Warrior

Chapter 4: New Job

I finally found a job, it was a bar tending job at the veterans bar in Pittsburgh, it got my mind off of what happened somewhat, I mean I was surrounded by other soldiers, where I found myself most comfortable, but regardless of what i did, Joel's lifeless eyes found their way into my mind.  Tess came home before Brendan, she told us that he had to work late, Jade and I knew where he really was; I wondered when he'd tell her, she would find out eventually.

Jade went to bed, in a room we now shared and I sat on the couch with a laptop curled up in a blanket, I couldn't sleep at all without being locked in my own vicious nightmares, and decided I would look for an apartment for Jade and I to move into. Of course, that would mean leaving Philadelphia and moving back to Pittsburgh, back home, where we grew up. Jade and I talked about it, she figured it was a good idea, Brendan and Tess were already having problems with their mortgage and their bills, we were just extra money. I found a few places that were too expensive for us to get, but then came across an apartment, two bedrooms, not bad, not the best, but not bad. I wondered what had happened to grandmas house, no one lived there, she had died before she could write her will and hand off the house to Joel and I, so if we were to move back in there, we'd have to get a lot of money, which wasn't an option right now. we had no choice now but to move into the apartment, maybe somehow I could save up some money every month and buy the house back.

The front door swung open and in walked Brendan who turned on the light. He turned into the living room where he saw me and gave me a warm smile. I could see his face was all bear up, but he held out some money and showed it to me, smiling.

"Shit Brendan, you're still a monster" I teased, remembering when he was in the UFC for a little bit. Tess didn't like him fighting, and he got beat up pretty badly once, so bad he had to go to the hospital, he was knocked unconscious and after that, Tess didn't want him fighting anymore. Brendan smiled and made his way over, he chuckled and sat next to me, it was really late and the house was silent.

"Whatcha up to?" He asked, putting his arm around me and looking at the screen, he frowned a little when he saw me looking for an apartment. "You know you guys can stay here" I smiled and leaned my head on him, he winced a little, he took a beating.

"I know Brendan, but Jade and I need to get out there, make a life for ourselves" he chuckled again and nodded.

"I forgot, you're all grown up" he smiled and kissed my head before heading upstairs. I sat by myself for a while, playing with the three silver dog tags around my neck, my fathers, my brothers and mine. I missed him more than I could bear, and I didn't have the heart to tell Jade, I knew she knew in a way. There was so much more that happened that I couldn't tell her,MLIKE the time me and my men were trapped in a quickly sinking Amtrak, the bridge had collapsed and we couldn't open the hatch because of the water pressure... We were drowning, we were going to die. I remember thinking about her in those moments, what her reaction would be when she found out I was dead. But before I could take my last breath the door of the tank was ripped off, by a saviour I still don't know to this day, he disappeared. They sent me home after that, said i was too unstable after Joel's death and I turned up here.

I closed the laptop, sighing deeply. I would go check it out tomorrow, maybe Jade would come with me, there was a gym down there we used to go to when we didn't go to Brendan's and see Frank. Fitzys I think, I wondered if Fitzy still owned that place, perhaps Jade would train there for the day, we could check out the apartment and start our lives new in our city, maybe after I started working and we were on our own things would get better for us.