It's finally the day, the day I've been waiting for... ever since I joined two years ago as a CNN journalist. As I packed my bags for the assignment, memories of my journey as a CNN journalist flooded my mind. From my first assignment covering an armed robbery in a Highland Park bar to reporting on international conflicts in countries like Mexico and Korea, each experience shaped me into the journalist I am today.
But today was different. Today marked a turning point in my career, an opportunity to cover a story that could make a significant impact. The thought of what lay ahead filled me with a mix of excitement and apprehension. This wasn't just another assignment; it was a chance to make a differeBut today was different.
"Hey Alice, are you ready to go?" Peter's voice snapped me out of my reverie. I glanced at the checklist on my typewriter, my trusty companion in this whirlwind of a career. Vintage as it may be, it was a symbol of my commitment to storytelling, a reminder of where I came from.
One picture of me and my dad when I was about eight years old, I'm sitting down next to him. we're leaning against a curved V-shaped tree as I'm eating a Powerpuff Girls ice cream popsicle stick at our favorite park called Griffith Park. The photo is in a light brown wooden frame. I smile at it, I'm doing this for you, dad. Leo's voice comes into my, you're the only one who could tell the story, his story.
It's been a month since I had been told of my dads MIA status. Although it was a hard 2 weeks before Leo left. I know I needed this. There was a while we're I was contemplating quitting my work. The whole reason I started this job was to combine my passion with my upbringing and sense of adventure. I felt like I had a sense of duty to provide the American people with updates on the military happenings. After all, the only reason we haven't had any problems on the U.S. soil is that we fight out of the country to keep our people and environment safe.
Next to that one in a white frame is a black-and-white picture of Leon and I that we took at prom.... I still remember that day as if it were yesterday... How we danced slow to one of the rap songs called Soldier Boy because they weren't playing any slow songs... Were dorks we knew that... I miss him so much that I miss having him to talk to and complain to. I miss his voice... I don't even care if he was yelling at me right now because I made him frustrated... I'd give anything to hear his voice one more time....
Hearing footsteps get closer to my office, which I made from one of my small rooms downstairs in my penthouse. Yes, I live in a nice penthouse. It's pretty big and looks over the city of Angels, of course. I love living here because it makes me feel safer knowing I'm surrounded by many but yet still have my quiet place.
I look at my doorway seeing my assistant Peter, who is dressed in a white long button-up shirt with a sweater-cut vest over it and black jeans which, of course, he paired, with his signature white Mckinnon shoes. He does look stylish, with his dirty blond hair blue eyes and toned tall body... Before you say anything, we are not a thing... I don't think Kevin would appreciate me flirting with Peter. That would be the utter betrayal of my friendship with Kevin.
"Alice, are you even ready?" Petter says, pulling me away from my thoughts. "Peter, the plane doesn't depart till 22:40. it's only 19:30.... We have time... no need to rush." We walk out of the office, and I look at my photos one more time before closing the door.
"Alice, do you know how hard it is to get through security on base for this stuff?" I roll my eyes at him. We've been doing this for two years now, and he's always the same... he thinks they won't let us in, even when we have an ID that automatically lets us on base without going through all the checkpoints and being the daughter of a Colonel, especially a Marine MIA... I never have a problem getting on base. It's such a breeze.
He goes over my checklist to see if I made sure to pack everything... Which of course I did.. "Alice, what about your ID? I don't see it here." "Relax Peter... It's right here..." As I reach into my purse to pull out my coach mustard handbag, I open it up....only to find out my military issue ID isn't there.
Not wanting to freak out Peter, I slowly look around and find it on top of my dresser next to my hygiene bag... Phew, that was a close one. As I turn around back to see Peter, he has a disappointed expression on his face. "Okay, in my defense, Peter... You know I always have this ID in my coach bag that Leon's mom gave to me on my eighteenth birthday." He just shakes his head and smiles."I know you take that bag everywhere we go, but I think it'd be safer here, rather than in a battlefield this time." I look at him shocked.
