The fire and flame of war

Reunited or lost forever?

(Papua New Guinea)

Daniel was looking around across the skyline, keeping an eye out for any approaching planes. Right in front of him, two missiles exploded through the clouds, aligning themselves alongside the aircraft daniel was flying. One had a camera attached, used to identify the plane.
'Oh shit' daniel thought as he awaited his fate.

(Australia)

Jade and Amelia were dozing on the couch together one night after school and work, half watching some show about big factories and how things are made. Jades phone rang, causing both girls to wake up.
"Hello?" Jade says sleepily. Suddenly she sits bolt upright, wide awake.
"Yes? Uh huh, ok, what time? Yes. Ok." Amelia, confused, asks her mum what's happening. Jade gets up and grabs her keys.
"I'll explain on the way" she says. Amelia grabs her shoes as she runs after jade.
They head towards the airport, and get on a private jet. The jet takes off soon after, taking them off to Darwin at the speed of sound.

(RAAF Base Tindal, Darwin)

The jets tires screech as they touch down on the still warm runway. Night had fallen, but the temperature had remained in the high twenties with 80% humidity. Amelia and jade stepped off the plane and were greeted by the commanding officer of the base. He spoke to them as they walked towards the waiting staff car.
'Hello Pilot Officer, I'm sorry for the short notice. We had to confirm several things on our data bases before we could alert you." The group captain said.
"It's ok, I understand." Jade replies as she sits in the car.
The car drives them off the flight line and across to the base hospital. As they exit the car, jade grabs Amelia's hand, and they walk into the hospital together. Inside, they are ushered down many different corridors before they stop outside a room. The door has a fogged glass pane in it and the room number reads 507.
"Before you go in, I must just warn you that his injuries are quite extensive. The explosion did a lot of tissue damage and he may be scarred for life as a result." The Group Captain says. "You may not wish to go in Amelia."
"I don't care, he is still my dad, alive or not." Amelia retorts.
Silence falls over the group, and jade reaches out for the handle, and slowly opens it and steps inside with her daughter, still holding each other's hand.

Throughout the room, nothing can be heard except for the beeping monitors. The smell of antiseptic is present in the air. The bed is against the wall, close to the window. On the bed, Daniel lies unconscious, hooked up to a machine that controls his breathing. In his arms are several drips. His body is covered by a thin gown, but his face and neck show the edges of some marks and bruises. Jade and Amelia are seated in chairs beside him, jade holding his hand, Amelia still holding jades. The girls cry long into the night and early hours of the morning. A doctor comes in to see them.
"We placed him in a coma to ease the swelling around his brain. It will go away with time. He's also suffered some burns and abrasions, but we've patched them up. There is a chance however, that he may not wake up. All we can do is watch and wait." He says quite solemnly.
"His plane exploded over the Papua New Guinean coastline after coming into contact with two ground-to-air missiles. This caused the burns and abrasions. After he had safely ejected from the aircraft, he was knocked unconscious by a falling piece of metal from the plane. If it wasn't for his automatic parachute......." The doctor stops, letting jade process what she'd just been told. Amelia was in tears again. She speaks before jade does.
"So your telling me, that our missiles are responsible for this?" She asks.
"We had no way of identifying who was flying the plane. It was a North Korean marked craft." The doctor replied.
"I'm just a doctor. I'm not responsible for the actions taken by those who create war."
"My dad would still be awake if he hadn't been shot out of the air!" Amelia yelled, curling into a ball in her mothers arms, sobbing with rage and despair. The doctor took this as his chance to leave, letting jade and Amelia wait beside daniel, waiting for a sign of life.

Three days had passed. Jade and Amelia were asleep, still sitting in their chairs. Jade was still holding Daniels hand as she slept. A nurse entered the room just as the computers started going off with alarms. Jade was awake instantly, and the nurse ran across. He was choking on the tubes down his throat. The nurse worked quickly, and two other nurse burst into the room, pushing jade and the barely awake Amelia out of the way. One of the nurses escort jade and Amelia from the room. Jade and Amelia hug each other as they wait.

Inside, once the tubes are removed the nurses complete some tests to make sure daniel is ok. He can barely talk, but is cleared for visitors. The nurses set up a drip with painkiller and let Amelia and jade in. The nurses brief jade on what's happened.
" he's got quite a few stitches across his chest and abdomen. Please be careful." The nurse says before leaving. Amelia and jade rush into the room, Amelia sitting back in her chair and jade taking his hand. Daniel looks up at her weakly.
"Hey" he whispers hoarsely.
"Hey" jade says, looking at him, smiling whilst holding back tears. "You're ok" she says.
"Sort of" he says. With his other hand, he reaches for Amelia's. Amelia, who is crying, takes it. Once more reunited, they stay together like that for an unknown amount of time.