UNBROKEN

EIGHTY FIRST INSTALMENT

EIGHTY FIRST INSTALMENT

"Hey Emily, How are you?" Barry asked softly. By the tone of his voice I thought something must be wrong also since I hadn't spoken to him since I left Sydney last time.

"I'm good, what's wrong mate?" I asked knowing there was something not right. Barry had joined the Australian Army since I had been gone and he was currently in training so this is the reason I hadn't spoken to him.

"I hate it here Sis, there are so many dickheads, they won't let us drink coke and yet they have coke machines everywhere" Barry used to drink a lot of coke. He never drank coffee but I think he might have been having a caffeine withdrawal.

"We don't get time off. The only time I get piece is when we have a choice on Sunday's to either train or go to church. I chose church.. I don't pray but I spend my time writing because we can't write letters and other time"

"You'll be fine mate. I am sure it will get better. What are the guys like? Are they all nice people?" Secretly I was really worried about Barry as he had never left home. He would be missing Mum and his mates like crazy. I did know he was strong and it takes a lot to break him.

"Yeah, their good blokes Sis, there are some idiots but mostly their good" I didn't know what to say but I knew there was more to this story than he was telling me.

"So what else is going on?" I prodded trying to get the really problem from him. With Barry it took a lot to get to the bottom of a problem because he wasn't the most open person.

"I got a letter today from Terry"

"Yes and what did he say?"

"He told me Rhonda is back!" As these words came out he started to cry. Barry never cried but in this case I understood why Rhonda had been in Lebanon for the last few years and during this time he never heard a word from her. He had no idea if she was alive of not. They were soulmate.

"Oh my god! How does he know? What else did he tell you?"

"Nothing else Sis. He saw her in town but when he went to talk to her she was really shy and brushed him off"

"No, not Rhonda she was close with Terry. Why would she do that?"

"I don't fucking know! She just doesn't want anything to do with us ever" Barry shouted out of frustration. I knew then that I had to change the conversation for a bit. I had probed a little too much for the first chat about this, it was still very raw with him. This really had broken and changed him forever.

"So, how much longer do you have in training? Where are you going to be based?"

"Well we have an extra week here because some idiot broke the rules and because I messes up we all get punished" he lightened up a little.

"Looks like I will be based in Darwin, so not to bad but bloody hot" we continued to chat for a long time about general stuff but I didn't tell him about Ava and the incident or any other problems that I had as he had enough on his plate to deal with. Barry promised to call again the following week and update me.

My mind was running a hundred miles an hour about Rhonda. I wanted to know what was happening. I had so many questions for her!

'Why did you leave without saying goodbye?'

'Where have you been all this time?'

'Didn't they have phones where you were?'

Finally 'why did you break Barry's heart? You were to get engaged and you broke his heart!' But all these questions would have to wait but believe me one day I would get my chase to face her. I was angry at her but I also loved her to bits.

I walked out to the lounge room and Tina was sitting there waiting for an update. We chatted for a while but we had to get going and pick up Ava.

The last few months had been hell. I could always deal with my own issues/pain but I have a problem where I take on everyone else's problems. I try to fix them or at least ease others pain. I can't stand people hurting especially if I love them, it breaks my heart.

Barry called again the next weekend as promised and he spoke to Ava first. She was so excited to speak to her uncle Bar. We chatted after but I didn't touch on the Rhonda issue, I thought that was best considering her was up beat this call and excited to be shipped to Darwin.

The following week Tina called all distressed. "Emily! I need you to come over" I could hardly make out her words for the sobs.......

⚡️⚡️AUTHOR NOTES⚡️⚡️

This has been hard to write and it is far from over. Thank you for taking the time to share my life story. Feel free to vote by clicking the ⭐️ comment and I will always respond. If you don't have any to miss an instalment follow me and you will be sent a message to let you know when loaded. Take care and #stayunbroken xx Emily xx