Drill Sergeant Lovato

Epilogue

I made every effort to tell 'funny' stories to hear her laugh, but it seemed like she was holding back from showing too many emotions overall. I guess I couldn't be too disappointed, it's hard to pick up exactly where you left off after four years. 

She didn't actually look that different from how I remembered. Maybe a little weathered, but not physically, it was just evident in the way she spoke. People say the military ages you faster, and I couldn't argue that theory after being in a few years myself. Life seems so much more simple on the outside - in the civilian world - and you can just feel yourself growing apathetic to people's struggles that are not in the military. But you have to remind yourself every now and then that it's the life you chose and no one forced you to, and bring yourself back down to earth. 

Midway through our dinner, the sirens went off, signaling an incoming attack. This might seem crazy to you, but it becomes so routine after you go through it a few times a day. 

"HIT THE DECK, INCOMING!" Someone shouted, as soon as the sirens went off. 

Ideally we would have left the tent and ran to a bunker, but we didn't have enough time. I tensed up, as I always did - it's not to say even though I was used to it it wasn't still just as scary every time - and we both got under the table we were sitting at. So did everyone else in the tent. 

We heard the whistling sound get louder - the sound of a mortar falling - and everyone in the tent probably was praying that it wasn't close just the same as the person laying next to them. 

Devonne had a stoic look. Everyone was laying face first on the ground with their hands over their head, but she was just kinda laying like you would at a sleepover, head up looking at me. I was doing the same. We didn't have any helmets on at the moment, what good would covering our heads do if the round hit our tent? 

She smirked at me. I wasn't sure how to read it. Who knew how many of these SHE'D been through? She'd been in about 8-9 years now, they probably didn't even phase her anymore. 

"ALL CLEAR, ALL CLEAR, ALL CLEAR!" The loudspeaker proclaimed after a few minutes. 

We didn't even hear where the mortar had landed. It must have been far away from us, or it could have been a dud. Sometimes they landed and didn't explode. 

Everyone slowly got up and sat down again at their tables and tried to continue eating, though it was clear some people were still shaken. Mostly the privates and lower ranks that had never been deployed before. 

It's just another close call for me and Devonne, though. Better to not dwell on what could have happened, and just keep moving forward. 

As we finished our dinner, I couldn't help but keep thinking of what would happen tonight. Would it be some kind of fairy tale reunion? I doubted it. You can't be out of someone's life for 4 years and expect to just walk back in like it was yesterday. 

Another part of me thought there's no way I'd run into her again like this for no reason. The hopeless romantic part of me, of lots of people, loved to believe everything happened for a reason. Destiny. Fate. All that stuff.  

Thinking about all of it however, made me a little nervous. I wished I knew what SHE was thinking, that'd make this so much easier. But she wasn't giving up any clues for shit, just kept that same stoic look that all high ranking people in the army had. That look that said 'there might be more to me but it's not like you'll ever find out'. 

It was almost like she was shutting me out without even doing anything. So I did my best to do the same. It wasn't the hardest thing in the world to do, because all I had to do was remind myself it had been 4 years.