The Red Coral Bracelet

Chapter 9

Cpl. T.L. Imlay

I sat in the chair next to her. Luke was put in the same room as her, just a few feet away per his request. They were both asleep and if I didn't know better, I would of thought that they were twins. Navy had been asleep for a long time. I knew that she needed to heal. She hand lost almost half of her blood and the corpsman had no idea why she was able to protect not only her, but also someone else.

I rarely left her side. I was so scared that she wasn't going to open her eyes and look at me again. I stayed with her almost constantly. I wanted her to see me when she woke up. They said that her vitals were good, it was just a matter of her brain recovering from the shock of her ordeal. That's what they called it, but we had a different word. Hell. She had been dragged through hell and back and when we got to her, she was still able to smile. Who can do that?

"Navy, you need to wake up. You promised that you would tell me your real name when we got back from the mission. We're back and I'm really curious. What's your name?" I asked her. I may of sounded like a crazy person, but hey, I really cared about her and I wanted to know her real  name.

"Marilyn Halo Stone." I frowned because it wasn't her voice. It was Luke. "She doesn't answer to Marilyn, though. Only Halo and Navy."

"Why Halo?"

"Uncle Chris told her that her middle name was Halo because she was an angel in disguise. Then Mom told her that they couldn't call her Angel because that would blow her cover."

"Oh, I see."

"I miss her laugh."

"Yeah. She's been like this for a while."

"I know."

"What?"

"I hear you. When you talk to her, I hear you and I know. I know what you feel."

"I just want her to wake up, smile at me, and tell me everything is good even though it's not."

"When she was about 11, she was sick. All of us were trying to get her to stay home and rest because we wanted her to get better. It was really bad, too. She could barely stand, it was hard for her to breathe, and her eyes didn't have that light that was always there. Still, she went to school, but she was taken to the hospital because she passed out in class."

"Then what?"

"When I woke up, I said everything is good. I just want Chinese food."

I looked down at Navy and smiled. She was pale, her lips dried and cracked, but to me she was beautiful. The sparkle was there in her deep, blue eyes.

"Hey, beautiful." Luke said.

"Hi."

"How are you feeling?"

"Horrible. Sore, everywhere."

"Well, I would be worried if you didn't feel like that."

"Tan-"

"Yes?" I answered quickly.

"Did you ever leave?"

"To pee, yeah. And for PT."

She started to laugh, but stopped after a couple seconds and a pained look crossed her face. I stood up and sat on the bed next to her.

Placing my hand on her cheek, I said, "Don't laugh. I love hearing it, but not if it hurts you. Don't laugh, sweetie."

"Yes, sir." A smile spread across her face and I moved my thumb across her cheek.

"Ew save the lovey dovey stuff for when your big brother is not in the room."

"Then leave."

"Nope, I wanna talk to you. Alone."

I knew that was for me, so I got up, placed a kiss on her forehead and left the room. Anders and Doc were coming up the hallway and they had flowers. When they saw me, they smiled.

"Did she kick you out?" Anders asked.

"No, her brother did. He wanted to talk to her. She just woke up. You guys can go in in a couple minutes."

"They're going to ship her back to the states. General said so and she doesn't argue with him. I think she wants to go back."

"How do you know what she wants, Doc?"

"I'm just saying, she probably doesn't want to stay in this hellhole with everything that happened to her."

"Well, we'll talk to her."

"I'm not trying to ruin your life, Imlay. I'm just telling you what is going to happen."

"Too late."

"You didn't think that she would stay here forever with you. She has to go back."

"I don't want to lose her. That's what I'm worried most about. That she won't be there when I get leave."