12 Seconds (#1 in Military series)

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 

“I don’t understand,” Julia frowned, “What do you mean mine?”

“Take a look,” Thomas pushed the tin closer towards her until Julia reluctantly ran her fingers across the metal.

It was warm beneath her finger tips and she could tell that this tin had seen some things in its life.

Eight inches by six, the corroded tin was rather small but as she popped the latch and lifted the creaking lid, she saw that it was full of memories.

There was a stack of letters wrapped in a ribbon, photos littered the entire box along with other memoirs such a small black notebook and even an ammunition shell.

Julia frowned, “What is this?” She picked up one photo that caught her eye and she stared down at a group of at least ten people.

All dressed in military camouflage and leaning up against a hummer in the middle of a desert, she raked her eyes across the men and women until her eyes fell upon one face she thought was impossible.

Her own.

There she was; stood in the middle with a wide grin on her face as she wrapped her arms around two other women’s shoulders.

This lady seemed right at home; her skin was tanned and her hair was pulled back into a tight bun.

Julia soaked in the photo when there was an echo of laughter and a memory trying to force itself to the front of her mind. She saw flashes of smiles and courageous laughter filling her ears as someone tried to get everyone together for a photograph.

Gasping, Julia dropped the photo like it had scolded her.

“Do you think this is funny!?” Julia shouted, storming to her feet and pacing the kitchen, “Is all of this just a joke to you!?”

“No, Julia,” Thomas spoke softly, “This is the truth; I left after your accident because I didn’t agree with this,”

“This?” Julia frowned, “What is this!?”

“You were a Marine Sergeant,” Thomas told her as he turned the tin to face him and picked up the image of her that the military academy had taken; dressed in her best uniform, in front of the British flag and handed it to her, “You were caught up in an explosion in Afghanistan. You suffered an aneurysm which wiped all of your memories about joining the marines."

Julia was taking troublesome deep breaths as she stared down at her photo with mixed emotions.

“The dreams . . .” Julia suddenly thought.

“They weren’t dreams,” Thomas shook his head as he got to his feet beside her, “They were memories,”

Julia didn’t know if she could take all of this in; her head felt like it was going to split in two but even through all of that she picked up the one thing Thomas wished she would have forgotten.

“You lied to me,” Julia thought as she continued to stare at the woman in the photographs; she looked strong and formidable; Julia was weak, surely this couldn’t be her, “All of you lied to me!”

“Julia . . .” Thomas whispered, “You must understand that we did what we thought was best,”

“You lied to me,” Julia growled as she threw the photo into the tin, slammed the lid shut and stormed out of the house.

“Where are you going!?” Thomas shouted as she hopped into her boots and grabbed a coat off the railing, “Julia!?”

Julia couldn’t speak to him as she yanked her car door open and shoved the tin onto the passenger seat.

Hitting it into first she squealed away from the curb and drove into the darkness.

* * *

Julia didn’t know how long she had been driving for but the sun was poking out over the top of the horizon and her stomach didn’t seem to understand what was happening to her as it continued to growl for food.

But food was the last thing on her mind.

Parking up in a station, she grabbed herself something to eat before she slid back into her car and stared at the metal tin with anger.

It was so innocent and yet it contained all the evidence of a lie she’d been told for the last two years.

A train roared past the station and the sound forced Julia to close her eyes and remember the whirring of a helicopter and the sound of explosions going off in the distance.

Gunfire popped in her brain and cries filled her ears making her want to scream as it kept trying to pull her under.

Screaming, she opened her eyes to find her gripping the steering wheel with a layer of sweat covering her skin.

A quick glance around her reminded her that she was still in England; she wasn’t in Afghanistan being blown up.

Julia had always felt like there was a piece of her missing and now, as she reopened the tin and ran her fingers across the multiple objects, she realised what that piece was.

Flipping through the stack of photos; they were mainly of her in Afghanistan or some other desert with other soldiers.

They all seemed really happy; there was even one of her and other female marines in bikinis, grabbing some sun.

Julia wouldn’t have thought that possible in the armed forces but there they were; lying outside their tents on their camp beds.

Julia couldn’t help but think that she looked good in these photos; her stomach had the shading of some muscles forming whereas now her stomach was just flat; her arms were strong and her legs toned.

Moving on to the next photo, Julia paused when she saw one of someone had taken from a distance.

It was her and a man looking up into each other’s eyes with love.

Even now she could feel the emotion that poured out of this photo; the man was a few feet taller than her but he was wearing a military cap covering his face in shadow so she couldn’t see who it was.

Turning the photo over she was hoping to find some writing on the back but it was empty; nothing to tell her who the man was in the photo.

Placing the photos back inside the box in a neat pile, she turned to the letters all wrapped in a bundle when something clattered against the metal tin.

Lifting the letters out of the way she clasped her eyes on the one thing that convinced her Thomas was telling the truth.

Wrapping her fingers around the object, she ran the pad of her thumb over her name etched into the metal sheeting.

Dog tags.