't help but wonder if he wasn't careful enough and if it was time to face the consequences of his actions. Radio silence from both,Laswell and Price suggested that the charges for desertation of orders were still in place. But, no feelings were hiding inside of the strong chest of the man. Keller knew what he did, and the reason for following Farah's orders, rather than Laswell's. Years in the CIA made the young man question the orders his unit received many times, but the words never escaped into the air out of his thoughts. Officers are never supposed to question their orders. The higher-ups' are supposed to know better, right? But, all the questions that were running in Alex's head finally escaped, when the allies were named terrorists in a quick moment by the generals. Coming back to Urzikstan and joining Farah's forces felt like the only right decision Keller could ever make. And if the officer had to do it all over again, the man would make the same decision in the blink of an eye.

Before reaching for a door handle, Alex peeked outside of the living room window, but the gaze of the blue eyes caught no one on the porch of the old house. A large black duffle bag sat in front of the wooden door, ready to meet with Keller as soon as his leg stepped out of the comforting walls of the house. He looked around, expecting to see the ghost of a person who could've left the bag, but there was nothing. No trail of steps, no sound of the vehicle, or even a note. It took a moment for Alex to bring the bag inside, as he fought with the suffocating feeling of hesitation. The bag found its place on the floor in front of the old, but still comfortable couch in the middle of the living room. The squicky sound of the zipper sliding up echoed through the silence that was hiding in the rooms of the house. Keller's curiosity was holding its hands around the man's neck, as the gaze of his bright blue eyes tried to catch a glimpse of what was hiding in the dark material of the bag. Two smaller but long bags were hiding from Alex inside, making the officer feel as if he was opening the nesting dolls, but the prize inside was worth all the struggles Keller had gone through earlier.

Two prosthetic legs were covered in the dark bags away from anyone else except for Alex himself. The gift had reached its recipient on a hot, summer day. A running blade caught the lonely ray of the sun, revealing the shiny surface of titanium. Keller placed it back in the bag, ready to unwrap the second bag. For a moment, the whole situation reminded the officer of the morning full of happiness on Christmas Eve. Time passed and the gifts got bigger, but the feeling ofexcitement stayed the same. The second prosthetic leg was heavier, as it resembled a man's second leg, which was more fortunate on the day of an explosion. His fingers curiously traced the material, as the part of Alex's mind still couldn'tbelieve that this day had finally arrived.

"Laswell." A hint of a smile was sitting on the edge of the man's thin lips, hidden by the overgrown mustache. Alex looked at his reflection in the camera, noticing that his facial hair needed an urgent trim. On the other side of the call, Kate's face looked back at the man, as the two spoke for the first time since the accident.

"Alex. Does it fit?" In the middle of the busy day for Laswell, a woman found a moment behind the closed doors of her office for the man who was once under her command. There was no room for resentment in the CIA, or anywhere else in the forces. Decisions were made, and there was no turning back in time. The only way out of the situation was to move on.

"Like a glove. Thank you." Keller couldn't help but look down at his leg. The part where there was nothing but emptiness at the end of his pants was now taken over by the prosthetics. Waves of pain were still circling Alex's body and mind, but it was nothing new to the officer. The man felt just like a toddler, as he was learning to walk once again, now with a new leg made out of the strongest materials to handle the man's weight.

"Charges are officially dropped. Get yourself ready to come back, Echo 3-1." Kate looked back at the officers, letting their eyes meet in eye contact for a brief moment. The news about the charges being dropped reached her not so long ago, but the woman couldn't keep it a secret for long. Keller's personal file would still keep the whole situation hidden, as the mission was classified shortly after its completion. The officer was a valuable asset in the battleground, and they both knew that as soon as the fire of war ignited somewhere, there would be no power to hold Keller back from getting closer to it. Moth always flies to the flame. 

"Yes, ma'am." Alex's words reached Laswell a moment before she closed the laptop shut. In the walls of the Pentagon, the officer was nothing but a traitor to the men and women sitting in the comfortable chairs far away from the battleground. A watcher can't judge the soldier. But they did as if it was the judgment day court. 

The sun was setting down, turning into the orange ring of fire in the blanket of smoke. Darkness was slowly falling onto the ground, turning the grayness into black, and leaving the smoke invisible to the eyes of the residents of a small town. In a dark house far away from the neighbours, the light was shining through the darkness of the night. But the light coming from the tall lamp on the bedroom floor was not the only light in the room that night. Light of hope was finally lit inside of the man's chest.

At the end of the day, every bit of struggle always pays off.

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