This is my favorite bag... It was my first real handbag or anything materialistic, well other than my earrings and bracelet Leon got me as little gifts... But this bag is different it made me feel more grown up and always felt like I had to own up to owning the bag. "No, that's not happening. It's coming with me... Don't worry, I'll keep it safe." He signs and says "Fine but if it gets even one little nick on it, you'll know why." I smile, saying I'll never let that happen.
After we finally packed the car with our luggage... , mine isn't much because I know they'll give me one sea bag to pack everything in there since the transportation jet can't hold too much...
On the other hand, Peter over here packed enough for the whole platoon. I hope he knows he won't be able to argue with them for giving him two sea bags. I'll be surprised if it all fits into one. On the way to the base, there was a lot of traffic and we had to make detours, and of course, Peter was panicking and kept asking if we'd make it on time and I kept telling him we would.... It almost felt like he didn't believe me. Finally, after making 8 detours off and on the freeway. We get to the base.
Time: 21:00
As we, of course, passed through security easily because first our IDs and also the person at the gate knew my dad and remembered me from when I was younger. I would come with my mom and him to drop him off, and he'd always get me a MRE bag since they were my favorite thing to take for lunch. I laugh at the memory because if you knew anyone who had an MRE, you know there's only one good thing about them, and that was getting the Jalapeño cheese snack.
As we pull up to the landing strips, I see how packed and guarded this place is.. I didn't notice it until we stopped the car, but there must be 20 of them patrolling the area with their M-16 rifle. It's dark since it's night fall, so all you can see is figures around and hearing the heavy boots hit the ground. There's some spotlight around, but nothing to give away any colors.
Getting out of the car... two of the security patrol guards come up to us. One a Second Lieutenant and another a Staff Sargent you can tell the ranks by the end of their collars. Second Lieutenant Orion is the first to speak. "Where's your ID, and what's your purpose coming to the strip?" As I pull out my ID, I stand up straight with my hands in a fist along the seam of my jeans before giving him my response .
"Sir, I am Alice Pierce, War Correspondent with CNN... I'm doing an article about our men fighting the war in France... I'm taking the C-130 Transport Jet to the compound in France, Sir." He grabs my ID and looks at it then to me then to the Staff Sergeant. "Dominguez, go get the pilots and tell them, Peirce... Alice Type is here."
Orion looks back at me and smiles. "You're finally catching on it only took you 5 years to keep your baring. Come here, hug your uncle." Did I mention I also know a lot of people on base? Orion isn't my real uncle, but he was so close to my dad that he'd always join us for family events or dinners. As we let go of our hug, he looked me over. You're looking fit, I'm glad this journalist job isn't making you lazy. You're a Marine it'd be bad if you weren't kept in shape, especially where you're about to go." I look at him and roll my eyes. "Did you forget who taught me how to keep stigma during long workouts?" He laughs. "Hey, that was a hard thing to teach you. You were resilient whenever I tried to teach you anything. The only reason why you stopped being stubborn was because of Sulleven." Hearing him talk about Leo made me feel as if my heart just dropped to the pit of my stomach, and now it was beating so fast. I miss those times when we'd have gatherings and challenge one another to be better. He was better at all the physical challenges while I was better at the thinking challenges.
We hear the footsteps of heavy boots coming our way, and we turn to see three figures, one of them being Dominguez holding up three sea bags... Well, I guess Peter got his way. As I'm about to turn back, my phone starts ringing. As I pull it out of my pocket, I see Leon's mom's name pop up. I step away and answer the call.
"Hello, Alice?" Yvonne's voice sounded hesitant, uncertain if it was Peter or I who had answered.
She's never met Peter, but there are times I'm in a meeting and let Peter have my phone in case there is an emergency. Two years working together you'd think he'd meet the whole family, don't get me wrong he's been invited to many events, but he feels like we should keep the balance of work and family.
"Hi, Yvonne, it's me. Is everything okay?" Unaware of where this conversation will go, so i keep my tone comforting.
