The silence was the hard part.
As they were lowering his casket in the ground, the sobbing of his mother and father shattered my heart.
Once the fire was put out, people went inside the ruins of what we used to call the hospital. They brought out a total of three bodies, one of them being my friend and my brother.
They told me that he was still unconscious when the fire reached him. Apparently, the smoke suffocated him, making him die in his sleep.
It was hard getting out of the car in my black uniform, holding the folded flag and walking up to his parents' door. The shocking look on his mothers face formed into one of sadness and despair as her eyes traveled to the flag.
She knew she lost her only son.
I told her the story and apologized multiple times for not protecting her son. The guilt was tearing me up inside every time she let out a gut wrenching sob.
Everyone was at his funeral, paying their respects. After they lowered the casket, we all picked up a handful of dirt and, one by one, we all threw it on top of the deep chocolate brown coffin.
There were five soldiers who shot three times, into the sky. One for each fallen soldier.
When that was done, we all went our separate ways, getting into our own vehicles, seeking the comfort of our homes.
A voice called out to me before I could open the door to my blue Dodge Big Horn.
I turned and saw Mrs. Hertz breaking away from her husband, coming towards me.
"Hello, Mrs. Hertz." I greeted.
"Hello, John. I just want to let you know that you can never blame yourself for my sons death. I don't want you to carry that much guilt. It wasn't your fault." she told me, giving me a hug before walking back to her husband.
I sighed and got into the truck. I couldn't get Jason out of my head. The Sergeant told me that I could take a few months off. I asked him what he was going to do with Jones and he told me that they were going to put him in prison for life with no chance of parole. He told me that he wasn't allowed out of the cell and that they were watching him all the time.
After Mariah came back with my crew, they were devastated about Jason and they wanted to be there for me only to end up being pushed away. All I wanted was to be alone.
Even though Jason was gone. I still considered ourselves as brothers.
YOU ARE READING
Brothers
Action(Completed) "What is it, Lieutenant?" I asked warily. "Sir, Lieutenant Hertz has been shot." ********* My team and I were called on a mission in Afghanistan. Our mission was to patrol around the border and throughout the city. Little did we know t...
