Short Stories!

The Worst Pain

Ring! Ring!

Mark glances at the clock. 12:14 AM.

"Who calls this early in the morning?" Mark grumbles to himself.

Ring! Ring!

Careful not to wake his wife nor the infant sleeping next to him, Mark reaches over and picks up the phone.

"Hello?" Mark asks groggily.

"Sergeant Miller, this is Sergeant Major Thompson. We here in the capital want to mobilize you. You have gone through the pre-deployment stage, correct?"

"Yes sir. Completed retraining with placement at the top of my class."

"Yes, that is what it says on the documents. The board has decided to give you one week before you are picked up. Be ready to leave by 15:00 on Saturday, August 18." The line drops.

What? I am being deployed again? How am I going to tell my family?

Mark got out of bed and started pacing the room, trying to think of how he is going to tell his family. The last time Mark was deployed he almost didn't come back. A spy planted a bomb inside the base Mark was stationed at. When the explosive went off, Mark lost partial hearing in both of his ears and suffered severe brain damage.

"Mark? Is that you?" Mark's wife's croaky voice comes from the bed behind Mark.

"The military called. They want to send me overseas again. I don't know how to tell Lily."

Mark's wife steps out of their bed and walks over to her husband. "I will take care of it. How long?"

"I leave in one week. I don't know how long I will be away."

His wife sighs. "Okay. Try to get some rest then."

"I will try," Mark starts pacing the room again.

One week passed and Mark is standing on the porch waiting for the escort to arrive. His wife stands behind him holding their baby daughter. His ten year old daughter, Lily, stands next to him. Being old enough to understand what is happening, she has tears falling down her cheeks.

"Help mama with all of the chores. And be nice to your sister. Okay?" Now Mark has tears starting to form.

"Okay Dada. I love you."

"I love you too baby girl."

Lily moves her delicate fingers across the medals on his chest as he bade his family goodbye. Unsure if he would see them again, Mark plants a kiss on all of their foreheads and turns abruptly towards the door of the escort vehicles. No bullets had him hit so hard as much as his daughter's tears.