Reaper of the Damned

Chapter Three

That night Ryan went to his church for a confession. As he entered the church he dipped his hands in the bowl of holy water and sprinkled it on him in the form of a cross then walked over to the confessions booth and stepped in. As he waited for the priest he thought about what he'd do if these were his final hours alive. Before he could come up with anything the priest opened the small screen so that he could hear what was being said. Ryan just went ahead and let everything out as if no one was even there, "I dont know where to begin, but I guess I'll start when it happened..." Ryan started. "We were posted in Afghan, they were simple orders, just go on patrol around the area, we didnt think much of it, just another patrol run and then we'd be back at base....I guess the natives had other plans. Just after we left a small village we headed back south to base when all of a sudden gunshots rang out from all around us, me and my friend got pinned behind a rock, he decided to try and regroup with the rest of the squad, I tried telling him to wait but he didnt, he was shot down just before he could make it to them, when the time came we got air lift and got out of there. By the time we made it to base my friend was dead, I always blamed myself but lately I dont know who to blame, or what I should do." when Ryan finished the priest sat still thinking, "seems to me that you need to forgive yourself, visit this friends grave, visit his family, help them in their time of need." with that Ryan thanked the priest and left the church. After a few hours at Alex's grave he left some flowers and headed to his family's house. When he arrived Ryan had half a mind to leave instead of following through, but he went up anyways and knocked on the door. When no one answered he knocked again, as time passed he started to become chilled so he knocked one last time and wrapped his arms around himself to keep warm. A few moments later Alex's mom answered the door, suprised to see Ryan she invited him in, once he sat down he asked if Mr. Andreas was home, she called for him and after a few seconds Mr. Andreas entered the room. Ryan began to apologize for breaking his promise to keep Alex safe, he explained what had happened and how Alex died, "I'm sorry, I never wanted this to happen, I should of distracted them so he could make it over to the rest the squad." as he finished he saw that Mr and Mrs. Andreas were calm, as if they could read his mind the looked at each other and back at him as Mr. Andreas calmly replied, "we've had all these years to cope with the loss kiddo, we know you did your best and we're sure you gave him the respect and burial he deserved." They all stood up and hugged each other as Ryan began to tear up, "And as far as I'm concerned you've punished yourself enough." chuckled Mrs. Andreas as they broke up, Ryan thanked them for being so forgiving and said his goodbyes as he left the house.