Alison Reagan

Deployed.

It had been a few weeks since I went on leave and I was having Sunday supper with my family.
"How are you doing?" Danny asks me.
"I'm good." I say smiling at him.
The truth was I felt guilty of all the people I killed while I was deployed.
My phone rang right after I said that I looked at the caller id.
I stood up and walked to the doorway and answered it.
"Lt. Reagan, sir." I said and everyone got quiet knowing it was serious.
'Lt. Reagan, you are needed on an op over seas ASAP." My commander said.
I took a deep breath and hung my head.
I was thinking about the promise I made Nikki. I walked over to the table and stood behind my chair looking at Nikki.
"With all due respect, sir, isn't their someone else you can send." I asked.
"I'm sorry aren't you the one who pledged to defend your country no matter what?" He asks.
I slam the chair against the table and took a breath.
"Yes sir." I answered trying to stay calm.
All I was trying to do was keep a promise to my niece.
"Then I want you on a plane to Afghanistan at the crack of dawn tomorrow. Am I clear Lt.?" He asks.
I cover my mouth with my hand and turn away from the table. I run my hand through my hair.
"I said am I clear, Lt.?" He repeated.
"Yes sir." I said pissed.
"Good." He said.
I hung up and held the phone in my hand.
I was pissed. I chucked the phone at the wall and Danny got up and pulled me from the room.
"Hey. Hey, what happened?" He asks while I pace.
"I'm needed in Afghanistan. I leave at 5:00 in the morning tomorrow on a plane. I tried to get out of it. All I could think about was Nikki. I promised I wouldn't leave. I was hoping I could be here for a little while longer before I left again." I said.
He hugged me and I clung to his shirt but I didn't cry.
"Nikki will be fine I promise you, Nikki will be fine. I will look after her and if you call I don't if it's in the middle of the damn day I will go to her school and have them let her talk to you." He said and I laughed.
He put his arm around me and led me back to the dining room.
I sat down.
Erin passed me my phone.
"I don't think you're going to be making any calls on that." She said.
"Yeah. I probably shouldn't have thrown that." I said.
"What's wrong Aunt Allie?" Sean asked.
"Oh, I-"
"You're getting deployed again aren't you?" Nikki said interrupting me. I got up and kneeled in front of her.
"Nikki, I-I tried to get out of it. For you. I wanted to stay for you. Because I wanted to keep my promise to you and-"
"Nikki, it's Aunt Allies job in the army. She has a responsibility to her country. You understand?" Danny said.
"No. No I don't. She has a responsibility to her family to." She said brushing past me.
I felt like I had been stabbed in the heart.
I stood up and cleared my throat.
"I have to pack." I said going up to my room.
I was half way done packing when I went downstairs.
Danny and Erin stopped me.
"Hey." He said
"Hey. Are you ok? It's just I saw your face after what Nikki said and I wanted to let you know she was wrong. You do put family first." She said.
"Yeah. If you didn't you have even thought about the promise you made Nikki." Danny said.
"Thanks." I smiled at them. "I have to go. I have to be named fit to be deployed." I said walking out of the house hugging Erin and giving Danny a kiss on the cheek.
I drove to the army base where I had my blood drawn, questioned, and did my physical which I passed with flying colors.
When I got home I was still sweaty from my physical I had ran 12 miles.
I went into the house to see everyone sitting there.
I walked in the kitchen and got a bottle of water.
Then I walked back into the living room to see what was going on.
"Hey what's going on?" I asked them then I took a sip.
"How did it go?" Danny asked.
"What?" I asked.
"Were you cleared?" He specified.
"They haven't got the blood work back yet but they said I past the physical exam with flying colors." I told them.
"Good." He said smiling at me.
He walked up to me and gave me a hug.
"What's going on?" I ask him.
"What is going on is that we love you and we want to say goodbye before you leave." He said and I realized I leave tomorrow.
I hugged him back.
"You know what?" He asks.
"What?" I ask him.
He pulled away.
"You stink." He said and made a face. I pushed him.
"Excuse me. I just ran 12 miles." I said and I got a hug from everyone except Nikki who was glaring at the floor.
My phone started ringing.
I looked at the I.D. and saw that it was the army area code.
I motioned for everyone to be quiet.
"Reagan?" I answer.
"This is she." I said.
"That's gre-" I stop talking because I'm in shock.
"No, no. There has to be some kind of mistake. You have to run it again." I pleaded.
"Then run it again." I yelled into the phone.
"Yes. But what you are saying isn't possible."
"Please, please. Run it again." I practically begged the lady.
I hung up the phone and sat down in the chair. Everyone was watching me.
"Shouldn't you be, I don't know, packing?" Nikki asks.
"Nikki!" Erin reprimanded her.
"No it fine Erin, and um, no Nikki I shouldn't be packing. I didn't pass my evaluation." I said.
"Wait. I thought you said you passed with flying colors." Danny said.
"The physical portion, yeah. I failed my health test. The blood test to be exact." I said.
"What was different about this time?" He pushed.
"I don't know Danny. Ok? Because what she told me is impossible. It can't be true." I yelled at him.
"Ok. What she tell you?" He questioned me.
"It doesn't matter because it's not true." My phone rang again.
"Son of a Bitch." I said.
"Lt. Reagan sir." I answered.
"No sir." I answered.
"No sir."
"No sir."
"Sir, I would like to have my blood tested again. Because I don't think there is anyway that this can be true." I said.
"Yes sir." I said.
"Thank you sir." I said to him then hung up.
"Well?" Dad asked.
"He said that I could retake my blood test tomorrow. And if it didn't change then I can't go." I said.
"Yeah we all know you want to." Said Nikki.
"No, Nikki. I don't. Believe it or not I don't want to leave you and the others behind." I said.
"Then why were you begin for them to redo your blood test? Why not just leave it at that?" She asks.
"Because Nikki, the results can't be right. And if I know that and don't do anything I could get demoted or worse dishonorably discharged." I tried to explain.
"Whatever." She said walking out.
I turned to dad.
"Was I like that when I was a teenager?" I asked him.
"You do remember what you did when you first got home right?" Danny asks before dad could answer.
"I was going to say, you were much worse." Dad said.
"Whatever." I scoffed, messing with him.
I turned around and went upstairs.
"Goodnight." I called to them.
"Night." I heard.
I showered and went to bed that night thinking about the results I got from the blood work.