She sighs in relief."Oh yes, it is, just checking in before you leave. Are you already on base?"
"Yes, I am already on base. I'm actually about to get everything ready to go on board."
"Oh, okay, then that's good, and you're all set. I know you've done this more than enough times, but I'm always unsure when things like this go on."
I smile a little, appreciating her concern."I think we all do, but I'm sure there isn't anything we haven't dealt with before. I'm about to start getting on. Thank you for checking up on me, and please say hi to the twins and David for me. I'll let you know when I land if I have service. Stay safe and if things get bad around your area the door to the penthouse is always open, the doorman knows who you guys are and I already explained things to him even if the kids just want a getaway it there"
"I'll keep that in mind, please also stay safe and write to us if you can and if you find out about Leon's whereabouts please let one of us know, I'm glad you're going out there to explain this whole mess to the world" We share a moment to laugh, something that's the best thing to do.
"I will stay safe, and as always, you'll be the first to know if I hear anything about him, though could be a while before I find out, but when I do, I'll tell you."
After that, we, say our goodbyes, and I start heading towards the car to see my suitcase empty and my sea bag full already on the jet. I thank Orion, knowing it was home, and give him one last hug before I go. As I do, he wishspers make us proud. I nod and let go, heading aboard.
Finally, after 10 hours of flying, we're here in France.. but it's nothing like you expected it to be... Looking out the window I can see smoke from fires making the sky even darker than it should be at 10:00, We get closer to the ground and I can tell you that France isn't a romantic place anymore.
You can see the people in chaos and feel the anxiousness of the people from just looking at them. You can see the police and some of the soldiers rushing people to their homes, you can also see some buildings crumbling to the ground as we pass more of the outer parts of France going more into Paris you can see the Eiffel Tower with a torn up French flag... Wow, this does look like WWIII. Seeing a darker color of smoke as we get more into Pairs, I think we're getting closer to where the Marines are holding off the Russian soldiers. As the jet started speeding up and getting even closer to the landing strip, I saw even more police officers and what looked like volunteers with vests patrolling the area. The smoke is clearing up on this side, meaning this side of Paris hasn't been too affected yet by the war.
As we make the final stride down, I hear the wheels hitting the ground and making a scraping noise. I look over at Peter, who looks probably just as shocked as I am from what we just witnessed. He looks at me and shakes his head in disbelief, and I just nod my head, agreeing. Our pilot announces that we've landed and to grab everything as he's opening the hatch. I am not sure who's coming to get us from the platoon we are assigned with because all I know is that the platoon's name, which is Platoon 2175 2nd Battalion of Hotel Company is in charge by General John James Whittaker.
As the door which is just more like a big wall of the jet opens up, you can feel the wind gushing in and smell a fairness of the smoke but the sky over here is a nice clear light blue with tye sun shining on us. Walking off the jet, I see the Jeep speeding straight towards us. It slows down a few feet away from us. I swear I thought it was never going to stop.
The door fully opens, and I see the desert color boots touching the ground... My hands start sweating, and I'm feeling nervous. Why am I feeling nervous? I look at Peter, and he looks shocked. He looks from me to the person a few feet away me. He points at them. Why is he acting like that? It's as if he's seen a ghost.
Stepping slowly closer to the silute in front of me , I look at him, and he smiles at me. I take a step back and drop my bag. Everything feels so far away now... It is as if it's only me and the man standing in his Woodland cammies with his blavk color Marine Corp's haircut, giving me the smile that makes me smile even more, eventhough he's wearing his sunglasses glasses, hiding his brown eyes, he starts walking towards me, the butterflies are back, he's walking so slow but every stride he has a confident way of walking.
His arms clean making his biceps muscles come out more, proabobly due to his dark skin, he is taller than me but still shorter than most guys but that is not his fault for being Filipino yet he still is the most handsome person I'll ever see. He's now right in front of me, and I can't help but let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding. "Leon.." I whisper. He pulls me into a hug, and I feel my body instantly calm down and relax in his hold.