A Cowboy Lost in Time

Chapter 1. Something Suspicious

The Cowboy Lost in Time. Chapter 1.

It was the night after a hard day of field training after which we've had dinner in the cafeteria "Great, this weak excuse for dinner again." as I thought as we were given something that is supposed to resemble a piece of meat and a spoonful of mashed potatoes. As I turn around to look for a spot to sit down I hear my name being called, "Hawke!" it was my best buddy Martin and I slowly started walking towards him until, from the corner of my eye I saw: Jill, she was the love of my life, well, at least in my head she was. even though we both were in service I had never dared to walk up to say "Hi" to her and knowing she could be sent out to fight in a godforsaken country where she easily could lose her life fighting for some farmers she'd never known. But I was too scared "you've got to man-up one day, you're not scared to die but you are scared of a girl?" I whispered to myself but continued to walk towards Martin who had a big grin on his face. Martin was never the person to keep a secret, so I approached him as carefully as I could but when I lowered myself into my seat I heard: *BANG* it was my seat being kicked out from under me. And there I laid on the floor in the mess hall knowing there were a lot of eyes looking towards the direction of the sound. And as I stood up hearing the soft laughing of my fellow soldiers I quickly looked around to see if Jill had seen my beautiful tumble onto the tile floor, and to my relief, she was too busy trying to cut her "piece of rubber" as I would call the meat around here.

As the night grew tighter we were walking back to our barracks, with Jill far in front of me I could track every movement she made and when something would happen I could take action, even though I knew that would never happen, that would have been my plan to win her heart "It's a dumb plan anyway and I only seem more of a creep than I already was." And the moment I had finished my sentence Martin padded me on the back "Hey man, you know I'm just messing around, I've always wanted to be a comedian Hawke, you know that." "Is that so?" I asked him knowing him for at least a quarter of my life and knowing he always did want to be a comedian of some sorts. "Yes, of course, Hawke, you know me for like 6 or 7 years now." and just when he finished his sentence I stuck out my leg making him trip and fall "Hey, what the hell man!" he yelled looking up at me "Hey man, just messing around" I said in a snarly voice and turned my body to continue to walk toward the barracks. But when my body had turned 90 degrees I saw that Jill was looking back with a very judgmental face "She probably heard Martin scream like a little girl when he fell." I thought to myself. Not knowing what to do I turned back to Martin reaching out my hand to help him up again and out of the corner of my eye I saw Jill turning back to her friends and continuing towards the female barracks "Who are you staring at you creep?" asked Martin with a big smile on his face "Oh uh nobody, just saw a shadow moving." I replied, "Martin might be stupid but he's not an absolute moron, he knew very well that I was looking at somebody." I thought but Martin just had a big smile on his face as he stood on his feet again "Was it one of those girls?" asked Martin. "Tss...no" I tried to answer as sarcastically as possible "They probably heard your overweight body hit the asphalt." Martin gave a grim look "Well, fair enough I suppose AND I'm not fat I have heavy bones." He laughed, and we continued to walk towards the barracks.

Martin and I were talking about how we would be sent out to some godforsaken country and we would be fighting for our lives for just a couple of farmers until we opened the door into the barracks and immediately were greeted by our sergeant "Where were you ladies at! It's five minutes past lights-out!" He yelled, "If you ladies like the outside so much, then you'll be glad to hear that you both get three hours of securing the perimeter!" And that meant walking around the fence with your firearm in your hands looking in into the complete darkness, although it did have some sort of a calming factor I was not exactly in the mood of walking in the middle of the night "SIR, please forgive us Martin tri-..." But halfway through my sentence, the harsh voice of the sergeant interrupted me "I don't want to hear any of your petty excuses, go grab your weapon and get walking!" So, Martin and I walked towards our bunkbed and grabbed our M4 and our walkie-talkies and went back outside and both went separate ways "*Bzzt* Hey Hawke you there?" Asked Martin "Yeah, Sup'?" I replied, "That girl you were looking at earlier is also walking out here in the middle of the night." He said with a slightly snarly voice "He was probably talking about Jill, who else?" I thought "I wasn't looking at anybody and you'd have to be more detailed than just a girl." I replied, and the second I lifted my finger from the button to speak I heard: "Well Hawke, seeing as I am the only girl out here. Might I ask why you were staring at me?" She said jokingly. I could feel my cheeks getting red and warm, but I had to be quick to respond, "I was probably just looking at the birds at the time" I replied, but I failed to make it sound convincing "You were looking at the birds when it while it was dark?" I heard over the walkie-talkie after a couple of nerve-wracking seconds "It wasn't dark when I was looking at the birds though." I said, "So you admit you were looking?" she responded trying to sound smart "At the birds, yes." I said hopingly she would just believe what I had just made up. "Aren't you the guy who got his seat kicked out from under him in the cafeteria earlier today?" She asked, "Yep that was me, and the other guy was my friend Martin who is probably listening in on our conversation aren't you Martin?" I replied, "Hey Hawke you should come over here there is something here..." We heard Martin say and continued by Jill's voice: "Wait if that was you then you were star-..." and halfway through Jill's sentence the sky lit up, bright as day together with the most deafening sound I had ever heard. The last thing I heard was Martin saying "God save us".