Drift

Chapter 7

Screams and smoke. That was all I could hear or see, aside from the slapping of clunky boots running on the mucky terrain. Some of the screams were mine.

I grasped my gun tightly, terrified. I huddled down into the trench as deep as I could. I didn't want to be here. I didn't want to kill. I didn't want to die. Not for the most part. I only wanted to be home. I should have been at home reading "Three Billy Goats Gruff" to my little Toby and my precious Naomi, snuggled up next to the fireplace. Instead, I could only look at their pictures in a small locket around my neck, which had been hacked with sweat, soiling the photos of the beautiful tiny freckled faces. 

No, Chrisy, you need to think. Get back to your kids, that's what you need to do. I had to focus. I needed to get an idea of where everybody was. I needed to find Charlie. Where was Charlie? 

I peeked my head up above the ridge of the trench. The shooting had stopped for a moment. two moments. Three. Silence.

A long, long, silence. 

"Pssst! Charlie!" I whispered loudly, looking around in confusion. I strained my eyes to look through the tears and smoke. "Where are you, Love?" I peaked my head a little higher up and glanced around, my chest above the ridge of the earthen trench.

A bad idea. 

BLAAM!!

I was down. Shot right in the heart. I was on my back in the mud, my gun fallen out of reach and the breath knocked out of me. And pain. Indescribable pain. That was all I could feel.

"CHRISTIIIINE!!" A deep voice yelled in agony from the distance. I heard loud muddy footsteps thudding over closer and closer. And there he was. My Charlie. He wasn't a distinct man by any means. Not to most. But he was to me. In his heart he was the most wonderful and distinct, unique, amazing person anyone could ever dream of. My sweet Charles Taylor. He was here with me, here in this godforsaken war. Because we were in this life together or not at all. And he wasn't going to let me get drafted without him enlisting. 

He knelt down next to me,  sobbing and shaking. You'd have thought he was the one that got shot. His tears dripped onto my face as my life slowly glided away from me. He lifted me up a bit and held me gently in his arms, making me feel as safe as a dying woman can feel. 

He kissed my forehead, his hand on my cheek. "Chrisy Love, stay with me," he begged, hugging me while struggling for air. 

"I... I love you Charlie," I wheezed, trying to stay awake. Tears streamed down his face, which was distorted in the emotional agony he was experiencing. About to loose his wife. The only person he's ever loved, ever since he knew what love was. 

"Chrisy, baby... I love you too, but you can't leave... you can't..." He burried his face in my shoulder. "Please don't go..." He wailed in pain, his cries muffled by my uniform. 

"Darlin.... tell Toby.... and Naomi.... That I lo-..." I gasped for air again, sobbing and suffocating. Dying. "Tell them that I love them," I struggled. "Tell them.... that mommy missed them...." I needed to get these words out. "I missed them every second." I said finally, choking and coughing up blood. 

"Chrisy, I love you," he said. "I love you so, so..... so much." He kept crying into my arm. Still holding me. Even with my blood drenching every inch of him. Still taking care of me. Still loving me, even though I was covered in god knows what. He was still in love with me. Just like he'd always been. And God, did I love that man. With every inch of my being, I loved him.

I weakly lifted my arm and put my hand on his neck, my fingers touching his typically soft but now sweat-drenched brown hair. I wanted to reassure him somehow... even as I was dying. I couldn't speak anymore, but somehow I was able to muster up the strength to do that. To lift my arm and hold him back. We both knew I was dying. Even if the doctor hadn't been killed in the base raid last week, he still wouldn't have made it in time. Not by a long shot. 

I stroked his neck ever so lightly, which was really as much as I could do. I had no energy left. None. I could feel myself slipping away, my mind, everything, drifting into darkness. I couldn't breathe anymore. My whole body was in mind-blowing pain, from my exploded heart to the aching muscles, sore from running all over hills and through tightly packed woods. All of me. I felt as if I was on fire, yet I had never felt so far gone. 

At least Charlie was here. At least he was holding me one last time. At least I could feel a little bit of comfort in him. My sweet charlie... 

My Tobias... my little Toby....

And my precious Nom Nom... sweet little Naomi...

They were all I could see in my mind as I slowly drifted away....

Floating into the black.... 

Then I woke up.