John wakes up on a sunny Saturday, it’s 10:37 a.m., birds are chirping. You can hear the laughter of children at the playground down the street. The temperature is resting steadily at 65 degrees. John lays in bed and takes in all the noises and lets out a sigh of relief. “ It’s going to be a good day, today.” said John rising out of bed. He walks to the bathroom, hops in the shower and takes a shower. While in the shower John has memories of his time overseas and thinks about the time when his squad hit a roadside IED. He remembers it like it was yesterday. They were riding in a humvee. John was in the passenger. Michael was driving. The captain was out back. Captain is only 19. They call him Captain because he was the captain of his high school football team. Michael is about 5’7 and always carries heavy weaponry. “ I can’t wait to get back to base and get some chow.” said Michael breakin the silence. “ How far do you think we are away?” said Captain from the back seat. “ About 20 minu….” began Michael but he was cut off. Total darkness fills John’s brain. He wakes up 3 days later in a hospital in Germany. He violently tries to get up but is caught quickly by a nurse. “ Calm down Staff Sgt. You’ve been out for 3 days, you have to take it easy.” said the nurse with a calming voice. John did as she said and lay back down. “ What happened?” said John looking at the nurse confused. “ Your squad hit a roadside IED and you were the… the only one to make it.” said the quietly. John didn’t know how to react and only lay there in the bed and stare at the nurse blankly. “I’m sorry Staff Sgt.” the nurse said walking to him slowly. She held his hand with two of hers and only stared at him with tears in her eyes. John then recognized the face of the nurse. It was Michael's wife.
John snapped quickly out of his memory and jumped out of the shower and quickly got dressed, trying to get the memory out of his head. He ran downstairs and started his breakfast. Two over easy eggs and and two pieces of wheat toast and a thin slice of butter. While retrieving the butter he noticed a note of the fridge door that read:
Went to grandma’s for the day. Feel free to take the car. The keys are on the table. Have a great day!
-Mom
“ Thanks mom.” said John blankly. He was also a bit surprised. She never let him use the car, he always walked everywhere. He wolfed down his breakfast with the memory of the IED explosion in the back of his mind. He then went into the living room and turned on the television. The news reporter, who John didn’t really like, was talking about the continued hunt for Al Qaeda in Iraq and Iran. “ I hope they find him.” said John quietly to himself. He got rid of the memory and continued watching the news. They were saying something about the rise in gas prices. When he left they were talking about an accident about 15 miles from his house.

The car was a truck that only had 3 seats in it. The A/C didn’t work but that was ok. It’s red paint job was chipping away in certain spots. The body was rusty under the truck. John hopped in and started the truck. It didn’t start at first but started after about 5 seconds. He pulled out of the driveway and went to Cindy’s house. Her house was about a 30 minute walk. “ The drive shouldn’t take no more than 10 minutes.” said John to himself. John and Cindy were friends in High School growing up. They lived next door until they were in 8th grade. Cindy moved about 2 miles away. John always had a thing for Cindy but never said anything. Not even to his Marine buddies. When he returned from Iraq Cindy was one of the first people to greet him. She was waiting at the airport with his mother. He always liked Cindy. In a sense it was more love than like. “ I’m going to ask her today to be my girlfriend.” said John with thoughts of Cindy in his head. Before he knew he pulled into Cindy’s driveway. She lived in a small apartment on the 1st floor. Before John knew it Cindy was halfway to the truck. She has reddish-blonde hair. John’s favorite part about her is her eyes. They are a weird hazel-green mix. John loves them. She was wearing an old gray sweatshirt with the Marines logo printed across it. She got it the day after John returned. She hoped in the truck and was buckling up. “ Mom let you borrow the truck?” said Cindy. John loved her voice. It was always sweet and caring. “Ya. She’s spending the day with my grandma.” said John slowly. He is processing in his mind how he’s going to ask her out. “ Nice. What have you got planned for us today?” said Cindy looking at him. John’s heart is racing. He feels like his heart is going to explode. He hasn’t been this nervous since his first deployment. “ I’m not sure. What do you want to do?” he said nervously. He knew she would notice. “ Let’s go to the park and why is your voice weird?” she said puzzled with a weird smile. “ Huh?” he said quickly not knowing what to reply. “ You asked that question funny.” said Cindy with a bit of a giggle. “ Sore throat.” said John after a slight pause. “ Oh, well let’s get going.” said Cindy with an understanding voice. Without saying anything John pulled out of his driveway and drove to the park that was about 15 minutes away. “ Why aren’t you talking? You’re always talkative.” said Cindy looking at him. “ Got a lot on my mind right now.” said John not taking his eyes of the road. “ Time over seas?” asked Cindy. “ Not really. Something more recent.” said John with his eyes glued to the road. “ Oh.” said Cindy and looked out the window. John pulled up to a red light. He looked at CIndy and began asking her the question that has been on his mind. “ I… I… I was wondering if maybe… You wanted to date sometime?” asked John nervously. “ Really? You mean it?” said Cindy with a voice that John has never heard before. “ Ya. I’ve been meaning to ask you for a while now.” said John. He wasn’t lying. “ Yes, I would love to go on a date with you.” said Cindy with a smile on her face. John only looked at her and smiled.
The End