For Our Eyes Only

Chapter 4

That night, I woke up to the sound of a hailstorm of gunshots. I heard a man shouting something incoherent, but for some reason, it didn't sound real.

Then I heard the shriek of bombs.

There were no huge explosions of light outside the bedroom window. Nothing.

What the hell is happening?

"I ran and ran, just like Jenny told me to."

Oh my god. Wow.

I'm surprised it took me as long as it did to figure out what was happening.

"I ran so far and so fast, pretty soon, I was all by myself, which was a bad thing."

Okay. I knew exactly what was going on here.

I sat up, got out of bed, and trudged on into the living room.

"I couldn't just let him lay there all alone and scared the way he was, so I grabbed him up... run him out of there."

Jules was sitting on the couch in front of the television, in her pajama shorts that I've always found adorable, her blanket clenched in her hands and held up near her face.

She was watching Forrest Gump. I wasn't really shocked; she's always loved that movie.

She was at the scene where Forrest was fighting in the war.

"Hey," I yawned, rubbing my eye a little.

"Oh, hey. Did the movie wake you up?" she said, pausing the movie and turning towards me.

"Yeah, the bombs did the trick."

"Oops, sorry. Want to watch with me?"

"Maybe. What are you doing up watching Forrest Gump at-" I looked at the clock, "-2:15 in the morning?"

"Okay, to be honest, I was writing wedding vows, and it was on TV, so I thought, 'eh, why not'. The problem is, I can't work out the wording for these stupid things. I think we might just want to stick with the traditional vows and read our written ones to each other in ten years or something. Besides, I don't think I'm up for having everyone hear our little inside jokes and all."

"Good call," I said, sitting next to her on the couch, grabbing a pillow for my lap. "Let's do that. Our vows will be for our eyes only. Sound good?"

"Excellent. That's one less thing I have to worry about right now," she smiled, adjusting her position and lying her head down on my lap. "For our eyes only."

She played the movie.

Jules fell asleep in my arms as Bubba did in Forrest's, but less significantly and much less heartbreakingly. And just as I had woken up, I fell asleep to the sounds of guns shooting during the Vietnam War.