Shot Throught the Heart

four

            Towards the end of the wake, I left my post and sat down on a couch at the very back of the room. Since my father wasn't particularly religious, there is going to be no priest or rabbi attending tonight or tomorrow. My dad's younger brother got up and spoke about him for a little bit. It was nice to hear his stories from when they were kids. Dad never really told us much about his life before the Army. Once he was in, it became his life and that was pretty much it.

            After his brother was done speaking, someone came and sat down next to me on the couch. When I turned to look see who it was I had to do a double take. Mallory sat down next to me, paper cup in her hands.

            "Thought you would have left by now." I said surprised to see her here.

            "Trust me, I would have but Logan is too enamored with your friends for Troy or myself to be able to pull him away." Mallory said.

            "When I met him the other day in the park he said something, he said that soldiers don't come back. What did he mean by that?" I asked and turned to look at her.

            "You left Dani, you just left and didn't come back. When he started to get older and the news would be on, he would see videos of the military and he would get so excited and it just came out one day." Mallory said and turned to look at me.

            "That's rich, that's really rich coming from you Mal." I shook my head and got up from the couch. "If he asks again you should tell him the truth, that soldiers do come back, just not when the love of their life breaks there heart and tells them to leave." I sip back and stalked off towards the side exit.

Mallory's POV:

            I painfully watched as Daniella stalked off out of the funeral home. The familiar pain of heart ache was back in my chest before I could do anything to stop it. Just as I was about to get up off the couch to try and follow her, Troy sat down next to me. With one look at my face he just sighed and pulled me into him. His embrace was familiar and grounding but did nothing to ease the ache in my heart.

            "You haven't told her yet have you?" Troy asked quietly.

            "No. You know our history and how I left things with her in the first place. It's going to take a little bit before I tell her the truth about us Troy." I said into his shoulder.

            "Don't wait to long. I know where your feelings truly lye and I don't like seeing you hurt like this." Tory said.

            "I promise I'll tell her soon." I sighed and made the promise to myself. I need to tell Daniella the truth about what has been going on with Troy and I and soon before things get even messier between us.

Daniella's POV:

            The July heat was still with us even though the sun was started to set. I unbuttoned my jacket and pushed it open to try and relieve some of the heat in my chest while I felt tears started to pool in my eyes. I tried to not let it get to me but after this emotional roller-coaster of a week, it was hard not too. Once upon a time I thought Mal and I would end up together. I would do my first four-year term in the army, get out and then we would be set to do whatever we wanted in life. But everything came crashing down at prom and then I left for the army and haven't been back since.

            I stayed outside a little bit longer before I heard someone call my name from behind me. When I turned around I found Morgan standing by the side door looking concerned and my heart softened. After everything that happened with Mal, I went into boot camp with such fierce determination to get to the front lines with the mentality of if I get blown up over there, the hurt in my chest would finally stop. But then Morgan got assigned to the same buck as me and she pulled my head up from below water and kept me going through boot camp. I truly don't know if I would be here without her.