Pain

Chapter 2 - Returning

Chapter 2

Returning

I had expected the news about Jamie and I to become common knowledge over the next few days. I was sure that as soon as Koby had mulled it over in his head, he'd be so angry that there would be some kind of yelling match in the lobby. But nothing of the sort occurred. He stayed in his room and no one else suspected anything.

Surprisingly, Candice had also stayed away. Apparently she'd heard from someone that Jamie had left the party with one of the girls there, and she hadn't even considered that it was me. She'd been angry enough with him that she hadn't come knocking on his hotel room door, and we'd been left in peace.

We were soaking in the luxury of our hotel stay for as long as we could. The date was set for our return home and before we knew it, we were one day away from said date. One moment I was relaxed and the next I was filled with all the anxiety that I'd left back in Australia many days ago.

"I don't think I can do it Jamie," I admitted, curling up into a ball on his bed. "Every time I think about going back there I can't breathe. We've lost so many people already. What if we lose more? What if I lose you?"

He sat down next to me, pulling me into his side.

"Esther, I'm just as scared as you are," he admitted. "To think about myself going back into danger is one thing, but you? That's just a whole other story."

"That's exactly how I feel about you," I said.

"Well -,"

His words were cut off by the phone ringing. We both looked at each other inquisitively. The phone had never rung before. The only use it had ever had for us was to frequent use of room service.

Jamie reached over and pulled the phone up to his ear. "Hello?"

I sat up, trying to figure out who was on the other end of the line.

"Yeah sure, I'll be down right away...I'll let her know too. Bye," he placed the phone back into its holder and turned to look at me. "Bailey wants us downstairs."

I curled even further into a ball.

Bailey had a hard look on his face. The entire group had been called and now we were all sitting around the same little room that General Parker had broken the news about returning home in. He hadn't said a word as we all arrived at various intervals and when Koby finally walked in and sat beside Candice, he began to talk.

"This isn't easy," he began.

"You're not coming with us, are you?" I asked, reading his expression like a book.

"No, I'm not," he admitted.

There were a few gasps from around the room and a couple of groans from the boys. No one was happy about the idea of going home anyway, let alone on our own with no military guidance.

"General Parker has decided that the best use for me is back at the base with the other men," he explained. "I'm needed for things that require a much higher skill level. Something I can only achieve with my men."

"Then what have we been training for? Why are we even going back?" asked Brigid.

"This is a load of shit," spat Rocky.

"Look guys, it's not ideal," Bailey tried reason. "But let's face it-,"

"We've done it before," Nigel interrupted.

"Yeah, come on guys. We all love Bails, but the fact is we can do just as much damage on our owns, especially with our new training," Karlo reasoned.