We're running wild like we restless and we jump 'til we breathless.
“Eh man, can i bum a square? I ran out of smokes like last week sometime.”
Logan Howlett took a long drag of the cigarette perched in between his fingers, allowing the cancerous fumes to soothe all the panic and emotion that had been building up inside of him for sometime now. The raven haired man reached into his back pocket mechanically, his gaze fixated on the rising sun in the distance. Colors of orange, red and pink washed and melted together, creating one of the most beautiful horizons that Logan had seen in a long, long time.
“Thanks.”
“No problem.”
Silence fell between the two men as each became wrapped in their own world, attempting to ignore the building and almost suffocating tension that seemed to poison everything around them. Nobody had ever said war would be easy but nobody said it was unbearable either, it was only implied.
“I never thought I’d ever become a Marine. It changed my life completely, you know?”
“I know the feelin’.”
“How long have you served?”
“Lost count a long time ago, bub.”
Silence ensued.
Logan took one last drag of the cigarette and flicked the butt somewhere off to the side as a sudden wave of exhaustion hit him like a wall of brick. The past three days of no sleep was finally catching up to him. He had been ordered by his military superiors to guard and watch the posts at night while given a slim window of time to rest and take few naps during the day, if he was lucky. But at that point it didn’t really matter: the climate was deathly; the heat of the sun in this part of the world was sweltering and blistering and if exposed for too long, the repercussions were endless.
“I’m gonna get some shut eye here in’a bit. Ya good enough to stay awake?”
“...Yeah”
Even though Logan sensed hesitation in the younger man’s words, he began to make his way up the grassy hillside when the man’s voice stopped him.
“Uh, Lieutenant?”
Logan half-turned to the man behind him.
“Look, I don’t know how to begin this but...damn this is so hard to say.” The brunette soldier sighed, a large hand reaching up and brushing through his shaggy locks in frustration.
“I was wondering if you had any sort of advice...I got a girl and kid at home and sometimes I just get the feeling that when I come back, if I come back, things aren’t gonna be the way before I enlisted.”
Logan had to smile at the younger man before him, knowing exactly what this man was feeling all too well and there was not one damn thing that Logan could say or do that would put this man’s mind at peace.
Fully turning towards the clean shaven man before him, Logan advanced slowly down the steep hill, his eyes catching that beautiful sunrise once more.
“Do ya know her to be faithful?”
The general paused.
“She can be.”
“Can be but chooses not ta?”
“Something like that I guess.”
Logan could tell by the detached tone in the younger man’s voice meant he already had his answer. It was never an easy subject to broach or dwell upon and it was more of a reality check for the newbies being enlisted. It became a test of true love out in the battlefield but more often than not, the letters slowly stopped coming for most, calls became fewer and fewer as the months dragged on. Soon enough it became more like prison instead of being across the other side of the world, fighting for freedom and independence and everything that their country stood for.
“She hasn’t sent a letter in over two months.”
The time of recognition was dawning.
Suddenly, Logan’s radio sounded off with a short static outburst, causing both men to to redirect their attention.
“Lieutenant Howlett? The captain would like to see you in the interrogation rooms asap.” The radio crackled, leaving a deathly and utterly consuming silence in its’ wake.
Both men met each other’s gazes for an instant before Logan pushed a button on the back of his radio device that was connected to his ear, connecting to the channel that was desired.
“Be there in five. Howlett out.”
“The interrogation rooms?” The general questioned, a look of surprise and utter disbelief strewn upon his face. “Why do they need you down there?”
Logan gathered his belongings and began the steep trek back up the hill, also wondering why he was needed in the interrogation rooms. In all his time having served in the military, he could single handedly count the times he had been ordered to make presence in those deathly dark rooms and every time, he came out a changed man and not in the good sense. What happened in those rooms, Logan wished he could erase completely from his mind.
“I don’t ask anymore. I just do.”
Logan turned towards the bewildered looking soldier, a feeling of sympathy for the young man clutching at him for only an instant.
“It gets easier.”
And with that, Logan disappeared around the bend in the hill covered by tropical trees and shrubs towards an undesired destination.
